Hans H. Tung

 
 

Hans H. Tung is the Associate Dean for Research & Development of the College of Social Sciences, an Interim Associate Dean of the School of Political Science and Economics, and a University Excelsior Chair Professor of Political Science at National Taiwan University. He also holds a joint appointment as a professor in the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science at National Tsing Hua University. He received his Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University. Additionally, he is a non-resident research fellow at the V-Dem Regional Center for East Asia hosted by Keio University, and an Executive Committee Member of the Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences under Taiwan’s National Science and Technology Council. He is primarily interested in formal and empirical analyses of the political-economic dynamics under authoritarian rule at both macro and micro levels, and has published articles in various academic journals including Political Communication, Review of International Organizations, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Social Science & Medicine, Nature Communications, Japanese Economic Review, and PNAS Nexus, among others. More specifically, one strand of his research seeks to uncover the political logic of institutional development under authoritarian regimes. A second strand of his research explores more fundamentally individuals’ political-economic decision-making and political communication strategies through experimental methods and data. A third strand builds on the theoretical insights developed from other parts of his research to address various issues regarding how China’s rise on the world stage affects the regional dynamics in East Asia. His coauthored article, Power Sharing and Media Freedom in Dictatorships, won the 2022 Kaid-Sanders Best Political Communication Article of the Year Award issued by the Political Communication Division of the International Communication Association in 2023. In a 2025 global ranking of research productivity of political science departments and scholars, he is ranked the 7th most impactful political scientist in Asia and in the top 3% globally for his recent research.


Ph.D Harvard

Contact Information:

1 Sec. 4 Roosevelt Rd.

Social Sciences Building 745

National Taiwan University

Taipei 10617 Taiwan ROC

Phone:  886233668402

Fax: 886223653433

hanstung[at]ntu.edu.tw


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  1. Bullet[Research Article] Power Sharing and Media Freedom in Dictatorships. (with Greg Sheen, Academia Sinica and Wen-chin Wu, Academia Sinica). Political Communication 39(2): 202-221 (2022). (Open Access). The 2022 Kaid-Sanders Best Political Communication Article of the Year Award Winner! (Awardee Interview: 2022 Kaid-Sanders Best Article of the Year, Political Communication Report (Fall, 2023), APSA and ICA Political Communication Section/Division.)

  2. Bullet[Research Article] China Watchers (with Franziska Keller, Bern and Johan A. Elkink, UCD). PS: Political Science and Politics forthcoming. (2025)

  3. Bullet[Research Article] Tell me the Truth? Dictatorship and the Commitment to Media Freedom. (with Greg Sheen, Academia Sinica and Wen-chin Wu, Academia Sinica). Journal of Theoretical Politics 36(1): 37-63 (2024).

  4. Bullet[Research Article] WHO Approves? Relative Trust, the WHO, and China’s COVID-19 Vaccines. (with Greg Sheen, Academia Sinica, Chien-huei Wu, Academia Sinica, and Wen-chin Wu, Academia Sinica) Review of International Organizations 18(3): 499-521. (2023). (Open Access).

  5. Bullet [Research Article] Experts or Politicians? Citizen Responses to Vaccine Endorsements across 5 OECD Countries. (with Greg Sheen, Academia Sinica, Joan Barcelo Soler, NYUAD, and Wen-chin Wu, Academia Sinica). Public Opinion Quarterly 87(1): 142–155 (2023).

  6. Bullet[Research Article] Ambiguity and Self-Protection: Evidence from Social Distancing under the COVID-19 Pandemic. (with Daiki Kishishita, Hitotsubashi University and Charlotte Wang, Columbia). Japanese Economic Review 75(2): 269-300 (2024; SSRN Page).

  7. Bullet[Research Article] How Do Alliances Trade Arms? Political Alliance Networks and Global Arms Transfers. (with Chelsea C. Chou, NTU and Terry Teng, NTU) PLOS ONE 18(3):e0282456 (2023).

  8. Bullet[Book Chapter] Commitment Problem and Information Problem in Authoritarian Regimes. (with Greg Sheen, Academia Sinica, and Wen-chin Wu, Academia Sinica). In Lindstaedt and Van den Bosch (Eds.) Research Handbook on Authoritarianism. Cheltenham and Camberley: Edward Elgar Publishing. 2024.

  9. Bullet[Book Chapter] Protests. In Bereket Kebede (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Experimental Social Science. Cheltenham and Camberley: Edward Elgar Publishing. forthcoming.

  10. Bullet[Research Article] Compensation and the Consolidation of Authoritarian Power: Evidence from China's 2016 PLA Reform (with Victor Shih, UCSD and Keng-chi Chang, UCSD). UCSD 21st Century China Center Research Paper No. 2024-2. SOAS China Institute, University of London. October 28, 2024; China Studies Seminar series, Oxford University. November 21, 2024; Tuesday Seminar Series, Dept. of Political Science, University of Oslo. January 28, 2025. (Submitted)

  11. Bullet[Research Article] Historical Knowledge and Authoritarian Nostalgia: Evidence from Taiwan. (with Shu-Ting Wu, Princeton). (R&R)

  12. Bullet[Research Article] Self-Selection of Infomration and Belief Updating: An Experiment on COVID-19 Vaccine Information. (with ChienHsun Lin, National Taipei University).

  13. Bullet[Research Article] Electoral Defeat, Political Polarization, and Endogenous Time Horizon. Presented at the 120th Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association. Philadelphia. September 5-8, 2024.

  14. Bullet[Research Article] Political Communication of Authoritarian Nostalgia and Redistributive Preferences. (with Shu-Ting Wu, Princeton) Presented at Waseda University. Tokyo. October 29, 2024.

  15. Bullet[Research Article] When Dictator's Concessions Backfire: Information Cascade, Protest Mobilization, and Authoritarian Survival (with Daiki Kishishita, Hitotsubashi University, and Yuki Takagi, University of Tokyo). Comparative Institutions and Regimes (CIR) Seminar, Dept. of Political Science, University of Oslo. January 24, 2025; To be presented at the 121st Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association. Vancouver, Canada. September 11-14, 2025. (To be submitted).

  16. Bullet[Research Article] Evaluating Conscription Reforms on Defender Resolve: Evidence from Taiwan. (with Renard J Sexton, Emory, Eddy Yeung, Emory, and Hsu Yumin Wang, Tsinghua). To be presented at the 121st Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association. Vancouver, Canada. September 11-14, 2025.



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