When democracy becomes something that happens to us rather than something we do, a dangerous gap opens. We vote, then watch from the sidelines. Leaders promise change; little changes. Trust erodes. Some turn to strongmen who promise to clean house. Some disengage entirely. Taiwan made a different bet: that the wisdom we need isn't concentrated at the top, but distributed among the people living with the problems. "There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Audrey Tang borrowed Leonard Cohen's lyric to describe how Taiwan reinvented what democracy could be. When civic hackers and student activists found cracks in the system, they didn't just protest — they built something better. Like open-source software, they forked their government and keep updating it. This book follows Audrey's journey through Taiwan's democratic experiments — and the principles now spreading worldwide. For anyone tired of democracy that doesn't work — but unwilling to trade it for a strongman — Taiwan shows what happens when democracy becomes something we do again. “In a world of rising authoritarianism, Finding Light Through the Cracks is a beacon of hope. This well-told story of democracy reimagined reads like a novel but with real world consequences. It proves servant leadership is still alive, provides lessons that apply anywhere in the world, and highlights what it takes to create systems for ordinary people to directly participate in decisions about complex, challenging issues. The result of this approach: increased respect and understanding that leads to robust, creative, and widely embraced actions. A must read for anyone in despair about the state of democracy.” – Peggy Holman, author, Engaging Emergence: Turning Upheaval into Opportunity and co-author, The Change Handbook