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Drawing on a dataset of 354 contentious events and 155 in-depth interviews, this project investigates how state institutions shaped Chinese citizens’ claim-making under different conditions. In ordinary times, the CCP suppresses political activism not only through coercion but also by managing social discontent in sophisticated ways—channeling grievances into complaints and petitions, and often tolerating social protest. Ordinary citizens thus engage in contentious bargaining with state authorities but almost always refrain from political activism. I examine how these depoliticizing mechanisms continued to function during the pandemic, when they reached their limits, and how everyday grievances over social and economic issues began transforming into political discontent. This project reveals how citizens mitigated formidable risks through innovative tactics and how isolated, unobtrusive, symbolic, and virtual forms of activism were transformed into widespread, open, and disruptive street protests. It also illuminates how previously nonpolitical civil society groups facilitated political activism during the pandemic. This study advances our understanding of authoritarian stability and the possibilities for future change.
Recommended Reading
Chen, Xi. Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
–. “Civic and Noncivic Activism under Autocracy: Shifting Political Space for Popular Collective Action.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 25, no. SI (2020): 623–640. https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-25-5-623.
Chen, Xi, and Kai Yang. “The Puzzle of Cross-Provincial Activism in China: From Relational Dynamics to State Strategies.” Comparative Politics 55, no. 4 (2023): 597-615.
© privat
2026/2027
Xi Chen, Ph.D.
Political Science
Chapel Hill, N.C.
Born in 1972 in Hunan, China
B.A. in Law, East China University of Political Science and Law, M.Phil. in Law, Peking University, Ph.D. in Political Science, Columbia University
Arbeitsvorhaben
Pandemic, Protest, and Political Stability in China
Combating the COVID-19 pandemic placed immense pressure on the Chinese government. Its extreme measures of social control triggered striking social reactions, including a rare political movement that spread across the nation and to many other parts of the world. An examination of contentious government-citizen interactions during this unusual historical period reveals not only the conditions and mechanisms that helped sustain this authoritarian regime’s remarkable durability, but also the ways its political order can be challenged in an era of digital communication.Drawing on a dataset of 354 contentious events and 155 in-depth interviews, this project investigates how state institutions shaped Chinese citizens’ claim-making under different conditions. In ordinary times, the CCP suppresses political activism not only through coercion but also by managing social discontent in sophisticated ways—channeling grievances into complaints and petitions, and often tolerating social protest. Ordinary citizens thus engage in contentious bargaining with state authorities but almost always refrain from political activism. I examine how these depoliticizing mechanisms continued to function during the pandemic, when they reached their limits, and how everyday grievances over social and economic issues began transforming into political discontent. This project reveals how citizens mitigated formidable risks through innovative tactics and how isolated, unobtrusive, symbolic, and virtual forms of activism were transformed into widespread, open, and disruptive street protests. It also illuminates how previously nonpolitical civil society groups facilitated political activism during the pandemic. This study advances our understanding of authoritarian stability and the possibilities for future change.
Recommended Reading
Chen, Xi. Social Protest and Contentious Authoritarianism in China. Cambridge University Press, 2012.
–. “Civic and Noncivic Activism under Autocracy: Shifting Political Space for Popular Collective Action.” Mobilization: An International Quarterly 25, no. SI (2020): 623–640. https://doi.org/10.17813/1086-671X-25-5-623.
Chen, Xi, and Kai Yang. “The Puzzle of Cross-Provincial Activism in China: From Relational Dynamics to State Strategies.” Comparative Politics 55, no. 4 (2023): 597-615.