Jean Oi

Bio

Jean C. Oi is the William Haas Professor on Chinese Politics in the department of political science and a Senior Fellow of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University. She is the founding director of the Stanford China Program at the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. Professor Oi also is the founding Lee Shau Kee Director of the Stanford Center at Peking University.

A PhD in political science from the University of Michigan, Oi first taught at Lehigh University and later in the department of government at Harvard University before joining the Stanford faculty in 1997.

Her work focuses on comparative politics, with special expertise on China’s political economy and institutions in the process of reform. Fiscal politics and central-local relations in China are at the center of Oi’s research. Recent work delves inside local-level institutions to sheds new light on China’s authoritarian resilience by exploring how county governments through adaptive governance have been able to cope as the economy has grown exponentially and demands and needs from an increasingly complex society put more strains on resources and the political system. Most recently, she co-edited a volume that highlights the challenges China now faces after reaping record breaking growth the last 40 years by only tweaking the institutions that it inherited from the Mao period. Current leaders continue to kick the can down the road rather than tackle the most political difficult part of the reform process. Instead, leaders seems to be “going back to the future,” relying on a playbook not seen since the Mao period.

Current projects focus on growing local government debt in China and why there is so much when law prohibits localities from borrowing and budget deficits. Moving beyond her earlier work, Oi also has begun a project to empirically assess the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Oi takes an institutional and micro-level approach to identify the key players and their interests.

Academic Appointments

• Professor, Political Science
• Senior Fellow, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies

Administrative Appointments

• Founding Lee Shau Kee Director, Stanford Center at Peking University (2012 - Present)
• Founding Director, Stanford China Program (2007 - Present)
• Senior Fellow, Stanford University, Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (2006 - Present)
• MBA Class of 1962 Visiting Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School (2005 - 2006)
• William Haas Professor of Chinese Politics, Stanford University, Department of Political Science (2001 - Present)
• Professor, Stanford University, Department of Political Science (2000 - Present)
• Director, Stanford University, Center for East Asian Studies (1998 - 2005)
• Guest Professor, Foundation Nationale des Sciences Politiques, Institute d’etudes Politiques de Paris, France (1998 - 1998)
• Fellow, by Courtesy, Stanford University, Stanford Institute of International Studies (1997 - 2006)
• Associate Professor, Stanford University, Department of Political Science (1997 - 2000)
• Visiting Professor, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Division of Social Science (1995 - 1997)
• Associate Professor, Harvard University, Department of Government (1987 - 1995)
• Assistant Professor, Lehigh University, Department of Government (1983 - 1987)
• Instructor, Lehigh University, Department of Government (1982 - 1983)

Honors & Awards

• Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education, in perpetuity, Stanford University (2015)
• Anonymous Friends University Bass Fellow in Undergraduate Education, Stanford University (2005-2010, 2011-2015)
• Dean's Award for Distinguished Teaching, Stanford University (2004-2005)
• Stanford Cap and Gown Honorary, Stanford University (2003)
• William Haas Professorship on Chinese Politics, Stanford University (2001)
• Outstanding Faculty Advisor, Stanford University (1999-2000)
• Outstanding Academic Title, Choice Magazine (1999)
• Nina C. Crocker Faculty Scholar, Stanford University (1998-2001)

