S.J.D. Candidate
wtsai at sjd.law.harvard.edu
Dissertation
Countering Authoritarian Influence by Building a Healthier Epistemic Infrastructure for Democracies: A New Paradigm of Media Governance for Taiwan
My research aims to answer the research problem: How can Taiwan improve its media governance structures to protect the democratic processes from Chinese information operations? I propose that because foreign disinformation and propaganda permeate society through the minds of citizens, it cannot be treated simply as something that should be rooted out. Counter-disinformation solutions should not focus on eliminating certain messages, but on building the infrastructures through which information is aggregated, arranged, and presented in a way that is healthy for the democratic processes. My research seeks to provide a comprehensive theoretical foundation for Taiwan’s media governance structures, and to inform democracies worldwide of ways to build a healthier democratic system to counter authoritarian influence.
Fields of Research and Supervisors
- Political Economy and Communications Law & Policy with Professor Yochai Benkler, Harvard Law School, Principal Faculty Supervisor
- National Security and Countering Authoritarian Influence with Professor Jack Goldsmith, Harvard Law School
- Comparative Legal Studies and Theories of Democracy with Professor Vicki Jackson, Harvard Law School
- Sociology of Media & Information Technologies and Qualitative Research with Professor Ya-Wen Lei, Department of Sociology, Harvard University
Additional Research Interests
- Comparative Constitutional Law and Freedom of Speech Theory
- Internet Law and Policy
- Election Law
- Political Philosophy and Jurisprudence
Education
- Harvard Law School, S.J.D. Candidate 2022 – Present
- Harvard Law School, LL.M. Program 2021-2022 (requirements fulfilled, degree waived)
- National Taiwan University, Graduate Institute of Interdisciplinary Legal Studies, Master of Laws, 2018
- National Taiwan University, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures, B.A., 2012
Additional Information
- Professional Experience: Legal Advisor and Policy Lead on Countering Disinformation, Office of Minister without Portfolio Lo Ping-Cheng, Executive Yuan, Taiwan, 2018-2021
- Languages: English, Mandarin, Taiwanese
- Bar Admission: Taiwan
Last Updated: August 18th, 2022