Hello!

I am a political scientist and an Assistant Professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. I teach in the Graduate Institute of National Development (國發所). I am also a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council Global China Hub and the National Bureau of Asian Research. My first book “Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat” is available in the US here and in the UK here.

Previously, I was the 2021 Hou Family Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Fairbank Center for China Studies. I received my Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Irvine in May of 2021. I was a 2019-2020 Fulbright Research Fellow in Taiwan and served as a Visiting Fellow at National Taiwan University from 2020-2021.

I study political participation in contested states. My research examines how Taiwan’s contested status motivates people to vote or protest. My current book project uses in-depth fieldwork from over five years in Taiwan to analyze under what condition social movements transition into political parties. A sample of this research is published here. I also use surveys and survey experiments to understand political behavior in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In one paper, my co-authors and I examine how Chinese assimilation affects Hong Konger’s willingness to participate in politics. In another report we examine how Chinese threats afffect political attitudes in Taiwan. My research has been supported by the Fulbright Program, the Stimson Center, the Jack W. Peltason Center for the Study of Democracy, and the Long US-China Institute.

I value public outreach and frequently comment on Taiwanese, Hong Kong, and Chinese politics. I have written and coauthored op-eds for The Brookings Institution, Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and The Monkey Cage. I am occasionally quoted in the news and have appeared in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.

Contact me at lnachman@ntu.edu.tw