Learning from Crises: Agenda Setting and Policy Change
When societies are faced with crises such as earthquakes and epidemic outbreaks, a common response from citizens and political leaders (both in China and elsewhere) is to state that “this “should never happen again” and that we “should draw lessons.”

However, existing research conducted in other countries shows that public policy does not necessarily change after a crisis. A complex web of factors shapes event-related policy change, including, inter alia, the nature of the event, the policy community, media attention, advocacy for change, and political support (see research by Birkland and by Boin).

Much less, however, is known about whether—and in what ways—crises lead to policy change in China. How do Chinese policymakers respond to crisis situations? To what extent do such events influence the policymaking process? Addressing these questions is important not only for understanding governance dynamics in China but also for contributing to broader comparative debates on the relationship between crises and policy change.

To respond to these questions, I have conducted in-depth analyses of policy change after the Wenchuan earthquake, H1N1 pandemic influenza, and SARS. See publications here and here. I have presented on the broader topic of post-crises policy change several times, including at University of Glasgow’s Scottish Center for China Research, the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals, the University of California Irvine, and Harvard Law School.

At the moment, I am extending this project through a systematic literature review of all existing Chinese language research and English language literature on crises events. This will lead to a comprehensive overview of crises and policy change that have occurred in China. This project has been supported by the DKU Summer Research Scholars Program and has been presented at the 2024 Summer Research Scholar Poster Exhibition.

In addition to conducting research on this topic, I have taught crisis management at Duke Kunshan University (DKU) and at Mid-Sweden University. At DKU, I developed and taught a course on the politics of environmental crises, focusing on how policymakers prepare for and respond to crises such as oil spills, wildfires, and accidents. At Mid-Sweden University, I taught the course Policy-Making During Crises in Society.

Click here to read about my other research projects on policy processes in China.