ABSTRACT
Changing political opportunity structures altered the activists' biographical profile by two mechanisms. The first was a filtering mechanism, which refers to the way that political opportunity structures draw activists with distinct biographical backgrounds into a movement while filtering out others. The second mechanism through which changing political opportunity structures changed the profile of activists was a shift mechanism by which activists moved from the social movement sector to the electoral politics sector at the moment when electoral politics was expanding. The case of Taiwan illustrates some crucial ways in which social movements and elections interact. The efforts of social movement groups in legislative lobbying laid the foundation for interest-group politics in contemporary Taiwan. Taiwanese social movements facilitate the accumulation of social capital by mediating collective identities and facilitating associational democracy. By representing different interests and values, Taiwanese social movements serve as political mediators and contribute to public deliberation in resolving differences and cultivating a common vision.
