By observing China’s domestic media landscape and state policies during the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper proposes the concept of “propaganda state 2.0” as a framework for exploring autocratic state propaganda
Mar 2024
Repression, Interests and Outgroup Attitudes: A Survey Experiment in Post-Coup Myanmar
Can outgroup attitudes improve in a repressive context? Existing literature highlights how shared victimization generated under repression facilitates recategorization of identity boundaries, thereby ameliorating exclusionary attitudes. We propose an alternative
Mar 2024
Can Encounters With the State Improve Minority-State Relations? Evidence From Myanmar
What explains ethnic minorities’ attachment to the state? Our current understanding has primarily considered structural factors, particularly access to political power and modernization. Diverging from existing explanations, I theorize that
Aug 2023
Outsourcing the polity: non-state welfare, inequality, and resistance in Myanmar
In the past few decades, a single-party socialist regime, a military junta, elected leaders and, since February 2021, another military junta have ruled Myanmar. Throughout these regime changes, an enduring
Jan 2023
Youth, Identity, and the Post-Coup Experience in Myanmar
One of the biggest challenges facing Myanmar today is its lack of a cohesive national identity. Its colonial legacy and half a century of authoritarian rule has reified group divisions
Jul 2022
Can social recognition for teachers and principals improve student performance? Evidence from India
Empirical evidence on the effectiveness of performance-based rewards for teachers is primarily based on the evaluation of monetary reward schemes. We present results from a randomized evaluation of a teacher
Aug 2021
Winning Hearts and Minds: Street-Level Bureaucracy and Attachment to the State in Myanmar
What determines ethnic minorities’ attachment to the state? This phenomenon attachment to the state is perceived in this dissertation as individuals’ identification with, affirmation of and loyalty to the state.
Jul 2021
Chinese views on nuclear weapons: Evidence from an online survey
What are Chinese public attitudes regarding nuclear weapons? Although scholars have studied Chinese elites’ views on nuclear weapons, surprisingly little is known about the views of China’s public. To understand
