Professor (Joint Appointment), Taipei School of Economics and Political Science, National Tsing Hua University; University Excelsior Chair Professor of Political Science, National Taiwan University; Associate Dean for Research & Development, College of Social Sciences, National Taiwan University; Executive Committee Member, Research Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences, National Science and Technology Council. 

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Hans H. Tung is the Associate Dean for Research & Development of the College of Social Sciences 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 authored and coauthored several articles in academic journals such as Political Communication, Review of International Organizations, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of Theoretical Politics, Social Science & Medicine, Nature Communications, Japanese Economic Review, and PNAS Nexus. 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.

Research Interests

• Comparative/International Political Economy
• Political Communication
• Comparative Authoritarianism
• Chinese Politics
• Contentious Politics

Awards and Honours

• University Excelsior Chair Professorship. National Taiwan University, August, 2024-July, 2027.
• 2022 Kaid-Sanders Best Political Communication Article of the Year Award, International Communication Association, 2023.
• Annual Exceptional Performance Award. National Taiwan University, 202-2024.

Selected Publication

• ”Ambiguity and Self-Protection: Evidence from Social Distancing under the COVID-19 Pandemic.” (with Daiki Kishishita, Tokyo University of Science, and Charlotte Wang, Columbia University) Japanese Economic Review 75(2): 269-300. 2024.
• ”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.
• ”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.
• ”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. (The Winner of the 2022 Kaid-Sanders Best Political Communication Article of the Year)
• ”National Identity Predicts Public Health Support during a Global Pandemic.” (with Jay J. Van Bavel, New York University, Charles Crabtree, Dartmouth College, Yusaku Horiuchi, Dartmouth College, Ming-Jen Lin, National Taiwan University, et al.). Nature Communications 13, 517. 2022.
• Economic Growth and Endogenous Authoritarian Institutions in Post-Reform China. New York: Palgrave. 2019.

Teaching

• Political Economy of Trade

Semester: Fall 2024 | 11310TSE 605000 | 2 credits 
Module: Optional Course
Abstract
Nowadays, there is little doubt about how important international trade is to our daily lives. While, on the one hand, trade is definitely one of the major sources that bring economic welfare to most people, it also gives rise to conflicts among different segments of a society on the other. Against the backdrop of several recent anti-globalization episodes, it seems both the “Giant Sucking Sound” Ross Perot heard and popularized in early 1990s and geopolitical/national security concerns have risen again and gained ground in the political commanding heights of many advanced industrial countries. This course is designed to help students navigate the controversies arising from economic activities across borders through the lens of existing theories and perspectives from political economy. What distinguishes this course from others, is that, instead of focusing purely on economic forces behind these exchanges, it zeros in on various political aspects of them.

Editorial Appointments

• Editor-in-Chief, Taiwanese Journal of Political Science. August, 2023-.
• Associate Editor, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications (Nature Portfolio). April, 2023-March, 2026.
• Academic Editor, PLOS ONE. December, 2022-.
• Special Issue Guest-Editor (with Yuko Kasuya, Keio University), Japanese Journal of Political Science, A Special Issue on Hong Kong’s Anti-ELAB Movement, 2021.
• Advisory Board Member, Cambridge University Press Series on Taiwan Studies. December, 2020-.