Charles J
- Research Program Mentor
PhD candidate at Harvard University
Expertise
Government, political science, Chinese politics, international relations, political economy, trade policy, applied statistics, politics, Chinese foreign policy, international political economy, Asian studies, data science
Bio
Hello! I am currently a PhD Candidate in the Department of Government at Harvard University, where I study Chinese politics and international relations. My dissertation primarily examines the evolution of Chinese trade policy since the early 2000s. I combine quantitative analyses, Chinese-language interviews, and historical documents to better understand how China is challenging and changing the international trade regime. Prior to starting my PhD, I worked at an NGO in Japan and interned at the US Department of State, the US Embassy in Beijing, and at a Washington, DC-based think-tank. Outside of my research, I spend much of my time playing music and being outdoors. I play jazz piano in a trio, and aspire to play like Bill Evans one day. On the weekends, I like to camp at New England’s beautiful state parks and work on my fly fishing skills!Project ideas
Python and Politics: Scraping Congressional Testimonies on China
How has Congressional opinion on China changed over time? Do Democrats and Republicans agree more or less on China policy now than they did ten years ago? Have your representatives changed their stance on China since taking office? In this project, we will evaluate these questions by utilizing Python to scrape Congressional testimonies from the Internet. We will learn how to collect, organize, and process text data using programming tools widely employed by researchers and social scientists. You will share your findings in a "data dashboard," showcasing key insights. By the end of your research project, you will have 1) generated new insights into important political questions, 2) explored how to collect and process text data from the Internet, and 3) learned the basics of data visualization.
Is War with China Inevitable?
One of the oldest and most enduring questions in the study of politics concerns the causes of great power warfare. From the clash between Sparta and Athens in ancient Greece, to the invasion of Ukraine, war has been an ever-looming threat in international relations, and has thus attracted great scholarly attention. In this research project, you will write a research paper evaluating the likelihood of war between the United States and China. You will review the leading theories of international relations explaining war, and select three cases of conflict throughout history to evaluate how well they explain each incident. You will conclude by applying the most convincing theory to the United States and China, and make a prediction about the likelihood of war in the future.