Rights Advocacy Through Simulation: The Genius of the Constitutional Court Simulation in Taiwan

Abstract

As a fledgling civic institution in Taiwan, the Constitutional Court Simulation (CCS) has received much attention and interest from the Taiwan Constitutional Court as well as the general public in recent years by tackling such salient issues as same-sex marriage, the death penalty, and transitional justice. This chapter analyzes, explains and assesses the workings of the CCS as a moot court education program, a shadow constitutional court, a deliberative forum, and as a new approach to rights advocacy in Taiwan. Though the success of the CCS as a rights advocate would make it more difficult for the CCS to project itself as an impartial shadow court, the CCS enterprise attests to the ingenuity and enthusiasm of those who fight for liberal progressive causes in civil society in Taiwan.