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The eight-year presidency of Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016) in Taiwan left a complex legacy of political achievements, confrontations, and disappointments that defies easy characterization. It began with President Ma and the Kuomintang’s (KMT) commanding electoral victories in the 2008 elections, and ended with the KMT’s overwhelming loss to the resurgent Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its leader Tsai Ing-wen in 2016.

It featured rapid conclusions to a broad set of agreements on cross-Strait cooperation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). But worries about closer ties with the PRC also triggered a popular backlash against growing mainland Chinese influence in Taiwan’s economy and culminated in a student-led occupation of the Legislative Yuan.

It coincided with contradictory trends in public opinion, including both the consolidation of a separate Taiwanese identity and support for the status quo in cross-Strait relations, as well as the increasing salience of divisions over social and environmental issues such as same-sex marriage and green energy at the same time as rising concerns about economic inequality.

It also marked a return to unified government after the acrimonious partisan fights of the Chen Shui-bian years, but long-standing intra-KMT divisions and the decentralized organization of the legislature continued to frustrate the administration, especially in President Ma’s second term.        

Finally, the Ma era produced no consensus about how to move beyond Taiwan’s developmental state legacies. Plans for domestic economic liberalization and greater integration into the global economy were only partially carried out, and the Ma administration ignored or struggled to address rising inequality, stagnant wages, increasing economic dependence on the PRC market, and a skewed tax system favoring investors and corporations over salaried workers.

Conference Agenda

The 11th Annual Conference on Taiwan Democracy will bring together scholars from Taiwan, the US, and Europe to consider these political achievements, confrontations, and disappointments in depth, and to assess the strengths and weaknesses of Taiwan’s democracy at the end of the Ma Ying-jeou’s presidency. Conference participants will discuss trends in public opinion, party politics and elections, cross-Strait relations, governance and media, and the performance of political institutions. The conference papers will be revised and included in an edited volume covering democratic practice during the Ma Ying-jeou era in Taiwan.

The conference is free and open to the public. Those interested in attending are requested to RSVP at the link above. This event is organized by the Taiwan Democracy Project in the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law.

Thursday, March 9

9:15-10:45. Panel I. Public Opinion and Elections

• Min-hua Huang, "Why Young Voters Abandoned the KMT"
• Ching-hsin Yu, "Trends in National Identity, Partisanship, and Attitudes toward Cross-Strait Relations"
• Yun-han Chu, discussant

11:00-12:45. Panel II. Party Politics

• Austin Wang, "Tsai Ing-wen and the DPP: The Path Out of the Political Wilderness"
• Nathan Batto, "The KMT as a Presidentialized Party: Party Leaders and Shifts in China Discourse"
• Kharis Templeman, "The Disruption that Wasn't: How 2016 Changed the Taiwanese Party System"
• Ching-hsin Yu, discussant

12:45-1:45. Lunch

1:45-3:30. Panel III. Economics, Security, and Cross-Strait Relations

• Szu-yin Ho, "Ma Ying-jeou's Cross-Strait Policy: Ambitions, Constraints, Results" 
• Lang Kao, "Cross-Strait Agreements and Taiwan's Executive-Legislative Relationship, 2008-2016"
• Dean Chen, "In the Shadow of Great Power Rivalry: The KMT Administration's Relations with America, China, and Japan, 2008-2016"
• Larry Diamond, discussant

Friday, March 10

9:15-10:45. Panel IV. Governance, Media, and Civil Society

• Eric Yu, "The Changing Media Environment and Public Opinion"
• Yun-han Chu and Yu-tzung Chang, "The Challenge of Governability in Taiwan"
• Kharis Templeman, discussant

11:00-12:30. Panel V. Political Institutions

• Shih-hao Huang, w/ Shing-yuan Sheng, "Decentralized Legislative Organization and Its Consequences for Policy-making in the Ma Ying-jeou Era"
• Christian Goebel, "Special Prosecutors, Courts, and Other Accountability Institutions under Ma YIng-jeou"
• TJ Pempel, discussant

12:30-1:30. Lunch

This film screening is hosted by the Arab Reform and Democracy Program at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. 

This is a ticketed event, only guests with tickets will be admitted. Please print out your tickets before the event and present them at the door. All persons, regardless of age, require a ticket. Directions and parking information is available below. Doors will open at 6:30 pm. 

