Ziwen (Gary) Zu

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science with a specialization certificate in Computational Social Sciences at the University of California, San Diego. I am also an affiliated researcher at the 21st Century China Center (21CCC) at UCSD. My research agenda explores how social actors (masses and elites) influence authoritarian rule. Methodologically, I am dedicated to enhancing the credibility of instrumental variable estimation and survey experimental/RCT designs in nondemocratic regimes.

My dissertation examines how the Chinese government strategically employs legal professionals to deliver legal services showing legitimacy while deterring threats. I address this question by analyzing China’s state-sponsored legal aid programs using both field and survey experiments, quasi-experimental designs, computational methods, and extensive fieldwork.

My work has been published in Political Analysis and supported by the 21st Century China Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, chiang ching-kuo foundation for international scholarly exchange, and the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UCSD.