Anna Lisa Ahlers

Professor II - China Studies
Image of Anna Lisa Ahlers
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Email a.l.ahlers@ikos.uio.no
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Visiting address Niels Henrik Abels vei 36 0371 Oslo
Postal address Postboks 1010 Blindern 0315 Oslo

Academic interests

Contemporary China, political system, authoritarianism, local governance, scientific knowledge production and political regimes, geopolitics, Global China

Courses

Background

  • MA (Magister) in Sinology and Political Science (University of Tübingen; Peking University, Renmin University), 2007
  • Dr. phil. in Modern China Studies (University of Tübingen), 2013

Positions and fellowships held

  • Current main position: head of the Lise Meitner Research Group "China in the Global System of Science" at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin (since 2020)
  • Academic fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (IAS), Berlin (2020-2021)
  • Associate professor in Modern Chinese Society and Politics, University of Oslo (2014-2020)
  • Wigeland visiting associate professor, Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations (EALC), University of Chicago (2018-2019)
  • Co-director of the research group "domestic politics" at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), Berlin (2013-2014)
  • Postdoctoral researcher, Forum Internationale Wissenschaft (FIW), Department of Comparative Research on Democracies, University of Bonn (2013)
  • Doctoral fellow, Institute for Political Science (IPSAS), Academia Sinica TW (2011-2012)
  • Doctoral researcher and junior lecturer, Chair for Greater China Studies (GCS), University of Tübingen (2008-2012)
Tags: China, political systems, authoritarianism, Science and Technology Studies, Geopolitics, Environmental Governance, local governance

Selected publications

► Google scholar profile

Books

  • Ahlers, A. L., Krichewsky, D., Moser, E., & Stichweh, R. (2021). Democratic and Authoritarian Political Systems in 21st Century World Society. Vol. I.: Differentiation, Inclusion, Responsiveness. Bielefeld: Transcript.
  • Ahlers, A. L., Hansen, M. H. &, Svarverud, R. (2020). The Great Smog of China: A Short History of Air Pollution. Ann Arbour/New York: AAS Asia Shorts/Columbia University Press.
  • Ahlers, A. L. (2014). Rural Policy Implementation in Contemporary China: New Socialist Countryside. London: Routledge. 2nd printing, paperback 2017.
  • Schubert, G., & Ahlers, A. L. (2012). Participation and Empowerment at the Grassroots: Chinese Village Elections in Perspective. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Articles and book chapters

  • Ahlers, A. L. (2024). The Communist Party’s Steering of China’s Science, Technology, and Innovation System: Aspirations and Reality. University of California IGCC and MERICS Policy Brief, April 5. https://ucigcc.org/publication/the-communist-partys-steering-of-chinas-science-technology-and-innovation-system-aspirations-and-reality/
  • Ahlers, A. L. (2023). Technocracy on the Ground: Cadre Competence, Expert Involvement, and Scientific Advice in China’s Local Governance. In D. Goodman, & C. Ergenc (Eds.), Handbook on Local Governance in China: Structures, Variations, and Innovations (pp. 152-176). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800883246.00018
  • Ahlers, A. L., & Christmann-Budian, S. (2023). The Politics of University Rankings in China. Higher Education, 86, 751-770. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01014-y
  • Ahlers, A. L., & Schubert, G. (2022). Nothing New under ‘Top-Level Design’? A Review of the Conceptual Literature on Local Policy-Making in China. Issues & Studies - A Social Science Quarterly on China, Taiwan, and East Asian Affairs, 58(1). https://doi.org/10.1142/S101325112150017X
  • Shen, Y., & Ahlers, A. L. (2019). Blue Sky Fabrication in China: Science-Policy Integration in Air Pollution Regulation Campaigns for Mega-Events. Environmental Science and Policy, 94, 135-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2018.12.005
  • Sagild, R. Å., & Ahlers, A. L. (2019). Honorary Intermediaries? The Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference in Theory and Practice. China Perspectives/Perspectives Chinoises, 2, 9-16. https://doi.org/10.4000/chinaperspectives.9016
  • Ahlers, A. L., & Shen, Y. (2018). Breathe Easy? Local Nuances of Authoritarian Environmentalism in China’s Battle Against Air Pollution. The China Quarterly, 234, 299-319. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741017001370
  • Ahlers, A. L. (2018). 让蓝天重新绽放:德国鲁尔区的空气污染与治理 (Let a blue sky shine again: Air pollution governance in the German Ruhr area). In Z. Liu, & Hansen, M.H. (Eds.), 仰望窗外的天空——中外科学家对话空气环境与治理 (A Window on the Sky: Chinese and Foreign Scholars Discuss the Atmospheric Environment and Its Governance) (pp. 133-145). Hangzhou: Zhejiang University Press.
  • Ahlers, A. L., & Hansen, M. H. (2017). Air Pollution: How Will China Win its Self-Declared War Against it? In Eva Sternfeld (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Environmental Policy in China (pp. 83-96). London: Routledge.Ahlers, A. L., & Schubert, G. (2015). Effective Policy Implementation in China’s Local State. Modern China, 41(4), 372- 405. https://doi.org/10.1177/0097700413519563
  • Ahlers, A. L., & Schubert, G. (2013). Strategic Modelling: “Building of a New Socialist Countryside” in Three Chinese Counties. The China Quarterly, 216, 831-849. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741013001045
  • Ahlers, A. L. (2006). Environmental Mediation. In S. Laohasiriwong, & M.C. Ang Ming-Chee (Eds.), Natural Resources Related Conflict Management in Southeast Asia (pp. 223-239). Khon Kaen: Siriphan Press.

Other papers

Published Jan. 24, 2024 12:51 PM - Last modified June 20, 2024 5:25 PM

Projects

No ongoing projects

Main position: head of the Lise Meitner Research Group "China in the Global System of Science" at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin