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Behind the Research: Rory Truex ’07 Examines China’s Authoritarian Rule
In high school, a history teacher encouraged Rory Truex ’07 to study China in college. That trajectory led him to study abroad through Princeton in Beijing, then through the Princeton in Asia program, where he helped create the Summer of Service program for students to teach English in rural China.
“The Chinese government is problematic in many ways, but authoritarianism as a phenomenon is important to understand because there are so many complexities,” says Rory Truex ’07.
Now, as an assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton, Truex’s research focuses on Chinese politics and how authoritarian regimes stay in power with the strategies that are employed. Since the Chinese Communist Party is among the world’s most secretive political organizations, that’s become more difficult than ever.
Much of Truex’s research focuses on the intersection of public opinion and political psychology, including what type of personalities will buy into a political power or reject it. “For some citizens, the Chinese Communist Party becomes part of their identity,” Truex says. “They internalize the regime as part of themselves.”