Kevin Wei Luo
@kevinweiluo
assistant professor of political science, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. China / Taiwan / Asia, politics of state building. usual caveats. 中英俱劣.
There are a lot of people I need to thank after this 5(!) year process and endless rewrites, especially the folks at the University of Toronto for inspiring the first ideas for this paper. Thanks to friends, colleagues, mentors, and those no longer with us - Xiaohong and Joe. 6/6
implications: 1. Revolutionary legacies have disparate effects on state capacity; 2. The strength of revolutionary regimes might not solely come from its origins, but rather from its ability in the long run to temper the anti-establishment impulses of the revolutionary public 5/n
Ultimately, this sustained revolutionary paranoia that undermined bureaucratic capacity, and incited vigilante violence during the Cultural Revolution. An example of violent insurrection from Ruijin (瑞金), once the capital of the Central Soviet, is particularly illuminating 4/n
The need to search for counterrevolutionary enemies, while useful for social mobilization in state campaigns such as land reform, became a curse which planted widespread suspicions of potential counterrevolutionary forces in state and society, as memoirs like this reveal 3/n
Regionally, I focus on the history of the Central Soviet revolutionary zone (中央苏区), the birthplace of the CCP’s rural pivot. The tortuous experiences of revolutionary reform and counterrevolution prior to 1949 left a legacy of social antagonism and thirst for vengeance 2/n
Looking forward to being a part of the unofficial ‘Harvard Taiwan Week’ this week, ending with a full day Friday symposium (4/17) that Kyle Shernuk, Yedong Chen, and yours truly have put together - and convened by David Wang. Hope to see you there!
AAS Vancouver 2026: Will be presenting at the panel "People's Republic of Bureaucracy: The Politics of Classification and Personnel in the Chinese State" Saturday 10:30-12 at VCC Room 220. With @mt-b.bsky.social @ktai.bsky.social Yi Lu, Juan Wang and Daniel Leese as discussants. See you there!
Message from the University of Minnesota leadership, in response to the killing of our alum Alex Pretti today.
I stayed for 45 minutes and left because my ears were burning in the cold. Props to Minnesotans for braving the weather.
Tried to grade some midterms but got distracted because THE JAYS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES
Second leg of APSA2025. Presenting joint work on geopolitics and democratization in Taiwan Saturday 2pm, and then book roundtable Sunday 10am for @lnachman32.bsky.social and his new book “Contested Taiwan: Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Party Formation.” Hope to see you there!
interesting retrospection on cross-strait relations lately. from Lin Chong-pin, ex deputy defense minister of the ROC: The Tsai admin's proposal to re-initiate cross strait talks early in her presidency was quasi rebuffed by Beijing, due to a combo of interpersonal relations behind the scenes. 1/6
Thanks for coming Jeff! I can't believe we forgot to take a group photo at dinner, but here is a nice shot of you with Ann:
though don't discount the possibility that all of this will be blamed on poor Lutnick
If I knew how to photoshop, I would do an overlay picture of Lin Biao with Elongated Muskrat www.nytimes.com/2025/03/07/u...
New publication to wrap up the end of 2024: in this piece with Lynette Ong, we take a stab at answering whether stability maintenance system in China over the years have succeeded in its professed goal of preventive repression. Thanks in advance for reading! www.worldscientific.com/doi/10.1142/...
Will be moderating an online panel "The American Election Results: The View from Taipei" at Harvard Fairbank Center with Steve Goldstein, Christina Lai (Sinica), and Andrew Nien-dzu Yang (CAPS) *today* Monday at 8pm EST / Tuesday 9 am Taipei time. Register: fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/events/the-a...