About Tickling Giants:

In the midst of the Egyptian Arab Spring, Bassem Youssef makes a decision that’s every mother’s worst nightmare… He leaves his job as a heart surgeon to become a full-time comedian. Dubbed, “The Egyptian Jon Stewart,” Bassem creates the satirical show, Al Bernameg. The weekly program quickly becomes the most viewed television program in the Middle East. In a country where free speech is not settled law, Bassem’s show becomes as controversial as it popular. He and his staff must endure physical threats, protests, and legal action, all because of jokes. As Bassem attempts to remain on the air, keep his staff safe, and not get arrested, he continues to let those in power know they’re being held accountable. Despite increasing danger, the team at Al Bernameg employ comedy, not violence, to comment on hypocrisy in media, politics, and religion. Directed by Sara Taksler, Tickling Giants follows the team of Al Bernameg as they discover democracy is not easily won. For more information visit http://ticklinggiants.com

About Bassem Youssef:

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Named one of TIME’s “100 most influential people in the world” in 2013, Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian satirist, columnist, and talk show host. A cardiac surgeon by training, Youssef turned to comedy after he was inspired by the Egyptian revolution. He uploaded the first episode of his homemade newscast, “The B+ Show,” to YouTube in May 2011. After it garnered more than 5 million views in three months, Youssef was named the host of “Al-Bernameg,” a satirical newscast modeled after Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Youssef’s bold, intelligent, and humorous critiques of Egyptian politics quickly became a hit with audiences in the country and garnered more than 40 million viewers. Due to its sharp criticism of Egyptian leaders, Al-Bernameg faced political pressure from successive governments until it was finally taken off the air in the summer of 2014. Recently, Youssef launched “The Democracy Handbook,” a Fusion TV digital series that satirizes American politics through a Middle Eastern perspective. Youssef is currently a Visiting Scholar at CDDRL's Program on Arab Reform and Democracy. He served as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2015.

Event Information:

-- Movie duration: 111 mins
-- Q&A with Bassem Youssef after the movie
-- Food and drink are prohibited in all indoor venues
-- Cameras and all recording devices are prohibited
-- Guests will be ask to turn off cell phones, pagers and alarms during the event

Directions 

Via I-280 (north or south): LINK

From the east bay via CA-92 (San Mateo Bridge): LINK

Via US 101 (north or south): LINK

Additional directions are available here. 

Parking 

Parking Structure 7 offers underground parking at the Knight Management Center. Permits are required and enforced Monday through Friday from 8 am to 4 pm. Click here to access Campus Maps.

One-day visitor permits (called “scratchers”) allow for parking in any pay-and-display or metered space, and are available for purchase at the Parking and Transportation Services (P&TS) office for $12 each. Be sure to scratch off the correct date and hang your permit facing outward from your rear-view mirror. "A," "C," and "shared" resident/commuter lots are enforced Monday-Friday, 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. You are free to park in these areas after enforcement hours.

You can also pay for parking using the pay-by-space kiosks located in Structure 7. Simply enter the number for your parking space and pay with cash or card. You do not need to display your receipt in your vehicle. The receipt is not valid in any other location.

Other nearby parking locations include:

• Parking lot at Bonair Siding Rd. and Serra St. — coin-meter spaces, two-minute walk
• Parking lot at Memorial Way and Galvez St. — pay-and-display machine, five-minute walk
• Visitor Center parking lot at 295 Galvez St. — pay-and-display machine, ten-minute walk
• Parking Structure 6 at Campus Dr. East and Wilbur Way — pay-and-display machine, ten-minute walk

Meters are generally enforced 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., unless otherwise posted. You are free to park in these areas after enforcement hours.

More parking and permit information is available here.

We honor any state's disabled person placards in nearly all marked parking spaces on campus. Please visit the Persons with Disabilities page for more information.

This event is hosted by the Program on Arab Reform and Democracy at the Center on Democracy, Development and the Rule of Law. Bassem Youssef's fellowship at CDDRL is supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, and the Stanford Arts Office of the Associate Dean.

Event Details

• This is a ticketed event, only guests with tickets will be admitted. Please print out your tickets before the event and present them at the door. All persons, regardless of age, require a ticket. 
• The event will be held at Cubberley Auditorium at Stanford University. More information on directions and parking is available below. 
• Doors will open at 6:30 pm. We ask that you please be seated by 6:50 pm. Any unclaimed seats at that time will be released to the stand-by line.

Join the conversation at #BassematStanford

Abstract

The Arab Spring and the political changes it accompanied brought to the forefront of the public realm a wide range of satirical political expressions, whether through talk shows, social media channels and pages, and even repertoires of political protests. In this talk, international media figure and political satirist Bassem Youssef will reflect on the popularity these forms of expressions have gained in light of the Arab Spring, and why states and their advocates found them threatening and were quick to limit and undermine them.

