糖心logo入口

Skip to main content

Chao-yo Cheng

Positions held:
  • Lecturer, School of Social Sciences
  • Director of Postgraduate Social Research Programmes, School of Social Sciences
  • Overview

    Overview

    Biography

    Dr Chao-yo Cheng聽is a Lecturer in Quantitative Political and Social Research. He is also the Director of聽糖心logo入口's聽Postgraduate Social Research Programmes. Before coming to 糖心logo入口, Chao-yo held fellowship positions at (Beijing) and the (LSE).

    His research interrogates the institutional and policy foundations of democratic and authoritarian governance in multi-ethnic societies, integrating qualitative, quantitative, and computational methods, including applications of generative AI in social sciences research.

    With China as his primary case anchor and a comparative reach extending to India and Southeast Asia, his work addresses a range of core questions in comparative politics and political economy, such as the conditions sustaining authoritarian resilience (or inducing democratic backsliding), the politics of race and ethnicity, and the interplay between state capacity and nation-state building.

    Office hours

    Please email or use聽 to make an appointment (糖心logo入口 login required).

    Web profiles

    Visiting posts

    • Visiting Fellow, , 01 January 2026 to 01 December 2028
    • Visiting Assistant Professor, , 01 July 2023

    Honours and awards

    • Asia Fellow American Political Science Association, November 2021

    ORCID

  • Research

    Research

    Research interests

    • Race, ethnicity, and politics
    • Comparative authoritarianism and political development
    • Political economy of development and institutions
    • Public policy and politics of Asia (China, India, and Southeast Asia)
    • Social data science
    • Formal theory and quantitative methodology

    Research Centres and Institutes

  • Supervision and teaching

    Supervision and teaching

    Supervision

    Supervisions external to 糖心logo入口:
    2
    Supervisions within 糖心logo入口:
    1

    I am happy to work with students using innovative computational, quantitative, and qualitative methods to study various topics in the political economy of development and institutions, including:

    • Democracy and authoritarianism
    • Institutions and organizational behavior
    • Local governance, intergovernmental relations and state-building
    • Race, ethnicity, and politics
    • Poverty and inequality

    Students can examine single-country or comparative cases in the Global South, using contemporary or historical perspectives. I will assist in situating their research within a comprehensive theoretical framework.

    Current doctoral researchers

    • EGLINA BUBLIAUSKAITE
      Nature of supervision:
      PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR,

    Teaching

    Teaching modules

    • Comparative Government
    • Social Research Dissertation
    • Masterclass in Social Research
    • Dissertation MSc Politics
    • Advanced Topics in Quantitative Social Research
    • Investigating the Social World
  • Publications

    Publications

    Article

    • Ma, C. and Cheng, Chao-Yo (2026) . International Review of Law and Economics 86 (106331), ISSN 0144-8188.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Noh, Y. (2024) . Electoral Studies 89 (102791), ISSN 0261-3794.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Lin, Y.-T. (2023) . Government and Opposition 58 (3), pp. 497-515. ISSN 0017-257X.
    • Ma, C. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Haibo, H. (2022) . China Review 22 (3), pp. 9-46. ISSN 1680-2012.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo (2021) . Japanese Journal of Political Science 22 (4), pp. 312-332. ISSN 1468-1099.
    • Dai, Y. and Li, Y. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Zhao, H. and Meng, T. (2021) . Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice 23 (2), pp. 157-175. ISSN 1387-6988.
    • Aklin, M. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2020) . Journal of Public Policy 41 (2), pp. 331-359. ISSN 0143-814X.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Lee, Y.J. and Murray, G. and Noh, Y. and Urpelainen, J. and Van Horn, J. (2020) . Energy Research & Social Science 70, pp. 101766. ISSN 2214-6296.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2019) . Studies in Comparative International Development 54 (4), pp. 501-527. ISSN 0039-3606.
    • Aklin, M. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2018) . Energy Policy 113, pp. 466-477. ISSN 0301-4215.
    • Aklin, M. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2018) . Energy for Sustainable Development 42, pp. 54-63. ISSN 0973-0826.
    • Aklin, M. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. and Ganesan, K. and Jain, A. (2016) . Nature Energy 1 (11), ISSN 2058-7546.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2016) . Economics of Governance 17 (3), pp. 211-239. ISSN 1435-6104.
    • Chen, D. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2016) . Journal of Cleaner Production 112, pp. 3750-3758. ISSN 0959-6526.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2015) . Habitat International 46, pp. 111-118. ISSN 0197-3975.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2014) . Energy 76, pp. 306-317. ISSN 0360-5442.
    • Cheng, Chao-Yo (2011) . Chinese Law & Government 44 (6), pp. 3-9. ISSN 0009-4609.

    Monograph

    • Jain, A. and Ray, S. and Ganesan, K. and Aklin, M. and Cheng, Chao-Yo and Urpelainen, J. (2015) . New Delhi, India: Council on Energy, Environment and Water.