More parties, more problems: Making Taiwan studies succeed in political science
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
3:30 pm to 5:00 pm
- Venue
- Senate House (Paul Webley Wing)
- Room
- SWLT
About this event
In the 2025 Centre of Taiwan Studies Summer School, we are delighted to welcome Dr Lev Nachman for our Keynote Lecture to explore how Taiwan studies can grow within political science and broader academic challenges.
How can we keep Taiwan studies growing in an academic landscape that increasingly prioritizes disciplinary over regional approaches? In this talk, I explore the successes and challenges of navigating this divide through the lens of studying social movements and political party relations in Taiwan over the past decade.
I highlight three key challenges facing Taiwan scholars: selecting research topics that speak to both regional and disciplinary audiences, adapting research agendas in today’s uncertain political and academic world, and how we can sustain and expand Taiwan studies as a field amid growing pressures on both Taiwan and academia. I will conclude by outlining goals and aspirations for the future of Taiwan studies in the coming years.
Image credit: Timo Volz via Unsplash
Meet our speaker
Lev Nachman
Lev is an Assistant Professor in the Graduate Institute of National Development at National Taiwan University. He was previously the Hou Family Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Taiwan Studies at the Harvard Fairbank Center and holds his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Irvine.
His research focuses on political participation in Taiwan, Cross-Strait relations, and U.S.-Taiwan relations. His work has been published in both regional and disciplinary journals including Asian Survey and Political Science Research Quarterly. Dr. Nachman is also frequently quoted in the New York Times, CNN, Bloomberg, the BBC, and the Guardian, and is a Nonresident Fellow at the Atlantic Council and the National Bureau of Asian Research.
