Jason (Jichu) Zhu is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. His academic interests sit at the intersection of International Relations and Comparative / International Political Economy (CIPE), focusing on great power competition, U.S. & Chinese foreign policy, economic statecraft, spheres of influence, and grand strategy.

With a primary regional focuses on Latin America and Asia, his research is driven by two interrelated questions: (1) How do great powers rely on different instrument bundles (e.g., security deployments, geoeconomic ties, and ideational narratives) to build and sustain spheres of influence, and what dictates their strategic preferences? (2) How does contemporary great-power competition shape the political and economic landscape of secondary powers?

Prior to his doctoral studies, Jason earned a B.A. in Economics and Honors Political Science from the University of Notre Dame. Professionally, he worked as an international market research analyst at AlphaSights and worked in the Global Capital Market (GCM) Division at Citigroup in New York City. He also worked as a research intern at the Wilson Center and as an economic consulting intern at Bates White in Washington, D.C.