first decade of the twenty-first century in light of these two perspectives. Successful
democratic transition in Taiwan took place mainly in the 1990 s, and, as a result,
constitutional developments during that period were considerably reflective of
transitional features. Interestingly, however, due to the scenario of divided govern-
ment and the resulting political confrontation, constitutional politics in the last ten
years still presented many significant characteristics of transitional constitutional-
ism. First, these attributes include the constitutional revision of 2005 that rendered
subsequent constitutional changes extremely difficult, if not almost impossible;
second, the divided government for eight years after 2001 and the resulting political
stalemate inevitably called for unconventional styles of constitutional adjudication.
The role of the Constitutional Court became even more recognizable than it had
been during the earlier transitional period of the 1990 s. Similarly, due to the
extreme difficulty of passing constitutional amendments, quasi-constitutional
statutes were enacted only as quick solutions subject to political bargaining.
Meanwhile, the development of transnational constitutionalism was at an apex
in this decade. Transnational norms have entered into the domestic legal systems
through both trade agreements and international human rights treaties. For
example, joining the WTO and signing the ECFA with the Chinese authorities
entrenched transnational trade terms in the local law. Largely due to bottom-up
efforts, the ratification of CEDAW, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR and the enact-
ment of their respective implementation statutes have rendered these rights, guar-
anteed in international normative systems, domestically applicable. Not only had
the Constitutional Court begun to articulate these international human rights, but
also – and most importantly – lower courts were pressured by public-interest
litigation and started to embrace these norms. In addition, the convergences of
global institutional arrangements have impacted significantly on the creation of
new governmental institutions and their delegated missions that are made compar-
able, if not identical, to their global counterparts.
These developments in transitional and transnational aspects have evidently left
footprints in the constitutionalism of Taiwan and beyond. While the divided
government ceased in 2008 as a result of the KMT’s presidential and legislative
victories, the impact that transitional features have had on current constitutional
politics and law has remained strong. And the transnational aspect of the develop-
ment became even stronger with both the executive and legislature in the hands of
the same political party. The development of transitional and transnational consti-
tutionalism, however, generated challenges in the aspects of accountability, demo-
cratic deficit, and the rule of law. The endeavor to find proper solutions to these
challenges and how well constitutional scholars may render them in Taiwan will
be most pressing issues for the second decade. In prospect, while we identify the
judiciary and the president as two crucial players in the coming period, at the same
time we also recognize the role of the people and propose that civic engagement
will be an equally important thread that deserves attention.