Shuyuan Shen is a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science and a Master’s student in Applied Statistics at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His research lies at the intersection of comparative politics and international relations, with a particular focus on Chinese domestic and global politics, comparative political communication, and political economy. He employs a range of advanced methodologies in his research, including computational, experimental, and statistical techniques. Shuyuan’s work has been published in International Studies Quarterly and World Development.
His dissertation, “What About Abroad: How Chinese Media Leverages Foreign News for Distraction and Legitimization,” uses large-scale social media and experimental data to reveal how autocratic regimes strategically deploy negative foreign news to distract public attention from domestic issues. This tactic helps mitigate legitimacy crises and sustain regime support during periods of internal instability. By focusing on the role of foreign news as a critical distraction tool, this research advances the literature on authoritarian politics, showing how news coverage of foreign countries and affairs can shape domestic public opinion and bolster regime resilience.
Research Interests
- Chinese Domestic and Global Politics
- Comparative Political Communication
- Comparative Political Economy
- Computational Social Science
Education
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign | Urbana, IL
- PhD in Political Science | Aug 2019 - May 2025 (Expected)
- Master in Applied Statistics | Jan 2024 - May 2025 (Expected)
University of Notre Dame | South Bend, IN
- Master of Global Affairs | Aug 2017 - May 2019
Chinese University of Hong Kong | Hong Kong
- BSSc in Sociology and Political Science | Aug 2013 - May 2017