Mayling Birney is a political scientist investigating how political institutions shape the nature of political relations, economic development, and human freedoms; and how they are in turn shaped by them. Her broad research interests include comparative democratization and authoritarian resilience; political economy; comparative local governance and politics; and democratic political theory. She is currently finishing a book on the political dynamics of electoral reform in China, which examines how village elections have reshaped local power relations yet had little spillover effects because of how effectively the democratic innovation has been isolated and constrained within the larger authoritarian system. Birney has also explored democratic politics in the U.S. from various angles and worked as a legislative aide in the U.S. Senate. In 2006-7, she was a research fellow at the Brookings Institution in D.C. She is currently the Wilson-Cotsen Fellow in the Woodrow Wilson School and Princeton Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts. Ph.D. Yale University.