Boards, Advisory Committees, Professional Organizations

• Fellowship Reviewer, National Academy of Science
• Fellowship Reviewer, Committee on Scholarly Communication with the People’s Republic of China
• Fellowship Reviewer, American Council of Learned Societies
• Fellowship Reviewer, Trinity College, Cambridge, England
• Fellowship Reviewer, Research and Grants Committee of Hong Kong
• Fellowship Reviewer, City University of New York Consortium on Political Science
• Fellowship Reviewer, Hong Kong University Grant Council
• Manuscript reviewer, Comparative Political Studies
• Manuscript reviewer, Economic Development and Political Change
• Manuscript reviewer, Australian Journal of Chinese Affairs
• Manuscript reviewer, Cambridge University Press
• Manuscript reviewer, Stanford Press
• Manuscript reviewer, American Political Science Review
• Manuscript reviewer, Harvard University Press
• Manuscript reviewer, Politics and Society
• Manuscript reviewer, Asian Survey
• Manuscript reviewer, Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE)
• Manuscript reviewer, Routledge Press
• Manuscript reviewer, Rationality and Society
• Manuscript reviewer, World Development
• Manuscript reviewer, University of California Press
• Manuscript reviewer, World Politics
• Manuscript reviewer, Comparative Politics
• Manuscript reviewer, Corruption and Reform
• Manuscript reviewer, China Journal
• Manuscript reviewer, China Quarterly
• Manuscript reviewer, Environment and Planning A
• Academic Advisory Council, Schwarzman Scholars Program (2014 - 2016)
• Founding Director, Stanford Center at Peking University (2012 - Present)
• Standing Review Board, Research Grants Council (RGC) under the U. Grants Committee Hong Kong (UGC) (2012 - Present)
• Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2011 - 2012)
• Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2010 - 2011)
• Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2008 - 2009)
• Founding Director, Stanford China Program, Stanford University (2007 - Present)
• Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2007 - 2008)
• Editorial Board, Asia Pacific Business Review (2005 - Present)
• External Reader for Doctoral Dissertation, Australian National University (2005 - 2005)
• Editorial Board, Asian Survey (2004 - Present)
• Editorial Board, Asian Journal of Political Science (2004 - Present)
• Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2004 - 2005)
• Member, Provost’s Faculty Steering Committee for the International Initiative, Stanford University (2003 - 2005)
• Member, Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award Committee, American Political Science Association (2003 - 2003)
• Faculty Advisor, Forum for Chinese/American Exchange at Stanford (FACES), Stanford University (2002 - Present)
• Advisor, Stanford Project on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE), Stanford University (2002 - 2007)
• Member, Overseas Studies Advisory Board, Stanford University (2002 - 2004)
• Chair, China Inner Asia Council, Association for Asian Studies (2002 - 2003)
• Member, Board of Directors, Association for Asian Studies (2002 - 2003)
• Member, East Asian Library, Stanford University (2002 - 2003)
• Chair, Center for East Asian Studies, M.A. Admissions Committee, Stanford University (2002 - 2002)
• Alternate Member, Administrative Panel on Human Subjects in Non-medical Research Committee, Stanford University (2001 - 2005)
• Member, China Inner Asia Council, Association for Asian Studies: (2001 - 2003)
• Convener, Department of Political Science, Comparative Politics Group, Stanford University (2001 - 2002)
• Member, Department of Political Science, Policy and Personnel Committee, Stanford University (2001 - 2002)
• Member, Nomination Committee, American Political Science Association (2001 - 2002)
• Chair (at Stanford), Stanford-Berkeley Seminar, Stanford University (2000 - 2005)
• Convener, Department of Political Science, Comparative Politics Group, Stanford University (2000 - 2001)
• Member, Nomination Committee, American Political Science Association (2000 - 2001)
• Member, Department of Political Science, Policy and Personnel Committee, Stanford University (2000 - 2001)
• External Reader for Doctoral Dissertation, Australian National University (2000 - 2000)
• Convener, Department of Political Science, Comparative Politics Group, Stanford University (1999 - 2000)
• Director, Center for East Asian Studies, Stanford University (1998 - 2005)
• Member, Committee on International Political Science, American Political Science Association (1998 - 2001)
• Chair, Sage Paper Award Committee, American Political Science Association (1998 - 1999)
• Co-Convener, Department of Political Science, Comparative Politics Group, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
• Member, Department of Political Science, Policy and Personnel Committee, Stanford University (1998 - 1999)
• Chair, Contemporary China Seminar Series, Stanford University (1997 - 2005)
• Co-Chair (at Stanford), Stanford-Berkeley Seminar, Stanford University (1997 - 2000)
• Co-Convener, Department of Political Science, Comparative Politics Group, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
• Member, Millennium Committee, Stanford University (1997 - 1998)
• Member, The China Quarterly, Editorial Board (1994 - 2009)
• International Advisory Group Member for the State Council Leading Group on the Economic Development of Poor Areas, People Republic of China (1992 - 1992)
• External Examiner for Master's Degree Examination, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (1991 - 1993)

