Authoritarian Absorption: The Transnational Remaking of Epidemic Politics in China
Between 1978 and 2018, China’s infectious disease system went through collapse, reinvention, and dramatic expansion. This talk shows how unlikely players—foreign health organizations, Chinese officials, and grassroots activists—together reshaped epidemic control. Their interactions not only strengthened public health institutions but also reinforced authoritarian rule. These struggles left a lasting mark: they set the stage for China’s handling of COVID-19 and even opened new space for groups such as urban gay men to claim rights. The talk invites us to think about how authoritarian states adapt global ideas—less to liberalize, and more to increase government capacity and project global power.
About the Speaker
Yan Long is an associate professor of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a political and organizational sociologist studying the interactions between globalization and authoritarian politics across empirical areas such as public health, civic action, and urban development. Her research has appeared in the American Journal of Sociology, Journal of Public Administrative Research and Theory, and Social Science & Medicine among others, which has earned her more than ten national awards. She is currently studying digital technology and urban governance during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.