Diana Fu
Areas of interest
- China
- Civil society
- Social movements & contentious politics
- Authoritarian citizenship
- Diaspora politics
- Indoctrination and Youth
Biography
Diana Fu is associate professor of political science at The University of Toronto and director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a China fellow at the Wilson Center, and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations.
Her research examines civil society, popular contention, state control, and authoritarian citizenship in China. She is author of the award-winning book “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” (2018, Cambridge). Based on political ethnography inside labor organizations, it uncovers how Chinese migrant workers organized for rights without protesting en masse. It received best book awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association. Her articles have appeared in Comparative Political Studies (co-winner of the 2017 best article in CPS), Governance (winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Scholarly Article Award), Modern China, Perspectives on Politics, and The China Journal.
Her research and commentary have also appeared in BBC World Service, Bloomberg TV, CBC, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Reuters, US News & World Report, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Globe & Mail, and The New York Times, among others. She has hosted the TVO documentary series “China Here and Now” and POLITICO China Watcher.
Dr. Fu received her D.Phil in Politics form Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and previously served as National Co-secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship for China. She has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
Diana Fu is associate professor of political science at The University of Toronto and director of the East Asia Seminar Series at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. She is a non-resident fellow at Brookings Institution, a China fellow at the Wilson Center, and a public intellectuals fellow at the National Committee on US-China Relations.
Her research examines civil society, popular contention, state control, and authoritarian citizenship in China. She is author of the award-winning book “Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China” (2018, Cambridge). Based on political ethnography inside labor organizations, it uncovers how Chinese migrant workers organized for rights without protesting en masse. It received best book awards from the American Political Science Association, the American Sociological Association, and the International Studies Association. Her articles have appeared in Comparative Political Studies (co-winner of the 2017 best article in CPS), Governance (winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s Distinguished Scholarly Article Award), Modern China, Perspectives on Politics, and The China Journal.
Her research and commentary have also appeared in BBC World Service, Bloomberg TV, CBC, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Reuters, US News & World Report, The Economist, The Financial Times, The Globe & Mail, and The New York Times, among others. She has hosted the TVO documentary series “China Here and Now” and POLITICO China Watcher.
Dr. Fu received her D.Phil in Politics form Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar and previously served as National Co-secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship for China. She has been elected to the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
Select publications
Books
- Fu, D. (2018). Mobilizing Without the Masses: Control and Contention in China. New York: Cambridge University Press. Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics; Columbia University Studies of the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
- E. Dirks and Fu, D. In Progress. Governing Global China’s Diaspora. Under contract with Cambridge University Press Global China Elements Series.
Articles
- Fu, D. (2023). “The Indoctrination Dimension of Repression: Televised Confessions Scripts in China.”Mobilization. Vol.28 (3), p.323-342
- Runner-up for the 2020 best paper award from the International Studies Association’s human rights section.
- Hou, R. and D. Fu. (2022). “Sorting Citizens: Governing via China’s Social Credit System.”Governance. Online first: https://doi.org/10.1111/gove.12751
- E. Dirks and D. Fu. (2022). “Governing Untrustworthy Civil Society in China.” The China Journal. Online first: https://doi.org/10.1086/722908
- Fu, D. and E. Simmons. (2021). “Ethnographic Approaches to Contentious Politics: The What, How, and Why.” Lead article of the special issue, “Studying Contentions Politics: From Afar or Up-Close? Fu, D. (ed). Comparative Political Studies. Vol. 54 (10). 1695-1721.
- *Guest editor of the special issue, “Studying Contentions Politics: From Afar or Up-Close?” Comparative Political Studies. Vol. 54 (10).
- Fu, D. and Distelhorst, G. (2020). “Political Participation and China’s Leadership Transition.” InCitizens & The State in Authoritarian Regimes. Bunce, V., Koesel, C. and J. Weiss, (eds). Oxford University Press. Ch.3, 59-86.
- Distelhorst, G. and Fu, D. (2019). “Performing Authoritarian Citizenship: Public Transcripts in China.” Perspectives on Politics. Vol. 17(1). 106-121.
- Media: “Chinese Officials Use Hotlines to Take Public’s Pulse.” The Economist. (Feb. 4, 2017).
- Fu, D. and Distelhorst, G. (2018). “Grassroots Participation and Repression under Hu Jintao and Xi Jinping.” The China Journal, Vol. 79, (January). 100-122.
- Media: “In China’s Democracy Villages, No One Wants to Talk Anymore.” Reuters. (Dec. 3, 2017).
- *Most read article in 2020-21.
- Fu, D. (2017). “Disguised Collective Action in China.” Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 50, No. 4. 499-527. Qualitative methods appendix published online, (Oct. 2016).
- Co-winner of the 2018 editorial board’s best article award published in Comparative Political Studies.
- Fu, D. (2017). “Fragmented Control: Governing Contentious Civil Society in China.” Governance. Vol. 30(3). 445-462.
- Winner of the 2019 American Sociological Association’s distinguished scholarly article award from the Labor and Labor Movements section.
Policy Reports
- Dirks, E. and Fu, D. (2024). Policy brief. “China’s Overseas Police Stations: An Imminent Security Threat? Brookings Initiative on Nonstate Armed Actors (INAA) and Illegal Economies.
- Fu, D. (2022). Policy report. “Is Rights Advocacy Civil Society in China Dead? How the United States Should Navigate People-to-People Exchange in a New Era.” The Woodrow Wilson Center.
- Fu, D. and E. Dirks. (2021). Policy report. “Xi Jinping-Style Control and Civil Society Responses.” China Leadership Monitor, The Hoover Institution. Sept. Issue.
- Dirks, E. and D. Fu. (2021). Policy report. “Disaggregating Xi Jinping’s China.” in Behind the Headlines Series. Canadian International Council. Mar. 2.
Please see her website for more information: www.dianafu.org
Awards & recognition
- 2018 American Political Science Association Gregory Luebbert Award for best book in comparative politics published in the previous two years
- 2018 Editorial board’s best article award published in Comparative Political Studies.
- 2019 International Studies Association Best Book award from the International Political Sociology section
- 2019 American Sociological Association Charles Tilly Distinguished Contribution to Scholarship book award
- 2019 American Sociological Association’s distinguished scholarly article award from the Labor and Labor Movements section
