Eddy Yeung

Eddy S. F. Yeung is an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M University. Prior to joining the Bush School, he was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Politics & International Relations at the University of Oxford. He completed his PhD in Political Science at Emory University in 2025.

Dr. Yeung’s research examines how political communication and elite strategy shape (1) democratic legitimacy under autocracy and democratic backsliding and (2) the psychology of conflict escalation and de-escalation, with a focus on China, the United States, and their interactions. Uniting his scholarship is a broader interest in how elites and mass publics influence one another in the political system, both domestic and international.

His research has appeared in a wide range of journals, including Science, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, International Organization, and The Journal of Politics. He is also co-author of Deescalating a Trade War (Cambridge University Press, 2026), which examines the strategies of reciprocation amid US-China great power competition.

Dr. Yeung’s theoretical innovations on mass–elite interactions on democracy and conflict have received best paper and dissertation awards from APSA’s Democracy and Autocracy, Political Communication, and Political Psychology sections. His experimental research has been funded by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Mamdouha S. Bobst Center for Peace and Justice, and the U.S. National Science Foundation, among others. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Scholar Award from APSA’s Political Psychology section and the Early Career Fellowship from APSA’s Elections, Public Opinion, and Voting Behavior section.