Andrew J. Nathan is a professor of political science at Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

. He specializes in Chinese politics, foreign policy, human rights and political culture. Nathan attended Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

, where he earned a B.A. in history, an M.A. in East Asian Studies, and a Ph.D. in Political Science. He has taught at Columbia University since 1971, and currently serves as the chair of the steering committee for the Center for the Study of Human Rights. His previous appointments include as the chair of the Department of Political Science (2003–2006), and chair of the Weatherhear East Asian Institute (1991–1995).

Nathan also serves as an advisor or board member with Freedom House

Freedom House

Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...

 and Human Rights in China

Human Rights in China

Human Rights in China is a New York-based international, Chinese, non-governmental organization with a mission to promote international human rights and advance the institutional protection of these rights in the People's Republic of China....

, and is a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Democracy

Journal of Democracy

The Journal of Democracy is a quarterly academic journal established in 1990 and an official publication of the National Endowment for Democracy...

, the China Quarterly, and the Journal of Contemporary China

Journal of Contemporary China

The Journal of Contemporary China is a peer-reviewed academic journal on contemporary Chinese affairs. It is published five times per year by Routledge and covers issues such as Chinese politics, law, economy, culture, and foreign policy, among others...

, among others. Nathan is perhaps best known as a co-author of the Tiananmen Papers

Tiananmen Papers

The Tiananmen Papers was first published in English in January 2001 by PublicAffairs. The extended Chinese version of this book was published in April that same year under the title 中國六四真相 by Mirror Books in Hong Kong...

, along with Perry Link

Perry Link

Perry Link is Chancellorial Chair Professor for Innovative TeachingComparative Literature & Foreign Languages in College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences at University of California, Riverside and Emeritus Professor of East Asian Studies at Princeton University. He specializes in modern...

.

Books

• Peking Politics, 1918-1923 (1976)
• Chinese Democracy (1985)
• Popular Culture in Late Imperial China (1985)
• Human Rights in Contemporary China (1986)
• China's Crisis (1990)
• The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress: China's Search for Security (1997)
• China's Transition (1997)
• The Tiananmen Papers (2001)
• Negotiating Culture and Human Rights: Beyond Universalism and Relativism (2001)
• China's New Rulers: The Secret Files (2002, second edition 2003)
• Constructing Human Rights in the Age of Globalization (2003)
• How East Asians View Democracy (2008)
• The Great Wall and the Empty Fortress, second edition (2009)