Taiwan’s Transformation

Trust in government has been collapsing all over the world over the last decade - but one country has bucked the trend. Fewer than 10% of the population trusted government in 2014, but by 2024, that figure had climbed above 70%. Spurred on by a collective of civic hackers calling themselves “Gov Zero”, Taiwan has trusted its people, opened its institutions, and even crowdsourced what was arguably the world’s most successful Covid response. In this episode, we draw out the lessons every nation can learn from this story with the help of one of its key actors, Audrey Tang.

Audrey is Taiwan’s “Cyber Ambassador” and former Minister of Digital Affairs. A prominent member of the Gov Zero collective, she became a reverse mentor to Minister Jaclyn Tsai in the aftermath of the peaceful Sunflower Revolution in 2014, before joining government herself in 2016 - and becoming the world’s first transgender minister in the process.

Chapters

• (00:00:01) - A prayer for the Internet
• (00:00:43) - How to Save Democracy in 2030
• (00:04:27) - Protesters and the Tunisian Revolution
• (00:08:33) - The 'GoV0' movement in Taiwan
• (00:11:25) - The Sunflower Revolution and the Occupy Movement
• (00:22:07) - Taiwan's vaccination response: Fast, Fair and Fun
• (00:26:38) - Taiwan's growing trust level
• (00:34:22) - Audrey's Singularity: The Future of Collaboration
• (00:40:51) - Citizen Story: Building a Bridge
• (00:50:45) - The Time for a Demonstration
• (00:52:51) - How to Save Democracy