Introduction

Taiwan’s transition to democracy was a process rather than a single event. However, the 1996 presidential election, the first direct election of that office, is the milestone to which Taiwan’s democratic system is traced. Taiwan has thus experienced more two decades of democratically elected leadership, which provides a comparative context across time by which to evaluate the consolidation and direction of travel of Taiwan’s democracy. This distance and perspective allow the contributors to this volume to evaluate the significance of the 2016 elections, situate longer-term developments and make an assessment about whether the election results and the societal trends that facilitated them signal a qualitative change, a new era in Taiwan’s democracy.