John J. Chin

I am an assistant teaching professor in the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy and Technology (formerly the Institute for Politics and Strategy) at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). I previously served as a research coordinator and post-doctoral fellow at CMU. In AY 2020-21, I was a non-resident post-doctoral fellow with the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict.

My research focuses on technologies of rebellion (coups d’état, self-coups, mass protest and nonviolent revolution, and assassinations), authoritarian politics, comparative democratization, China's political development, forecasting political instability, and cross-national dataset construction for political science. I am the lead author of an Historical Dictionary of Modern Coups D'état (with Joseph Wright and David Carter, Rowman & Littlefield, 2022). 

My research has been published in the British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Frontiers in Political Science, International Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Chinese Political Science, and the Texas National Security Review. I have also written for general audiences in the Brown Journal of World Affairs, The Conversation, Duck of Minerva, the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, the Modern War Institute, Political Violence at a Glance, The Monkey Cage, and the Washington Post. 

My teaching interests span international relations and comparative politics. I regularly teach the following courses: (Introduction to) International Relations, Diplomacy and Statecraft, Nonviolent Conflict and Revolution, and The Future of Democracy. I also teach courses (irregularly) on international human rights, civil-military relations, writing for political science and policy, and collaborative research in political science.

I hold a Ph.D. in Politics from Princeton University (2017), an M.P.P. from the University of Michigan (2008), and a B.A. in Political Science and Chinese from the University of Notre Dame (2006). Prior to my doctoral studies, I worked as an international affairs analyst at the Congressional Budget Office (2008-2010). I also have prior policy experience at the Rand Corporation, U.S. Treasury Department, U.S. State Department, and Atlantic Council of the United States.

You can contact me by e-mail at jjchin[at]andrew.cmu.edu. My handle is @johnchinphd on the site formerly known as Twitter.