Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/47754

KEYWORDS : Taiwan;national pension program;universal pension system;policy legacies;welfare politics

This paper traces the process of how a developmental state like Taiwan came to realize the universal pension system. Democratization and unique institutional legacies, ethnic cleavage coincided with differences in old-age income securities in the existent public pension programs had profound impacts on the manner public pension programs expanded. Introducing a national pension program that covers, not every citizen, but mostly housewives, students, and foreign-born spouses was the result of having to make sure that the program was financially sustainable and still covers nearly half of those over the age of 65 from the onset. During the planning process, many NGOs effectively utilized ties with political parties or individual politicians to strategically block drafts not preferred by them. Another finding was that old-age allowance were used as temporary measures but actually created vested interest groups which made the introduction of the national pension program more difficult. After 14 years of prolonged planning and debates, the program was eventually realized due to pressures to please the voters before the presidential election of 2008.