Manfred Elfstrom

Assistant Professor

Political Science

Office: ART243
Phone: 250.807.8675
Email: manfred.elfstrom@ubc.ca

Research Summary

Chinese politics; social movements; labor; authoritarianism.

Courses & Teaching

Topics in Comparative Politics: China (POLI 314); Problems in International Relations: Social Movements (POLI 464I); Problems in International Relations: Chinese Foreign Relations (POLI 464H); Introduction to Comparative Politics (POLI 220); Global Studies Panorama (IGS 588).

Websites

Manfred Elfstrom’s Research Website

Degrees

PhD, Cornell University
MA, Columbia University
BA, Oberlin College

Selected Publications & Presentations

Clarke, Killian, and Manfred Elfstrom. 2022. “Power on the Margins: Lumpenproletarian Resistance in China and Egypt.” Comparative Politics 55(1):119-148.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2022. “The Jasic Struggle.” In Ivan Franceschini and Christian Sorace, eds., Proletarian China: A Century of Chinese Labour. New York: Verso Books.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2021. Workers and Change in China: Resistance, Repression, Responsiveness (Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Li, Yao, and Manfred Elfstrom. 2021. “Does Greater Coercive Capacity Increase Overt Repression? Evidence from China.” Journal of Contemporary China 30(128), 186–211.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2020. “Holding the Government’s Attention: State Sector Workers in China.” In Valerie Bunce, Karrie Koesel, and Jessica Chen Weiss, eds., Citizens & the State in Authoritarian Regimes: Comparing Russia & China. New York: Oxford University Press.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Chinese State Reactions to Labour Unrest.” China Quarterly 240: 855-879. (Winner of Gordon White Prize)

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Yao Li. 2019. “Contentious Politics in China: Causes, Dynamics, and Consequences.” Brill Research Perspectives in Governance and Public Policy in China 4: 1-90.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “A Tale of Two Deltas: Labour Politics in Jiangsu and Guangdong.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 57(2): 247–74.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “China’s Contentious Cab Drivers.” In Teresa
Wright, ed., Handbook of Protest and Resistance in China. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “Labor Issues in China.” In Sarah Biddulph and Joshua Rosenzweig, eds., Handbook of Human Rights in China. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Tapia, Maite, Manfred Elfstrom, and Denisse Roca-Servat. 2018. “Bridging Social Movement and Industrial Relations Theory: An Analysis of Worker Organizing Campaigns in the U.S. and China.” In Forrest Briscoe, Brayden King, and Jocelyn M. Leitzinger eds., Social Movements, Stakeholders, and Non-Market Strategy. Bingley, UK: Emerald Publishing.

Wang, Kan, and Manfred Elfstrom. 2017. “Worker Unrest and Institutional
Change: Perceptions of Local Union Leaders in China.” China Information 31(1): 84- 106.

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Sarosh Kuruvilla. 2014. “The Changing Nature of Labor Unrest in China.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review, 67(2): 453-480.

Selected Grants & Awards

SSHRC Insight Development Grant; National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant; Lee Teng-Hui Fellowship in World Affairs; Hu Shih Memorial Award; Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship