ABSTRACT
Something extraordinary happened in Taiwan between the reelection in 2012 of Ma Ying-jeou to a second and last term and the dramatic events of March and April 2014, when hundreds of young Taiwanese, supported by tens of thousands of people, launched a three-week occupation of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei in protest against a controversial trade agreement with China. Although the Sunflower Movement derailed President Ma’s plans to sign the Cross-Strait Services Trade Agreement (CSSTA), the truly extraordinary thing wasn’t so much the unprecedented occupation of government buildings but rather the two years that led to it, during which a traditionally heterogeneous civil society came together to fight for a common cause in a manner that transcended political affiliations, “ethnicity,” and social class.
