Taiwan during and after the democratic transition (1988–2016)

In discussing Taiwan after its democratic transition, we must first define ‘democracy’ and then draw a distinction between ‘democracy’ and ‘liberalization’. In the simplest definition, a democracy is a political system in which the people regularly and freely choose their own leaders. Furthermore, in choosing their leaders, the people have the right and the ability to make the opposition the new government. In a democracy, people also have such civil liberties as freedom of speech and the press and all citizens have relative equality before the law. Democracies appear in various shapes and forms. Some are presidential, such as in the United States, while others are parliamentary such as in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth countries. Some are unitary such as in the United Kingdom and France while others are federal such as in the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany and India. However, in all these cases the people have and do use their ability to change their rulers freely and peacefully (Jacobs 2012b: 5). ¹