Democracy under Siege

Abstract

Research Article| August 01 2018 Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan Ya-Chung Chuang Ya-Chung Chuang Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google boundary 2 (2018) 45 (3): 61–78. https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter Email Permissions Search Site Citation Ya-Chung Chuang; Democracy under Siege: Xiangmin Politics in Sunflower Taiwan. boundary 2 1 August 2018; 45 (3): 61–78. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/01903659-6915581 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter Books & JournalsAll Journalsboundary 2 Search Advanced Search This essay examines the recent crisis of democracy in Taiwan. The Sunflower Movement and its enduring dynamism have successfully mobilized Taiwanese voters to rethink an urgent situation with regard to the “PRC effect,” which, related to an economic and political assertion of sovereignty and hegemony, has recently extended to efforts to dismantle democracy and to undermine shared consciousness, local wisdom, and political life. This nationwide project for a democratic reevaluation is therefore about a new mode of social protest. The Sunflower Movement has revealed that a generation of young, frank-talking critics has been born into this now not-so-young democracy. Often called the politics of xiangmin (literally “country people”) for their style of straightforwardness, this new contentious activity in Taiwan involves netizens as cyberactors and presents the most recent force of antagonism against this new threat to the nation’s search for democracy. democracy, social protest, Sunflower Movement, PRC effect The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2018 Duke University Press2018 You do not currently have access to this content.