7
Many disability rights advocacy groups at this time attempted to build coalitions
at the national level and ally themselves with other civic organizations. LEAs and PAPID
exemplify this trend. In addition, there was an attempt to establish coalitions across
different social welfare-related civic organizations. The Social Legislation Alliance (社會
立法聯盟 She-hui-li-fa-lian-meng) formed in 1995. It included many influential advocacy
groups oriented toward issues concerning the elderly, feminism, or labor. The Social
Legislation Alliance represents an attempt to establish a political space for dealing with
social justice issues through elections. The National Health Care Coalition was founded
in 1998 to promote a universal health care coverage policy in Taiwan. The Alliance of
Fairness and Justice (泛紫聯盟, Fan-zi-Lian-meng, a.k.a., Pan-purple Alliance), founded
in 2003 by many organizations, aimed to represent the voices of civil society outside of
political parties (Alliance of Fairness and Justice 2004)
.
As the alliance between NGOs and the DPP loosened, oppositional political
society and advocacy NGOs both expanded. There was a gradual separation of interest
associations (institutionalized social groups) from political parties. Ku (1999) argues that
these trends demonstrate the maturation of democracy in Taiwan. Under this new
institutional arrangement, civic organizations functioned in two ways. On the one hand,
advocacy NGOs represented the voices from civil society and kept the state accountable
to the people. On the other hand, service-oriented NPOs received governmental funding
and became agents for delivering social services. The nation gradually moved to a
full-fledged liberal democratic system.
Nevertheless, elections provided a new public space for addressing social justice
issues, especially concerning welfare. Civic organizations strategically used the media
Convention