ABSTRACT
For Taiwan's social movements, the two democratic turnovers between 2000 and 2016 brought into sharp relief both the opportunities and the challenges that democratic politics presents. This chapter examines some of these new opportunities and challenges and how the labor, environmental, and women's movements responded to them. Electoral democracy may open new opportunities for social movements to influence policy, but it also favors those groups with the most resources. Opportunities for women's participation in national politics and policy-making have increased sharply with democratization. The first democratic transfer of leadership also created new political opportunities for the environmental movement. After 2000, the Taiwanese government became more open, creating new institutional channels and opportunities for political participation by members of social movements. The relationship between social movements and political parties in Taiwan is the key to interpreting the patterns. When left-wing or social movement-friendly parties are in the opposition, they use social movements to build pressure against the ruling government.
