ABOUT ME

I am Duong Thi Thuy Pham, a PhD Candidate in Political Science at the University of California, San Diego and a 2025-2026 Dissertation Fellow at UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). My research interests revolve around the puzzle of authoritarian survival and autocratization in the 21st century. I focus primarily on the politics of "meaning-making", especially how autocratic regimes deploy propaganda and information control tactics to win the hearts and minds of people, both at home and abroad. ​My current research agenda tackles an understudied angle of modern authoritarianism: autocrats' redefinition of "democracy" in ways that challenge the Western liberal model. Why do autocrats redefine democracy rather than completely rejecting it or overselling their democratic quality? How do they redefine democracy? Does redefining democracy helps autocrats stabilize their rule? A compact version of my view is available in this piece published by UC IGCC. My regional expertise spans Southeast and Northeast Asia, with a substantive focus on Vietnam and China. I am also pursuing research on the international relations of the Asia-Pacific, ASEAN, LGBT politics in Vietnam, and applications of AI to qualitative research methods. Explore my research projects here!​

Originally from Da Lat, Vietnam, I received a B.A. in International Relations and Peace Studies from Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University (Japan). I later earned an M.A. in Law (Politics and International Relations) from Peking University as a Yenching Scholar at the Yenching Academy of Peking University (People's Republic of China) and simultaneously, a Baixian Scholar affiliated with the Baixian Asia Institute (Hong Kong). I am grateful for and take great pride in an educational journey that has spanned diverse sociocultural and political contexts. This journey has made me increasingly aware of how the entrenched belief in an East–West binary—and the assumptions it carries—can distort our understanding of the world. Guided by this perspective, I seek to cultivate an academic identity that crosses conventional disciplinary boundaries and remains open to new ways of knowledge production.
 

I see my educational accomplishments not as personal achievements, but as outcomes made possible by a myriad of racial-gendered-socioeconomic, as well as by the support of the communities I hail from. With that recognition comes my awareness of the responsibility to give back to the societies in which I grew up, from which I received my education, and upon which my academic work depends. As part of this commitment, I have written for outlets targeting wider audience including The Diplomat and East Asia Forum, and will continue to engage actively in public-facing scholarship. Additionally, I hope to become an educator who will expand meaningful and equitable educational opportunities for students across different backgrounds. You can read more about my teaching philosophy and experience here.