'We'll Save Ourselves': Student Activism in Contemporary Taiwan

Abstract

Between March 18 and April 10 2014 a group of student activists led thousands of protesters as they occupied the Legislative Yuan and surrounding streets in Taipei, Taiwan. The event, now known as the 318 Occupation or Sunflower Student Movement, has since been defined as turning point in Taiwan's democracy and dominates academic discussion. It has been celebrated as an expression of civil society's disillusion with the Kuomintang (KMT) government, growing ties with China, and economic inequality. The occupation has also been attributed with changing the balance of power in Taiwan, leading to the election of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to government in 2016 and the rise of minor parties. This thesis seeks to understand the 318 Occupation and its significance in Taiwan by tracking the major student-led movements that proceeded it. Beginning with the Wild Strawberry Movement of 2008, this thesis asks how and why young activists became prominent in Taiwan's civil society and what this reveals about the socio-political structure. To do so, I draw on eight months of fieldwork in Taiwan, including first-hand interviews, the observation of protests, social and traditional media analysis. I adopt the concept of 'reflexivity' to capture young activists' deliberate and self-aware navigation of a contradictory and unstable political environment and divided civil society. Encountering fierce debates over geopolitics, national identity, party politics and the legacy of authoritarianism, I argue that the student protesters were able to establish political space only by compromising their ideals and political style. Their achievements - including halting legislation that concerned them, introducing new measures in line with their beliefs, and ousting the KMT in 2016 - led to a peak in their political disillusion. As such, I suggest that this process can be understood as an articulation of modernity as young activists pursued competing and irresolvable ideals. Show more