Sharon Du

"I chose to major in international relations because I enjoyed the flexibility of the major requirements and its interdisciplinary focus - it allowed me to explore whatever took my fancy across history, political science, religious studies, sociology and economics," said international relations honors student Sharon Du. "As an international student, I also found the coursework refreshing when it embraced less hegemonic perspectives. My 'tracks' of study were East and South Asia and International Security; however, I largely focused on authoritarian politics, Chinese history, and political communication."

Below, she shares why she decided to apply for the international relations honors program, how her degree has shaped her understanding of the world, and what her plans are following graduation. 

What is the title of your IR honors thesis? Why did you choose this topic? What were your findings?

The title of my IR honors thesis was "Hard and Soft Propaganda: Marketing Autocracy in Contemporary China." I selected this topic because of my own experiences in the mainland Chinese information environment and my personal fascination with the sheer variety of forms that ideological promotion could take. From survey experimental evidence with 657 mainland Chinese participants, my key findings were that exposure to both hard and soft propaganda varieties encouraged participants to pursue official forms of redress and could reshape what respondents conceptualized as "political propaganda." Participants who were exposed to both varieties became more likely to identify hard propaganda as "political propaganda" and less likely to identify soft propaganda as "political propaganda."

Why did you decide to apply for the IR honors program? Why would you encourage other students to participate in the program?

I decided to apply for the IR honors program because I wanted to continue working on a project I had developed in a seminar with Professor Fouka and Professor Laitin. I felt that the honors program would be a good way to structure my work and would also lend me a community of support in program director Dr. Erica Gould, my thesis advisor Professor Jennifer Pan, and other honors students. I think I might be a better researcher than I was previously. One underrated bonus to the program is a sense of psychological and emotional closure that it offers. Most seniors approach the end of their undergraduate career with mixed feelings - there's mourning for the classes never taken, the faculty you never worked with. You worry that you didn't really learn anything in these four years. A thesis is something concrete that you can point to, as a marker of your time here - it breaks the rhythm of your quarters and forces you to really consider what you think is important or interesting enough to spend a year on. I'm grateful for that.

How has your degree program changed your understanding of the world and prepared you for your next steps?

I believe that my degree program has allowed me to gain reasonable facility with a few different methodological approaches and fields of scholarship. The flexibility of the major requirements also allowed me to pursue varied interests within undergrad, which has helped solidify plans for the future. I came into college with zero experience in social science; I had not taken a single history course following ninth grade and had never taken any courses in politics or economics. The IR program allowed me to find out what my interests were.

What are your plans after graduation?

I have been accepted to Yale Law School and Yale's Center for East Asian Studies, and I will be completing a dual degree J.D./M.A. there. However, I will first be deferring for one year to work as a James C. Gaither Junior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.