"Informal Taxation, Co-Production, and Political Gender Bias: A Theory of Voter Bias Against Women Village Leaders. " Governance, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.70023. (with Paul Schuler). 

ABSTRACT

Are voters particularly biased against women holding village leadership positions? We initially theorize that traditional ceremonial roles drive anti-woman bias for rural village leadership positions. Our results partially align with expectations. While we find that voters in rural areas are more biased against women as village leaders than for other positions, our results and follow-up interviews suggest a different mechanism. We find that women face heightened voter bias because village leadership positions require personal authority, stereotypically seen as a male trait necessary to mobilize co-production. Support for this explanation comes from three waves of a massive, nationally representative survey in Vietnam. The findings demonstrate that women face high levels of bias against becoming village leaders in rural areas, where personal authority is important. This suggests that bias against women village leaders is rooted in the need for informal taxation, distinguishing it from biases against women in other positions. 

 "Navigating Conflicting Information in Autocratic Protests: A Survey Experiment in China " Under Review.

ABSTRACT

How does pro-protest foreign media influence mobilization in autocratic regimes when competing with anti-protest state propaganda? This paper argues that in authoritarian contexts, conflicting narratives from foreign and state media generate a divergence between attitudes and behavioral intentions. Foreign media can foster favorable views of protest, but this encouraging effect on behavior is neutralized by the deterring impact of anti-protest propaganda, resulting in little or no change in behavioral intentions. Using a pre-registered online survey experiment on a bank depositors' protest in China, this study discovers three key findings. First, a clear disconnect exists between attitudinal support for protest and behavioral intentions. Second, this gap is least pronounced among Communist Party members, who demonstrate greater loyalty to the party line. Third, UN News, despite its institutional capacity to hold states accountable, is no more effective at countering state narratives or mobilizing action than BBC News. These findings challenge assumptions about foreign media's mobilizing power in authoritarian settings and highlight the distinction between attitudinal support and behavioral willingness. 

Selected ongoing projects: 

"Blaming the Outsider: Foreign Intervention Claims, State Repression, and Regime Legitimacy in China. " Preparation for Submission 

ABSTRACT

While recent research demonstrates that foreign intervention allegations reduce protest support in democratic contexts (Chow & Levin, 2025), we lack a systematic understanding of how these narratives operate within authoritarian systems. This study addresses this gap by arguing that authoritarian regimes leverage foreign intervention narratives not merely to justify specific acts of repression—as seen in democracies—but to actively construct broader regime legitimacy through mechanisms unavailable to democratic governments. These include regime-legitimacy fusion, which frames the state as the sole defender of national sovereignty, and historical traumatization as a potent source of nationalism. Drawing on a survey experiment conducted in China (N = 2,200), I examine this core argument and investigate how the identity of foreign actors and the type of foreign support mediate public responses. The findings aim to show that authoritarian regimes can transform dissent into a tool for reinforcing regime legitimacy by linking it to foreign interference, rather than treating it as a sign of domestic discontent.

"Alliance as Legitimation: How Sino-Russian Relations Shape Regime Support in China"  Pre-analysis Plan 

ABSTRACT 

Does international alliances among authoritarian regimes shape public support and suppress dissent? This project examines how China's state media promotion of its relationship with Russia influences domestic public opinion. I theorize that portraying a strong Sino-Russian alliance boosts regime support by fostering national pride through shared ideological identity and discourages dissent by implying enhanced coercive capacity. Using mixed methods, I assess citizen reactions to bilateral cooperation—joint military exercises, diplomatic announcements, and portrayals of Vladimir Putin—through content analysis and emotional coding of Sina Weibo posts. I also field a survey experiment to test how citizens interpret these strategic narratives about international cooperation. This research contributes to international relations debates about how authoritarian regimes leverage international partnerships to maintain domestic control and demonstrates the domestic political returns of foreign policy signaling in non-democracies.