Weakened State and Social Movement: the paradox of Taiwanese environmental politics after the power transfer

Abstract

Of all the Chinese societies, Taiwan witnessed the first peaceful and democratic power transfer in 2000. With the coming to power of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), new political opportunity was opened up for environmentalists, who had been aligned with the DPP for more than a decade. Did the regime change provide a better milieu for synergy between environmental activists and state officials? Was a better style of environmental governance possible under the DPP government? These are the main questions this paper tries to raise and answer. A puzzle has been found here. While environmentalists have gained important access to policy decision-making, pro-development counter-mobilizations were also on the rise, and government policy shifted to a more pro-business stand consequently. This paper argues that this paradox resulted from the weakened state capacity, which simultaneously empowered environmentalists and could not resist business's lobbying.