Think the Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearings on Iraq have been rough? Last Friday, Taiwan's winter legislative session ended with an all-out brawl. In one of the highlights, an irate lawmaker launched a shoe at the Speaker:

This particular royal rumble was not the first by any means for Taiwan's unruly legislature. One committed legislator managed to block a vote last spring by grabbing the bill and stuffing it in her mouth, after having assaulted the podium with a phalanx of colleagues.

Despite the pugilistic theatrics, however, the underlying democratic system in Taiwan has proven to be amazingly resilient. Protests and repeated attempts to recall the president have filled the airwaves and the corridors of power for nearly a year now, yet the country manages to muddle along with no real danger of actual violence or a breakdown of order. At least, outside the parliament, that is.