My research is situated at the intersection of authoritarianism, contentious politics, and political economy of development. While I am based at the department of Political Science, I often draw on theoretical insights from other social science disciplines to inform my research. My research has taken me across China — from poverty villages to urban neighbourhoods — to slums in Mumbai, and onto central business districts in Hong Kong and Singapore.
Prosper or Perish: Credit and Fiscal Systems in Rural China
(Cornell University Press, 2012)
Interweaving insightful and theoretically informed discussions of rural credit, development, governance, and bank bailouts, Ong identifies various sources for China’s uneven development. Prosper or Perish, published in 2012, was one of the first scholarly works to sound alarm bell about local government debt in China, owing to the nature of its development model.
“Why have some localities succeeded in rural industrialization, while others remain impoverished and deeply indebted? Lynette H. Ong challenges conventional explanations for regional variation in rural development in contemporary China. Prosper or Perish contributes fresh insights to our understanding of China’s complex and evolving political economy.”—Kellee S. Tsai, The Johns Hopkins University, author of Capitalism without Democracy: The Private Sector in Contemporary China.
Refereed Journal Articles
14. “Strengthening the State Through Crisis Management: Battles Against the SARS and Covid-19 Pandemics in China”, Issues & Studies. 58 (3). (With Guangming Jiang)
13. “‘Land Grabs’ in an Autocracy and a Multi-Party Democracy: China and India Compared“, Journal of Contemporary Asia, 50(3), 2020.
–Related “The Political Economy of Land Grabs in China and India“, East Asia Forum, November 21, 2015; “Buy Low and Sell High: The Political Economy of ‘Land Grabs’ in China and India“, Policy Forum, August 31, 2015.
12.“Engaging Huangniu (Brokers): Commodification of State-Society Bargaining in China“, Journal of Contemporary China, 28 (166), 2019.
11. “‘Thugs-for-Hire’: Subcontracting of State Coercion and State Capacity in China“, Perspectives on Politics, 16 (3), 2018.
-Inaugural Routledge Area Studies (Impact) Award, Shortlist, 2022
–Related American Political Science Association Comparative Politics Section Newsletter, Vol. 28, Issue 1, 2018.
10.“What Drives People to Protest in an Authoritarian Country? Resources and Rewards vs. Risks of Protests in Urban and Rural China“, Political Studies, 67 (1), 2019. (with Donglin Han)
–Covered by the Wall Street Journal, “The Discontent of Migrants Looms Over China”, March 6, 2020.
9.“Thugs and Outsourcing of State Repression in China“, China Journal, July 2018.
–Related Made in China Journal, “Outsourcing Coercion and Social Control in China”, October 18, 2018.
8.“Chinese Rural Cooperative Finance in the Era of Post-Commercialized Rural Credit Cooperatives”, Special Issue: Cooperatives in China, The Chinese Economy, 47 (3), July 2014. (with Guangwen He)
7.“State-led Urbanization in China: Land Revenue and ‘Concentrated Villagers’,” 47 (3), China Quarterly, 2014.
–Covered by The Economist, “Local Government: Emerging from the Shadows“, April 19, 2014; and New York Times, “New China Cities: Shoddy Homes, Broken Hope“, November 9, 2013.
6.“The Apparent “Paradox” in China’s Climate Policies,” Asian Survey, 52(6), 2012.
–Covered by Chicago Policy Review, “China: Progress Without Partnership“, July 23, 2013.
5.“Between Developmental and Clientelist States Local State-Business Relationships in China,” Comparative Politics, 44 (2), 2012.
4.“Fiscal Federalism and Soft Budget Constraint: The Case of China,” International Political Science Review, 33 (4), 2012.
–Covered by The Diplomat, China’s Secret Performance Targets, June 27, 2013.
3.“Communist Party and Financial Institutions: Institutional Design of China’s Post-Reform Rural Credit Cooperatives,” Pacific Affairs, 82 (1), 2009., 82(2), 2009.
2.“The Political Economy of Township Government Debt, Township Enterprises, and Rural Financial Institutions in China,” China Quarterly, 186, 2006.
1.“Multiple Principals and Collective Action: China’s Rural Credit Cooperatives and Poor Households’ Access to Credit,” Journal of East Asian Studies, 6(2), 2006.
Refereed Book Chapters and Reports
4.“Reports of Social Unrest: Basic Characteristics, Trends and Patterns, 2003-12” in Handbook of Research on Politics in China, edited by David G. Goodman, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2015
3.(with Christian Gobel) “Social Unrest in China” in China and the EU in Context: Insights for Business and Investors, edited by Kerry Brown, London: Palgrave MacMillan, 2014.
2.“Social Unrest in China,” Europe-China Research and Advice Network, 2012.
1.”Greasing the Wheels of Development: Rural Credit in China,” Politics and Markets in Rural China, Bjorn Alpermann ed. London: Routledge, 2011.
Other Publications
“Xi Jinping’s ‘Sweeping Black” Campaign’”, Urban Violence Network, April 28, 2021.
“’Thugs-for-Hire’: Subcontracting of State Coercion to Violent Agents”, in “Policing and Domestic Security Forces” CP: Newsletter of the Comparative Politics Organized Section of the American Political Science Association, 28 (1). Spring 2018.
“Outsourcing of Coercion and State Control”, Made in China Journal, Issue 3, July-September 2018, pp.32-35.
“Youth Engagement to Advance Canada-China Relations” (with James Flynn), in Moving Forward: 45 Years of Canada-China Relations, edited by David Mulroney and Joseph Wong, February 2016.
Book Reviews
Review of Julia Chuang’s “Beneath the China Boom: Labor, Citizenship, and the Making of a Rural Land Market”, British Journal of Sociology, pp.237-238, 1 December 2021.
Review of Kristen Looney’s “Mobilizing for Development: The Modernization of Rural East Asia”, The National Bureau of Asian Research, Roundtable in Asia Policy, 16.2, April 28, 2021.
“A Discussion of Daniel A. Bell’s The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy”, Perspectives on Politics, vol. 14, iss 1, March 2016.
Review of “Factions and Finance in China: Elite Politics and Inflation”, by Victor Shih, (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2008), The China Journal, Issue 65, January 2011.
Review of “Rural Democracy in China: The Role of Village Elections”, by Baogang He, (Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007), The China Journal, Issue 62, July 2009.
Review of “Engaging the Law in China: State, Society, and Possibilities for Justice”, edited by Neil J. Diamant, Stanley B. Lubman, and Kevin J. O’Brien, (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2005), the Journal of East Asian Studies, Issue 8, 2008.
Review of “Financial Sector Reform in China”, edited by Yasheng Huang, Tony Saich, and Edward Steinfeld (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Asia Centre, 2005), The China Journal, Issue 56, July 2006.
Review of “Taxation Without Representation in Contemporary Rural China”, by Thomas P. Bernstein and Xiaobo Lü (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), The China Journal, Issue 51, January 2004.