Hanzhang Liu

  • Assistant Professor of Political Studies
  • Political Studies Field Group
portrait of hanzhang liu
Office Location

Broad Hall 105

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With Pitzer Since: 

Bio

Hanzhang Liu is an assistant professor of Political Studies at Pitzer College. Prior to coming to Pitzer, Hanzhang was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at University of Pennsylvania for the academic year 2018-2019. She received her PhD in political science from Columbia University and BA in government and economics from Smith College.

Hanzhang’s research interests include comparative authoritarian politics and the political economy of development with a special focus on China. Specifically, she examines how various authoritarian institutions are deployed to mediate state-society relations. In her doctoral dissertation, Hanzhang investigates how the merit-based elite recruitment system in contemporary China serves as an institution of upward mobility, which co-opts ordinary citizens and hence stabilizes the regime without additional redistribution. In addition, Hanzhang also conducts research on authoritarian misinformation and women in politics in China.

Curriculum Vitae (PDF)

  • MA, PhD, Columbia University
  • BA, Smith College
  • Chinese Politics
  • Authoritarian Politics
  • Introduction to Comparative Politics
  • Quantitative Methods in Political Research

“The Logic of Authoritarian Political Selection: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment in China.” 2019. Political Science Research and Methods, 7(4): pp.853-870.

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