Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal, Siberia, Russia

Introduction

​Elizabeth Plantan
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Department of Political Science
Stetson University
421 N. Woodland Blvd.
Deland, FL 32723

eplantan[at]stetson.edu

@enplantan

I am an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Stetson University and a 2023-2025 Public Intellectuals Program (PIP) Fellow with the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations. Previously, I was a 2018-2020 China Public Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School and a 2022-2023 Wilson China Fellow. I am also a member of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations and a member of PONARS Eurasia.

My research and teaching interests encompass the global study of civil society, philanthropy, authoritarian regimes, and environmental affairs, with a focus on the comparative and international politics and public policymaking of China and Russia. My academic research is published or forthcoming in The Journal of Politics, Comparative Politics, Studies in Comparative International Development, Post-Soviet Affairs, and Russian Politics, among other venues. I have also published op-eds and public-facing scholarship in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Russian Analytical Digest, ChinaFile, and elsewhere.
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My current book project examines environmental activism in China and Russia, informed by more than 13 months of fieldwork in both countries, including over 150 interviews with NGO leaders, journalists, researchers, and government officials. 

I hold a Ph.D. in Government from Cornell University, an MA from the Russian & East European Institute at Indiana University Bloomington, and a BA in Government and Russian & East European Studies from Wesleyan University.