Xiaoxiao Shen

Welcome! I am Xiaoxiao Shen, Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Political Science at Northeastern University and a Project Fellow with the Penn Project on the Future of U.S.-China Relations at the University of Pennsylvania. Before joining Northeastern, I was a Postdoctoral Associate in East Asian Studies at the Yale MacMillan Center and a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Yale University. I received my Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University.

My research examines the domestic and international politics of authoritarian regimes, with particular attention to China. I study how China’s authoritarian system shapes domestic public opinion in the digital era and within an evolving global order, and I examine the Chinese government’s strategies for shaping global public opinion and its role in international political discourse.

This interest in political communication extends beyond the content of messages to the infrastructure that carries them. A second line of my research addresses the political implications of emerging technology, in particular how the infrastructure underlying artificial intelligence is reshaping political alignment, security cooperation, and digital governance across countries. As part of this project, I am developing a public-facing dashboard and an AI-assisted agent to make the underlying dataset available to other researchers.

This research agenda extends to methodological development as well. I designed ReChat, an interactive platform for studying online deliberation, for which I hold U.S. Patent US11843470B2, and I am using this platform to conduct new experiments on human-AI interaction, examining how individuals communicate with AI systems and the implications of such communication for AI safety.

I hold a B.Sc. in Mathematics with Statistics from Imperial College London and an M.Phil. in Social Science from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. My work has been published or is forthcoming in leading academic outlets, including Political Psychology, the British Journal of Political Science, Governance (twice), World Development, Journal of Experimental Political Science, Political Science Research and Methods, Survey Research Methods, Research & Politics, and the Encyclopedia of Political Communication.

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Curriculum Vitae

RESEARCH

PUBLISHED PAPERS

9. Shen, Xiaoxiao. When Propaganda Resonates. Political Psychology (2026), forthcoming.
8. Chen, Xing, Xiaoxiao Shen. Silent suffering: Depression, perceived inequality, and political trust. Research and Politics (2025): 12(3). Read here

7. Shen, Xiaoxiao. The Effects of Forced Versus Selective Propaganda Exposure in China. Political Science Research and Methods (2025): 1-21. Read here

6. Baik, Jongyoon, Xiaoxiao Shen. Retrieving True Preference under Authoritarianism. Survey Research Methods (2025): 467-482. Read here

5. Shen, Xiaoxiao, William Small Schulz. Introducing ReChat: A Lab-in-the-Cloud for Text Discussions. Journal of Experimental Political Science (2024). Read here

4. Chen, Xing, Xiaoxiao Shen, and Andong Zhuge. ”Pollution Matters: The Political Impact of Information Disclosure”. Governance (2023). Read here
– China Public Administration Academic Annual Conference 2023 Third Prize for Excellent Papers
– CPSG (APPAM) Runner-up for 2024 Best Policy Research Article Award

3. Yang, Wenhui, and Xiaoxiao Shen. ”Can Social Welfare Buy Mass Loyalty? Evidence from China”. Governance (2020). Read here
– CPSG (APPAM) 2021 Best Policy Journal Article Award
– CAAPA 2022 Wang Wen Best Young Scholar Award (Link)
– Featured in “Authoritarian regimes’ social programs do little to win public support'” at The Academic Times

2. Shen, Xiaoxiao, and Rory Truex. ”In Search of Self-Censorship”. British Journal of Political Science (2020). Read here

1. Shen, Xiaoxiao, and Kellee S. Tsai. ” Institutional Adaptability in China: Local Developmental Models under Changing Economic Conditions ” . World Development 87 (2016). Read here

INVITED CONTRIBUTION

4.Shen, Xiaoxiao, and Eddy S. F. Yeung. “Preference Falsification.” In Elgar Encyclopedia of Political Communication, edited by Alessandro Nai, Max Grmping, and Dominique Wirz. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2025. Read here

3.Shen, Xiaoxiao. “ReChat: A Cloud-Based Platform for Structured Real-Time Text Interaction.” Invention Disclosure, work in progress

2.Shen, Xiaoxiao, “Review of Institutional Genes: Origins of China’s Institutions and Totalitarianism, by Chenggang Xu”. Pacific Affairs, 2026. Read here

1.Shen, Xiaoxiao, “Review of The Art of State Persuasion, by Frances Yaping Wang”. H-Diplo/RJISSF Roundtable, Forthcoming.

BOOK PROJECT

” When Propaganda Resonates ”. Book Conference Hosted at Yale University, Sep 26th 2024.

SOFTWARE PATENT

ReChat : An integrated and interactive chat tool that allows social scientist to administer, monitor, and analyze live conversations. URL: https://reso.chat/. Permanent U.S. Patent Application Granted, No. US11843470B2 (December 2023). Link