Program Affiliations

• Center for East Asian Studies
• Program in International Relations

Professional Education

• Ph.D., University of Michigan, Political Science (1983)
• M.A., University of Michigan, Political Science (1975)
• B.A., Indiana University, Political Science and East Asian Languages and Literatures (1971)

Current Research and Scholarly Interests

Oi studies local governance in China, including the organization of rural communities and the provision of public goods. The center has created “new rural communities,” which relocated villagers into higher density housing to free up collective land. Oi examines how reorganized rural communities might affect village elections and the power of elected officials.

Fiscal politics and central-local relations in China have long been at the center of Oi’s research. Earlier work examined the fiscal predicament of lower levels of the Chinese state after fiscal recentralization and the abolition of fees and taxes on peasants.

Recently Oi has focused on growing local government debt in China and why there is so much when law prohibits localities from borrowing and budget deficits. Her research shines new light on the fiscal relationship between Beijing and the localities in the wake of the 1994 reforms. While the 1994 reforms recentralized tax revenues, Oi and her co-authors find that because of a series of backstage concessions between Beijing and the localities, decentralization was intensified. Localities were given new incentives and tools to grow their local economy and benefit from new sources of revenue. Central to this effort was local government borrowing, which was needed to fuel growth and maintain the façade of fiscal discipline.

A persistent theme in all of Oi’s work is the weight of institutions. Starting with her first book, Oi has tried to unravel how they shape politics and later how they help or hinder reform. Going inside local-level institutions, she sheds new light on China’s authoritarian resilience. She explored how county governments have been able to cope as the economy has grown exponentially and demands and needs from an increasingly complex society put more strains on resources and the political system. Through intensive and repeated visits to one locality, Zouping County, Shandong, she led a group of scholars to understand how institutions had evolved in the way that they operate even if on the surface little or no change is evident. China’s local governments were able to improvise and survive through adaptive governance. At the heart of authoritarian resilience in China is institutional agility in the face of incomplete reform.

Further following the theme of adaptive governance, she most recently co-edited a volume that examines how much further China can go with incomplete reform. The volume argues that China got great mileage out of its development model of the last 40 years that only tweaked the institutions that it inherited from the Mao period. This allowed the reforms in the CCP to avoid thorny political problems that challenged the core principles of the CCP leading a socialist system. But the question, 40 years into the reform process, is whether this same system may now become a weakness as current leaders continue to kick the can down the road, failing to complete the reform process. On the contrary, China seems to be “going back to the future,” relying on a playbook not seen since the Mao period.

Moving beyond her earlier work, Oi has begun a project to empirically assess the impact of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Oi takes an institutional and micro-level approach to identify the key players and their interests. Is the BRI is a tightly coordinated central state effort, as some assert, or another example of local state development taking advantage of global opportunities? Using interviews with officials and collecting data on key political actors both within China and in the countries where the projects are taking place, she maps the firms that are signing contracts as well as the firms that actually do the work for BRI projects.

Projects

• Understanding China’s BRI, Stanford University

  Taking an institutional and micro-level approach, this project analyzes the role of domestic politics in driving the Belt and Road Initiative and investigates its nature and implications.

  Location

  Stanford, CA

• Fiscal Politics and Central-Local Relations in China, Stanford University

  The fate of the Chinese development model largely depends on the prospects of striking the right balance between central control and local discretion. To gain insights into the current dynamics of central-local relations this research project examines the challenges Beijing faces in trying to solve the rapidly rising local government debt problem.

  Location

  Stanford, CA