Yuan Wang is Assistant Professor at National School of Development, Peking University. Her teaching and research interests include global China, African politics, and comparative political economy of development. She completed DPhil in Politics at the University of Oxford. She also holds a Master of Science (MSc) in Politics Research from Oxford, a Master of Public Policy (MPP) from Harvard Kennedy School, and a Bachelor of Law in international relations from Shanghai International Studies University. She was the 2021-22 fellow at the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program and Postdoctoral Research Scholar at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute, Columbia University. Before Oxford, she served in the China office of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and at the Sino-Africa Centre of Excellence Foundation Nairobi office.
Current Position: Assistant Professor, National School of Development, Peking University.
Research interest: Global China, African Politics, Comparative Political Economy of Development
Education
DPhil in Politics, University of Oxford
MSc in Politics Research, University of Oxford
Master of Public Policy, Harvard University
Bachelor of Law in International Relations, Shanghai International Studies University
Books
Wang, Y. (2023). The Railpolitik: Leadership and Agency in Sino-African Infrastructure Development. (Oxford University Press)
Wang, Y. and Y., Luo, (2015). China Business Perception Index: Survey on Chinese Companies' Perception of Doing Business in Kenya. Geneva: Globethics.net.
Peer-reviewed Articles
Li, H. & Wang, Y. (2025). 'Adaptive Governance in Action: How Chinese State Actors Respond to Overseas Pushback on the Belt and Road Initiative'. China Quarterly, 1-17.
Wang, Y. & Zhang, H. (2024). 'Individual Agency and Structural Constraints in South-South Policy Transfer: China and Ethiopia's Industrial Park Development'. Review of International Political Economy, 1-25.
Calabrese, L., & Wang, Y. (2023). 'Chinese capital, regulatory strength and the BRI: A tale of 'fractured development' in Cambodia'. World Development, 169, 106290.
Wang, Y. (2022). 'Presidential extraversion: Understanding the politics of Sino-African mega-infrastructure projects.’ World Development , 158 , 105976.
Wang, Y. (2022). 'Executive agency and State capacity in development: Comparing Sino-African railways in Kenya and Ethiopia'. Comparative Politics, 54 (2), 349-373.
Honorable mention for the Kendra Koivu Paper Award given by APSA's Qualitative and Multi-Method Research Section (2022).
Wang, Y. and U. Wissenbach, (2019). 'Clientelism at work? A case study of Kenyan Standard Gauge Railway project'. Economic History of Developing Regions, 34/3: 280-299.
Chapters, Media & Book Reviews
Wang, Y. (2025). 'Africa's Tech Challenge: A Chinese State-Owned Enterprise's Corporate Social Responsibility Experiment in Kenya' In Erie, M., A Casebook on Chinese Outbound Investment : Law, Policy, and Business . Cambridge University Press.
Zhang H. and Y. Wang, 'The Railpolitik: A Conversation with Yuan Wang,’ Global China Pulse, (October 2nd, 2024). https://globalchinapulse.net/the-railpolitik-a-conversation-with-yuan-wang/
Sun, Y. and Y. Wang, (2015) . 'Learning to Collaborate: The Case Study of a Chinese-Kenyan CSR Effort'. In Young-Chan Kim (eds). China and Africa: A New Paradigm of Global Business. Springer.
Wissenbach, U. and Y. Wang, (2015). 'Development Policy – alternatives, challenges and opportunities'. In Wang, J. and W. Song, China, the European Union and International Politics of Global Governance. Palgrave Macmillan.
Wang, Y. (2022). How China Loses: The Pushback against Chinese Global Ambitions by Luke Patey. New York, Oxford University Press, 2021. 400 pp. $29.95.
