Nathan is currently a graduate student at the National Sun Yat-sen University (NSYSU) in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, in the Institute of China and Asia-Pacific Studies (ICAPS) and the Center for Japanese Studies (CJS), where he focuses on international relations, security studies, foreign policy analysis, and comparative politics. His writings have been published in the Taipei Times, The Diplomat, Sharnoff’s Global Views, and the Geostrategic Forecasting Corporation.
Nathan’s current research includes comparative studies of hedging strategies; bilateral relations within triangular constructs; a reconceptualization of the status quo-revisionist state dichotomy; the role of a state’s status and international position in configuring foreign and security policy; the effects of trilateral dynamics on alliance politics; Sino-U.S.-Japan relations; and Chinese, U.S., and Japanese grand strategies and foreign and security policies. He currently works as a research assistant for his thesis co-advisers, Dr. Lin Wen-cheng and Dr. Yujen Kuo; as an editor and translator at ICAPS and CJS; as an occasional English educator and freelance writer, editor, and translator (Chinese-English, English-Chinese); and as an international affairs and security researcher and consultant at the Geostrategic Forecasting Corporation.
Nathan’s past relevant professional experience includes Mandarin Chinese language studies at Wenzao Ursuline College of Languages in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and at NSYSU’s Chinese Language Center; an editorial, public relations, and research assistant internship at the National Council for International Visitors (NCIV), Washington, DC, summer, 2005; and a research and editorial internship at the Center for Communitarian Policy Studies at the George Washington University (under the supervision of Dr. Amitai Etzioni), Washington, DC, summer, 2004.
Nathan is an ten-year resident of southern Taiwan. He possesses a BA in History-Political Science and English from Jamestown College, Jamestown, ND. On January 9, 2013, Nathan and his wife welcomed their first child, a son they named Ian Richard (李勝元), into the world.
Nathan’s other professional and research interests include modern East Asian history and economic and political development, cross-Strait relations, diplomatic history, geostrategy, military history, political economy, game theory, and political psychology. He possesses working proficiency in Mandarin Chinese and has recently been dabbling in Taiwanese (Hoklo) and Japanese. Follow Nathan on Twitter @nwnovaklhs, connect with him on LinkedIn (Nathan W. Novak 李漢聲), or email him at nwnovaklhs@gmail.com.
The East Asia Observer 