International Forum for Democratic Studies Research Council Member

Yun-han Chu

National Taiwan University

Yun-han Chu is distinguished research fellow of the Institute of Political Science at Academia Sinica and professor of political science at National Taiwan University. He serves concurrently as president of Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange. Prof. Chu received his Ph. D. in political science from the University of Minnesota and joined the faculty of National Taiwan University in 1987. He was a visiting associate professor at Columbia University in 1990-1991. He served as director of programs of the Institute for National Policy Research, Taiwan’s leading independent think tank, from 1989 to 1999. Prof. Chu specializes in politics of Greater China, East Asian political economy and democratization. He has been the coordinator of Asian Barometer Survey, a regional network of survey on democracy, governance and development covering more than seventeen Asian countries.

Prof. Chu was former president of Chinese Association of Political Science (Taipei) in 2002–2004, a member of the International Council of the Asia Society between 2001 and 2007, and a member of the Council of the American Political Science Association (2009–2011). He was recently elected an academician of Academia Sinica, the country’s highest academic honor, in July 2012. He currently serves on the editorial board of Journal of Democracy, Pacific Affairs, China Review, Journal of Contemporary China, International Studies Perspectives, and Journal of East Asian Studies. He is the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of fifteen books. Among his recent English publications are How East Asians View Democracy (Columbia University Press, 2008) Citizens, Elections and Parties in East Asia (Lynne Reinner, 2008), Dynamics of Local Governance in China During the Reform Era (Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc, 2010) and Democracy in East Asia: A New Century (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013)


Forum Publications

“Millennials and East Asia’s Democratic Future,” coauthored with Bridget Welsh, Journal of Democracy (April 2015)

“Southeast Asia: Sources of Regime Support,” coauthored with Alex Chang and Bridget Welsh, Journal of Democracy (April 2013)

Democracy in East Asia: A New Century, co-edited with Marc F. Plattner and Larry Diamond (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013)

“China and East Asian Democracy: The Taiwan Factor,” Journal of Democracy (Jan. 2012)

“The Meanings of Democracy: Solving an Asian Puzzle,” coauthored with Min-hua Huang, Journal of Democracy (October 2010)

Consolidating the Third Wave Democracies, co-edited with Marc F. Plattner, Larry Diamond, and Hung-Mao Tien (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997)

Share