Before entering academia, Dr. Manfred Elfstrom, Associate Professor of Political Science at UBC Okanagan, was driven by firsthand encounters with people and movements striving for social change. His academic journey emerged from years of work with non-profit organizations advancing labour rights in China, and with an initiative tracking China’s experiment with village elections. Through this work, Dr. Elfstrom encountered individuals and civil society groups who achieved meaningful victories in difficult political contexts — breakthroughs that led him to ask bigger questions about how such efforts accumulate, and what conditions might enable broader transformation.
This curiosity about real-world political dynamics ultimately drew him back into formal study. Dr. Elfstrom’s doctoral research examined workers organizing in China, revealing how such organizing produced contradictory outcomes: it expanded both the state’s capacity for responsiveness and its means of repression, resulting in what he described as a distorted form of political development. Over time, Dr. Elfstrom’s work has broadened to place Chinese politics in comparative perspective, identifying parallels and contrasts with other settings and, most recently, exploring civic participation in natural resource–dependent regions in different parts of the world.
A Cross-Disciplinary Role at UBC Okanagan
At UBCO, Dr. Elfstrom pursues research on China, labour politics, social movements, and authoritarianism, while teaching undergraduate courses that bring these themes to life. He also contributes to the interdisciplinary Global Studies program by leading graduate seminars. Dr. Elfstrom also serves as Program Coordinator for the International Relations Major — a program that introduces students to global issues through a wide array of disciplines including Anthropology, Economics, History, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology.
He finds great joy in conducting fieldwork abroad and in those moments when students, through rigorous inquiry, begin to see the world through the lens of social science and think how they can use that lens to inform their political involvement. At the same time, Dr. Elfstrom embraces the challenges of academic life, balancing teaching, research, program leadership, and mentoring.
Teaching with Curiosity and Care
Dr. Elfstrom’s teaching philosophy centers on fostering both engagement and analytical precision. He aims to instill in students not only excitement about politics, but also the ability to study it rigorously and communicate findings effectively. His classrooms are welcoming yet challenging spaces where strong opinions are debated with civility, and where students grapple with empirical puzzles tied to their normative commitments. Dr. Elfstrom encourages students to ask, for instance: if you wish to understand why some countries have higher inequality than others, what data do you need, and how should you approach comparing them?
In his undergraduate seminars on social movements, students engage in research exercises that range from survey design to interviews with local community members. The end-of-semester research presentations, in which students reflect on and discuss their findings with classmates, stand out as especially meaningful moments in Dr. Elfstrom’s teaching.
Research That Illuminates Ordinary People’s Agency
Dr. Elfstrom’s enduring research interest lies in understanding how ordinary people can reshape institutions that dominate their lives. Among his most meaningful projects is an ongoing comparative study of civic participation in coal-dependent regions of Appalachia and northern China. This work combines interviews with activists and community members and a large-scale quantitative data project that catalogs collective actions — from protests and strikes to petitions and lawsuits — across both regions. Leading a team of student research assistants through this complex analytical work has been one of Dr. Elfstrom’s most rewarding experiences at UBCO.
Beyond Academia
Beyond his academic work, Dr. Elfstrom maintains longstanding interests in art and history. An undergraduate major in both fields, he continues to paint and draw, reads widely— especially in history—and enjoys spending time outdoors in the Okanagan.
Impact and Aspirations
Dr. Elfstrom’s first book, Workers and Change in China: Resistance, Repression, Responsiveness (Cambridge University Press, 2021), remains his proudest professional accomplishment to-date, both for its scholarly contribution and for the questions it continues to inspire. He was also honoured with an Outstanding Instructor award, recognizing his commitment to teaching excellence.
As Dr. Elfstrom looks to the years ahead, his work remains guided by a commitment to understanding how collective action unfolds under constraint, and what it reveals about the possibilities for meaningful political change. Through research that bridges regions and methodologies, and through teaching that encourages both curiosity and care, he seeks to equip students with the analytical tools needed to engage thoughtfully with a complex world.
Whether conducting fieldwork, mentoring student researchers, or guiding undergraduates through their first sustained encounters with political analysis, Dr. Elfstrom’s work reflects a belief that careful scholarship and engaged teaching can illuminate paths forward—even in the most challenging political contexts.