Welcome!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Michigan State University. I study comparative politics, with a focus on comparative political economy, electoral politics, political institutions, and regime change.

My research examines why and how political accountability deteriorates even when formal democratic institutions remain in place. In my dissertation, I examine the political conditions that threaten different forms of accountability, the factors that shape citizens’ willingness to trade accountability for other desired outcomes, and how political polarization creates incentives for politicians to strategically circumvent electoral accountability through distributive politics. I study these questions across global, individual, and subnational levels of analysis, combining computational text analysis, cross-national survey data, survey experiments, and electoral and historical data.

I hold M.A. degrees in Political Science from Michigan State University and National Taiwan University, and a B.A. in Political Science and Philosophy from National Chengchi University, where I graduated summa cum laude.

My curriculum vitae is available here.

Feel free to contact me at: wengliho@msu.edu