Headshot of Dr.Dan  Chen

Dr. Dan Chen

She/Her
Associate Professor of Political Science
  • Profile

    Dan Chen is an associate professor of political science at the University of Richmond. Her research approaches the durability of authoritarian rule from a grassroots perspective. Focusing on China, her research is motivated by the dynamics between local forces and central power, as observed in popular culture, public opinion, news media, and local governance. Her work has been published in Asian Studies Review, Public Performance & Management Review, Critical Discourse Studies, Journal of Experimental Political Science, International Journal of Public Opinion Research, Political Research Quarterly, The China Quarterly, Modern China, Journal of East Asian Studies, Journal of Contemporary China, and more.

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    • Grants and Fellowships

      Member, Next Generation Leader Program, Committee of 100, 2024-2025 


      Centennial Center Research Grant, American Political Science Association, 2023


      Public Intellectuals Program Fellow, National Committee on U.S.-China Relations, 2021-2023


      Sydney China Fellowship, University of Sydney, 2018


      Research Travel Grant, Association for Asian Studies, 2017


      Faculty Research Grant, Elizabethtown College, 2016, 2017


      Curriculum Enhancement Grant, Elizabethtown College, 2014


      John A. Garcia Scholarship, Society for Political Methodology, 2012


      Walter Thompson Scholarship, University of Kansas, 2010-2012

  • Publications
    Journal Articles

    2024. "Fan Engagement with Chinese Celebrities' Political Signaling on Weibo." Journal of Contemporary China, first published online. (with Gengsong Gao)

    2024. “China on Campus: A Conversation with China Scholars of Asian Heritage.” PS: Political Science & Politics 57 (1): 133-136. (with Rongbin Han and John Yasuda)

    2023. “Seeing Politics through Popular Culture.” Journal of Chinese Political Science, 29: 185-205.

    2023. “The Public Opinion Effects of Crisis Propaganda in China.” Asian Studies Review, 48 (3): 504-523.

    2022. “Chinese Celebrities’ Political Signaling on Sina Weibo.” The China Quarterly, 254: 466-483. (with Gengsong Gao)

    2022. “Policy Stringency, Political Conditions, and Public Performances of Pandemic Control: An International Comparison.” Public Performance & Management Review, 45 (4): 916-939. (with Yong Li and Jiebing Wu)

    2021. “The Transgressive Rhetoric of Standup Comedy in China.Critical Discourse Studies, 20 (1): 1-17. (with Gengsong Gao)

    2019. Bread and Circuses: Sports and Public Opinion in China.” Journal of Experimental Political Science 7 (1): 41-55. (with Andrew MacDonald)

    2018. Political Context and Citizen Information: Propaganda Effects in China.” International Journal of Public Opinion Research 31 (3): 463-484.

    2018. “State Capacity and Cadre Mobilization in China: The Elasticity of Policy Implementation.” Journal of Contemporary China 27 (111):393-405. (with John James Kennedy)

    2017. “‘Supervision by Public Opinion’ or by Government Officials? Media Criticism and Central-Local Government Relations in China.” Modern China 43 (6): 620-645.

    2017. “Local Distrust and Regime Support: Sources and Effects of Political Trust in China.” Political Research Quarterly 70 (2): 314-326.

    2017. “Facilitating Public Service Provision: The Emerging Role of Municipal Television News in China.” The China Quarterly 229: 130-149.

    2016. “Review Essay: The Safety Valve Analogy in Chinese Politics.” Journal of East Asian Studies 16 (2): 281-294.

    Book Chapters

    2018. “Local and Grassroots Governance.” In Sage Handbook on Contemporary China, eds. Weiping Wu and Mark Frazier. Sage Publications, 388-405. (with John James Kennedy)

    2015. “Urbanization and Urban Villages: Institutional Factors and Social Identity in Urban China.” In New Approaches to Area Studies, eds. Shelly Bromberg and Edith Clowes. Northern Illinois University Press, 88-107. (with John James Kennedy)

    2014. “Election Reform from the Middle and at the Margins.” In Local Governance Innovation in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance, eds. Jessica C. Teets and William Hurst. Routledge, 154-173. (with John James Kennedy)

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