International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council Member

Ashley Esarey

University of Alberta

Ashley Esarey teaches in the Department of Political Science at the University of Alberta, where he is also Academic Advisor to the China Institute and administrator of the Taiwan Studies program. Dr. Esarey’s academic research considers the politics of contemporary China, Taiwan, and Japan. He has written on democratization and authoritarian resilience, digital media and politics, and information control and propaganda.

Dr. Esarey is a graduate of Occidental College in Los Angeles, where his major was Diplomacy and World Affairs: East Asia (honors). He received his MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees in Political Science from Columbia University in New York; he was the An Wang Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.

Dr. Esarey is the co-author (with Lu Hsiu-lien) of My Fight for a New Taiwan: One Woman’s Journey from Prison to Power (University of Washington Press, 2014) and co-editor of The Internet in China: Cultural, Political, and Social Dimensions with Randolph Kluver (Berkshire Publishers, 2015). His research has appeared as chapters in edited volumes and in such journals as Asian Perspective, Asian Studies, International Journal of Communication, and the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs. Dr. Esarey’s current book project compares the role of communication in the maintenance of authoritarian rule and democratization in China and Taiwan.

A consultant for the Freedom House survey Freedom of the Press from 2004-2014, Dr. Esarey has testified at the U.S.–China Economic and Security Review Commission and spoken before the Council on Foreign Relations and the Congressional Executive Commission on China. Dr. Esarey is a member of the National Committee on U.S.–China Relations; he has been interviewed by numerous media including the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, MSNBC, Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine.

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