Rethinking Social Democratic Constitutionalism in Taiwan.

Abstract

With particular reference to the social injustice resulting from the policy of utmost economic growth and lack of social security in past decades, coupled with the new challenge of globalization faced by the Taiwan democracy and its worsening effect on social justice, this article firstly analyzes the normative values presented in the sections of “National Economy” and “Social Security” in the Constitution in Taiwan and its Additional Articles. The article then examines whether those constitutional provisions can respond to such challenges and the demand of constitutional reform since the social movement of Anti-Cross-Strait-Agreement-of-Service- Trade between Taiwan and China in 2014. At the present constitutional juncture, the article aims to discover the constitutional values of social democracy based on the universal human rights provided in several international human rights conventions, all of which ensure fair and substantial equal conditions for very citizen and their free development.