Speaker Bio

Named one of TIME’s “100 most influential people in the world” in 2013, Bassem Youssef is an Egyptian satirist, columnist, and talk show host. A cardiac surgeon by training, Youssef turned to comedy after he was inspired by the Egyptian revolution. He uploaded the first episode of his homemade newscast, “The B+ Show,” to YouTube in May 2011. After it garnered more than 5 million views in three months, Youssef was named the host of “Al-Bernameg,” a satirical newscast modeled after Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” Youssef’s bold, intelligent, and humorous critiques of Egyptian politics quickly became a hit with audiences in the country and garnered more than 40 million viewers. Due to its sharp criticism of Egyptian leaders, Al-Bernameg faced political pressure from successive governments until it was finally taken off the air in the summer of 2014. Recently, Youssef launched “The Democracy Handbook,” a Fusion TV digital series that satirizes American politics through a Middle Eastern perspective. Youssef is currently a Visiting Scholar at CDDRL's Program on Arab Reform and Democracy. He served as a resident fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in 2015.

Directions

FROM 101: Take the University Avenue exit west. University will change to Palm Drive once you get onto campus. Take a left onto Campus Drive East. Take a right onto Mayfield Avenue. Take a right into the Tressider Union parking lot and park. Walk towards White Plaza (Bookstore), then towards the Clock Tower. Cubberley Auditorium appears after the Clock tower on the right.

FROM 280: Take the Sand Hill Road exit east. Follow Sand Hill Road, then take a right onto Junipero Serra Boulevard. Take a left onto Campus Drive East. Take a left onto Mayfield Avenue. Take a right into the Tressider Union parking lot and park. Walk towards White Plaza (Bookstore), then towards the Clock Tower. Cubberley Auditorium appears after the Clock tower on the right.

Parking Information

Meters and permitted parking is generally enforced 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., unless otherwise posted. You are free to park in these areas after enforcement hours.

Park either on the main Oval, or the Memorial Lot just north of the Memorial Hall on Memorial Way, or South of the campus union at Mayfield Ave.

For map and additional parking information visit http://campus-map.stanford.edu

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ABSTRACT

By now, those following the news on Syria have been saturated with analysis, data, information, and misinformation on developments there since 2011. Yet we observe an increasing gravitation to mutually exclusive narratives that adorn websites and publications on the situation in Syria: (a) the narrative of pure and consistent revolution versus that of (b) external conspiracy/designs on Syria. Both narratives carry grains of truth, but are encumbered by maximalist claims and fundamental blindspots that forfeit various potentials for enduring cease-fires and/or transitions, let alone mutual understanding. This talk will address these competing narratives in the context of international escalation marked by increasing US-Russian tension and continued multi-layered conflicts on the battlefield. It closes with addressing a framework for understanding and gauging potential prospects despite conflicting declarations by all parties involved.

SPEAKER BIO

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*This event is supported by the Stanford Initiative for Religious and Ethnic Understanding and Coexistence

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This discussion will be based on the authors' recently published book, Taiwan's Democracy Challenged: The Chen Shui-bian Years, Lynne Rienner Publishing (2016).

Abstract

At the end of Chen Shui-bian’s two terms as the president of Taiwan, his tenure was widely viewed as a disappointment, if not an outright failure. Today, the Chen years (2000-2008) are remembered mostly for relentless partisan fighting over cross-Strait relations and national identity questions, prolonged political gridlock, and damaging corruption scandals—as an era that challenged, rather than helped consolidate, Taiwan’s young democracy and squandered most of the promise with which it began.

Yet as Taiwan’s Democracy Challenged: The Chen Shui-bian Years documents, this conventional narrative obscures a more complex and more positive story. The chapters here cover the diverse array of ways in which democratic practices were deepened during this period, including the depoliticization of the military and intelligence forces, the ascendance of an independent and professional judicial system, a strengthened commitment to constitutionalism and respect for the rule of law, and the creation of greater space for civil society representatives in the policy-making process. Even the conventional wisdom about unprecedented political polarization during this era is misleading: while elite politics became more divided and acrimonious, mass public opinion on cross-Strait relations and national identity was actually converging.

Not all developments were so positive: strong partisans on both sides of the political divide remained only weakly committed to democratic principles, the reporting of news organizations became more sensationalist and partisan, and the Taiwanese state’s exceptional autonomy from sectoral interests and vaunted capacity for long-term planning deteriorated. But on the whole, the authors argue, these years were not squandered. By the end of the Chen Shui-bian era, Taiwan’s democracy was firmly consolidated. 

This event is sponsored by the Taiwan Democracy Project in the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law. It is free and open to the public, and lunch will be served. Please RSVP by October 31.