Welcome! I am a Ph.D. candidate of political science at Columbia University.

I study comparative authoritarian politics and the political economy of development with a focus on China. Specifically, I am interested in authoritarian institutions and their role in mediating the relationship between the ruling elites and ordinary citizens. For my dissertation, I examine how merit-based elite recruitment under authoritarianism serves as an institution of upward mobility that helps to stabilize the regime.

Before coming to Columbia, I received a B.A. in political science and economics from Smith College in 2011.

You can reach me at hanzhang.liu[at]columbia.edu.