Wednesday, February 4, 2026 | 10:00 AM EST
Taiwan’s contested sovereignty sits at the heart of its domestic politics, shaping party competition, social movements, and public attitudes toward the United States and China. As U.S- China rivalry intensifies, debates in Taiwan over political polarization, economic ties with the United States, and cross-Strait engagement have taken on heightened national security significance, often with implications that are misunderstood by outside audiences.
In an event held on February 4, Lev Nachman, in conversation with Wei-Ting Yen, examines these dynamics through the lens of his book Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and comparative insights, they discuss how Taiwan’s parties, activists, and citizens navigate geopolitics, polarization, and democratic participation—and what these debates reveal about Taiwan’s political future.
Speaker
Lev Nachman
Lev Nachman is an assistant professor at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan. Previously, he was assistant professor at National Chengchi University and the 2021 Hou Family Postdoctoral Fellow at the Harvard Fairbank Center for China Studies. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Irvine. From 2019 to 2020, Dr. Nachman was a Fulbright research fellow in Taiwan and then was a visiting fellow at National Taiwan University (2020-2021). His research examines the domestic politics of contested states with a particular focus on social movements and political parties, and 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. Dr. Nachman is a frequent commenter on Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Chinese politics and has written op-eds for Foreign Policy, The Diplomat, and The Monkey Cage. He has appeared in outlets including The New York Times, CNN, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and The Guardian.
Moderator
Wei-Ting Yen
Wei-Ting Yen is an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica (IPSAS). Previously, she was an assistant professor of the Government Department at Franklin and Marshall College. She studies governance, political economy, and welfare state development in Asia. Her dissertation won the Honorable Mention for the 2019 John Heinz Dissertation Award from the National Academy of Social Insurance. Dr. Yen’s works have appeared in Governance, Public Opinion Quarterly, Journal of East Asian Studies, and Social Science Quarterly, among others. She holds a Ph.D. in political science from The Ohio State University, an M.A. in East Asia studies from Yale University, an M.A. in political science from National Taiwan University, and a B.A. degree in economics and political science (double major) from National Taiwan University.