About me

Welcome!

I am a Ph.D. candidate at the Deparment of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis (WashU).

My research lies at the intersection of authoritarian politics, political communication, political psychology, and public diplomacy. It investigates a central question: how do political elites garner support among the masses, particularly when facing skeptical or even hostile public opinion? My job market paper, which serves as the foundation for a book project, answers this question by examining how the Chinese regime responds to revelations of widespread corruption through the strategic use of entertainment — a largely understudied dimension of the media landscape — to design engaging stories that weave detailed depictions of governmental failures with positive portrayals of reform and progress for persuasion.

"China's political environment today is that the top leader has almost absolute power."
— In the Name of the People (2017)

The other two papers in my dissertation, along with other solo and collaborative projects, advance this agenda by exploring how political elites use nuanced communication strategies to overcome public skepticism and build support for their rule and policies in both domestic and international environments. Beyond communication, I also study how states employ policy initiatives to foster political trust, especially in contexts where institutional legitimacy is weak.

Methodlogically, I adopt a multi-method approach, including experiments, computational methods (text-as-data), design-based causal inference, qualitative content analysis, and interviews.

Prior to my PhD journey, I participated in a Double Degree Program fully sponsored by the Bai Xian Asia Insitute (BXAI). Through this program, I earned a Bachelor of Science in Global China Studies (GCS) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and a Bachelor of Art in Economics from Waseda University in 2020.

Please feel free to reach me at weiye.deng@wustl.edu.