Introduction

Few studies have analysed the ways in which deliberative practices and democratic innovations connect to the wider political system and polity. This book adopts a deliberative systems approach to examine the emergence of public participation and a multiplicity of deliberative practices and innovations in the newly formed democratic polity of Taiwan. How these innovations influence and interact with the democratic systems as a whole and ultimately lead to democratic deepening is also analysed. First, this chapter introduces deliberative systems, and Taiwan is considered a potentially deliberative system. Second, the framework of systemic analysis and methodology is detailed. This book provides an interpretive analysis of various practices of deliberative democracy in Taiwan. Additionally, three democratic innovations cases are selected to show how significant events and sites of deliberative practices connect with and complete each other, in turn enhancing the deliberative capacity of the political system. Research methods include documentary analysis, interview research, and participant observation – all of which provide abundant empirical data.