Publications

Books

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

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Yao Li. 2019. Contentious Politics in China: Causes, Dynamics, and Consequences (Brill Research Perspectives in Governance and Public Policy in China). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill.

Journal Articles

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Abigail Ververda. Forthcoming. “Coal and Collective Action in Appalachia: Findings from a New Dataset.” Government and Opposition.

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Anita Chan. Forthcoming. “Use and Abuse of Chinese Workers Recruited for Belt and Road Projects Abroad.” Journal of Contemporary Asia.

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Xiaojun Li. Forthcoming. “Propaganda and Blame Attribution during Economic Downturns: Evidence from China.” Studies in Comparative International Development.

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

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. 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. 2019. “A Tale of Two Deltas: Labour Politics in Jiangsu and Guangdong.” British Journal of Industrial Relations 57(2): 247–274.

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): 453–80.

Chapters in Edited Volumes

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2022. “2018: The Jasic Struggle.” In Ivan Franceschini and Christian Sorace, eds., Proletarian China: A Century of Chinese Labour. New York: Verso Books.

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. “Labor Rights in China.” In Sarah Biddulph and Joshua Rosenzweig, eds., Handbook on Human Rights in China. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “China’s Contentious Cab Drivers.” In Teresa Wright, ed., Handbook of Protest and Resistance 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.

Essays, Op-Eds, and Interviews

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Kevin Lin. 2025. “A Question of Strikes.” Asian Labour Review. Available at: https://labourreview.org/a-question-of-strikes/.

Elfstrom, Manfred, and Serhii Shlyapnikov. 2025. “China’s labour movement under fire: An interview with Manfred Elfstrom.” LINKS – International Journal of Socialist Renewal. Available at: https://links.org.au/chinas-labour-movement-under-fire-interview-manfred-elfstrom.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2022. “Today’s Protests in China Have Been Years in the Making.” Jacobin. Available at: https://jacobin.com/2022/12/protests-china-zero-covid-policy-free-speech.

Franceschini, Ivan, and Manfred Elfstrom. 2021. “Workers and Change in China: A Conversation with Manfred Elfstrom.” Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights 5(3): 143-147.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “Inside China: Xi’s Risky Power Play.” Democracy Journal 52: 40-48.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2019. “Can American and Chinese Workers Unite With a Trade War Looming?” The Daily Beast. Available at: https://www.thedailybeast.com/can-american-and-chinese-workers-unite-with-a-trade-war-looming.

Elfstrom, Manfred 2019. “China’s recent crackdown on labour activists may have little to do with their own actions.” South China Morning Post. Available at: https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/united-states/article/2185187/chinas-recent-crackdown-labour-activists-may.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2017. “Counting Contention.” Made in China: A Quarterly on Chinese Labour, Civil Society, and Rights 2(4):  16-19.

Book Reviews

Elfstrom, Manfred. Forthcoming. “Contesting Inequalities: Mediated Labor Activism and Rural Migrant Workers in China by Siyuan Yin.” China Quarterly.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2024. “Atomized Incorporation: Chinese Workers and the Aftermath of China’s Rise by Sungmin Rho.” China Quarterly 258: 569-571.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2023. “The Political Regulation Wave: A Case of How Local Incentives Systematically Shape Air Quality in China by Victoria Shiran Shen and Local Politics and Social Policy in China: Let Some Get Healthy First by Kerry E. Ratigan.” Perspectives on Politics 21(4): 1494-1496.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2023. “The (Re)Making of the Chinese Working Class: Labor Activism and Passivity in China by Elly Leung.” China Quarterly 253: 263-264.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2023. “The Urbanization of People: The Politics of Development, Labor Markets, and Schooling in the Chinese City by Eli Friedman.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 76(3): 614–615.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2023. “China’s Informal Tools of Grassroots Control” (Review of Outsourcing Repression: Everyday State Power in Contemporary China by Lynette Ong) Asia Policy 18(1): 167–83.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2022. “China’s Contained Resource Curse: How Minerals Shape State–Capital–Labor Relations by Jing Vivian Zhang.” China Quarterly 251: 955-957.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2022. “Labor and the Contradictions of Law in China” (Review of Authoritarian Legality in China: Law, Workers, and the State by Mary Gallagher). Law & Social Inquiry 47(1): 363-367.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2021. “Critical Dialogue – Welfare for Autocrats: How Social Assistance in China Cares for Its Rulers by Jennifer Pan.” Perspectives on Politics 19(4): 1277-1278.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2021 “Factory Politics in the People’s Republic of China edited by Joel Andreas.” Pacific Affairs 94(3): 588-590.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2021. “Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the Lives of China’s Workers, by Jenny Chan, Mark Selden, and Pun Ngai.” The China Journal 86: 116-118.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2016. “Review of Police Reform in China by Kam C. Wong.” Journal of Chinese Political Science 21(2): 263-264.

Elfstrom, Manfred. 2012. “Power in Coalition: Strategies for Strong Unions and Social Change by Amanda Tattersall.” Industrial and Labor Relations Review 65(4): 1000–1001.

Reports

Becker, Jeffrey, and Manfred Elfstrom. 2010. The Impact of China’s Labor Contract Law on Workers. Washington, D.C.: International Labor Rights Forum.

Other Media

I have appeared on the New Books Network, the Pekingology podcast, and the Sinica podcast. In addition, I have spoken about Chinese labor issues on Illinois Public Radio, WMNF 88.5 in Tampa, and Rising Up with Sonali, and I have been quoted by the South China Morning Post, CNN (here and here), VOA, Wall Street Journal, and Toronto Star.  In a post at the China Policy Institute Blog, I discuss the growth of labor NGOs and trade union reforms in “the workshop of the world.” And I address the opportunities—and challenges—of data sets like China Strikes and of the spatial analysis of politics more generally in a piece in Dissertation Reviews.

My ORCID ID Number: orcid.org/0000-0002-5588-8778

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