Chi Fang

Chi Fang is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of California, San Diego, with research interests in international relations and international security, particularly the politics of arms production and transfers. His work explores how grand strategy and foreign policy shape a state's decision to domestically produce or procure weapons from abroad, considering not only foreign policymakers but also military end-users, defense industries, and weapons system supply structures. He is especially interested in the organizational dynamics of weapons acquisition programs and the influence of international political factors on these processes. His dissertation employs multiple social network analysis models to examine how national interests and technological sophistication affect the decision to make or buy weapons. In addition to quantitative methods, he conducts archival research tracing defense industrialization and weapons development in Eastern and Central Europe after the Cold War, as well as in Northeast Asia following the Nixon Doctrine. His broader academic interests include coercive diplomacy, Indo-Pacific geopolitics, and Taiwan, with ongoing projects analyzing Chinese foreign policy and military operations in the Western Pacific. He has also investigated the relationship between Cross-Strait relations and public opinion in Taiwan. Beyond political science, he engages in social network research on public health and development economics. Chi Fang previously held the U.S.-Asia Grand Strategy Predoctoral Fellowship at the University of Southern California and earned his M.A. and B.A. from National Chengchi University in Taiwan.