Austin Strange is Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Politics and Public Administration. He researches and teaches Chinese foreign policy, international political economy, and international development. Austin’s research mainly focuses on China’s historical and contemporary roles in the world economy.
Austin is a Public Intellectuals Program Fellow with the National Committee on US-China Relations from 2023–2025. Previously he was a Wilson China Fellow at the Wilson Center and a fellow with the Columbia-Harvard China and the World Program. He received a Ph.D. in Government from Harvard University, M.A. from Zhejiang University, and B.A. from William & Mary.
Austin received HKU’s Early Career Teaching Award in 2022, Research Output Prize in 2023, and Outstanding Young Researcher Award in 2024. With colleagues he was awarded the Best New Dataset Award from the International Political Economy Society.
Books:
Chinese Global Infrastructure. 2023. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (Elements in Global China).
Banking on Beijing: The Aims and Impacts of China’s Overseas Development Program. 2022. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
- Best New Dataset Award, International Political Economy Society, 2023
- Research Output Prize, University of Hong Kong, 2023
- Social Sciences Outstanding Research Output Award (Applied), University of Hong Kong, 2023
- Reviewed in Asian Politics and Policy, China Journal, China Quarterly, Economic Geography, International Affairs, Journal of East Asian Studies, Journal of International Banking and Financial Law, Perspectives on Politics, Political Science Quarterly,Review of International Organizations
Six Years at Sea…and Counting: Gulf of Aden Anti-Piracy and China’s Maritime Commons Presence. 2015. Washington, D.C.: Jamestown Foundation, with Andrew Erickson.
No Substitute for Experience: Chinese Anti-Piracy Activities in the Gulf of Aden. 2013. Newport: Naval War College Press China Maritime Study #10, with Andrew Erickson.
Articles:
“Can Rising Powers Reassure? Shifting Power, Foreign Economic Policy, and Perceptions of Revisionist Intent.” Forthcoming. Journal of Peace Research, with Ryan Powers.
“Influence and Support for Foreign Aid: Evidence from the United States and China.” Forthcoming. Review of International Organizations.
“Pivoting to Overseas Development: International NGOs’ Changing Engagement with China.” 2025. International Affairs, with Elizabeth Plantan and Wendy Leutert.
“Can Aid Buy Foreign Public Support? Evidence from Chinese Development Finance.” 2025. Economic Development and Cultural Change 73(2): 523–578, with Lukas Wellner, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, and Bradley Parks.
“Connective Financing: Chinese Infrastructure Projects and the Diffusion of Economic Activity in Developing Countries.” 2025. Journal of Urban Economics 145, with Richard Bluhm, Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
“Legitimacy and Hegemony in Late Imperial China.” 2024. Security Studies 33(4): 515–548.
“Symbols of State: Explaining Prestige Projects in the Global South.” 2024. International Studies Quarterly 68(2): sqae049.
“Complementary Partners? Attitudes toward Multi-Actor Development Projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo.” 2024. Journal of Politics 86(4): 1446–1461, with Elizabeth Plantan and Wendy Leutert.
“Understanding China’s Shifting Priorities and Priority-setting Processes in Development Assistance for Health.” 2024. Health Policy and Planning 39: i65–i78, with Bingqing Guo, Victoria Fan, and Karen Grepin.
“Puzzling Partnerships: Overseas Infrastructure Development by Chinese State-Owned Enterprises and Humanitarian Organizations.” 2023. Studies in Comparative International Development 58: 195–223, with Wendy Leutert and Elizabeth Plantan.
“Conditioning China’s International Influence: Intentionality, Intermediaries, and Institutions.” 2023. Journal of Contemporary China 32(139): 1–16, with Courtney Fung, Enze Han, and Kai Quek.
“High-profile Infrastructure and China’s Global Influence Gamble.” 2022. Global China Pulse 1(1): 111–121.
“Aid, China and Growth: Evidence from a New Global Development Finance Dataset.” 2021. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 13(2): 135–174, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks, and Michael Tierney.
“Foreign Aid and the Status Quo: Evidence from Pre-Marshall Plan Aid.” 2019. Chinese Journal of International Politics 12(4): 585-613, with Daniel Markovits and Dustin Tingley.
“Seven Decades of Chinese State Financing in Africa: Tempering Contemporary Debates.” 2019. Economic History of Developing Regions 34(3): 259-279.
“Autocratic Aid and Governance: What We Know, Don’t Know, and Need to Know.” 2019. American Political Science Association Annals of Comparative Democratization 17(2): 11-16, with Bradley Parks.
“Online Volunteer Laboratories for Human Subjects Research.” 2019. PLOS ONE 14(8): e0221676, with Ryan Enos, Mark Hill, and Amy Lakeman.
“Apples and Dragon Fruits: The Determinants of Aid and Other Forms of State Financing from China to Africa.” 2018. International Studies Quarterly 62(1): 182-194, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
“Tracking Under-Reported Financial Flows: China’s Development Finance and the Aid-Conflict Nexus Revisited.” 2017. Journal of Conflict Resolution 61(5): 935-963, with Axel Dreher, Andreas Fuchs, Bradley Parks and Michael Tierney.
“‘Ground-Truthing’ Chinese Development Finance in Africa: Field Evidence from Uganda and South Africa.” 2016. Journal of Development Studies 52(6): 780-796, with Edwin Muchapondwa, Daniel Nielson, Michael Tierney, and Bradley Parks.
“China’s Blue Soft Power: Antipiracy, Engagement, and Image Enhancement.” 2015. Naval War College Review 68(1): 71-91, with Andrew Erickson.
“Ripples of Change in Chinese Foreign Policy? Evidence from Recent Approaches to Nontraditional Waterborne Security.” 2014. Asia Policy 17: 93-126, with Andrew Erickson.
“Aid to Africa: Harmful or Helpful?” 2014. China Economic Quarterly 18(2): 29-33, with Bradley Parks.
