Daniel Koss

@lingli_vienna @CambridgeUP Congratulations! I very much look forward to reading, I have been watching out for this since our conversation in Vienna.

It’s real. It’s out. 📘 Governance of a Party-state published by @CambridgeUP is now available on Amazon (ebook & Kindle). Yes, it is expensive — not my decision. Scholars and instructors can obtain it free via review or inspection copies. ⬇️ Review copy: cambridge.org/at/universityp… Course inspection: inspectioncopy@cambridge.org

What am I doing wrong? In Japan’s LDP primaries on October 4, based on LDP members’ support, @takaichi_sanae should have been awarded 132 delegate votes instead of just 119, as officially announced. I apply d’Hondt by prefecture 都道府県ごと, as per LDP rules (p.48). Help please!

For the first time, the Chinese Communist Party reports >100 mio members (end of 2024), according to data released today 12371.cn/2025/06/30/ART…. Contrasting with party building efforts of previous years, the number of party cells in companies 企业基层党组织 stagnated at 1.6 mio.

Published: My book review of A. Walder analyzing big aberrations during China’s Cultural Revolution. A militarily well-connected faction, inflammatory rhetoric, and an escalation-prone hierarchy, plus crimes of opportunity, resulted in infamous atrocities: pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews/c…

China’s Cultural Revolution was most violent in Guangxi. How could things go so wrong? Andrew Walder’s masterly analysis illuminates the ostensibly enigmatic events, with broad implications for CR research. My book review @PacificAffairsis now accessible: pacificaffairs.ubc.ca/book-reviews/c…

@AngelaZhangHK Luckily, I was still able to get a hard copy on the US site. Then upgraded my syllabus for the ongoing semester, assigning chapter 9 to my undergraduate students in the "Economic Governance of East Asia" course. I am sure they will all love it, too.

“High Wire” has been sold out on Amazon’s US site a week after its release. Now it can be “pre-ordered”. I hope it will be back in stock soon. The e-book version is of course available!

@edenhofer_jacob Thanks, Jacob, a good overview! One might also classify on the parties' origins (as I do tentatively early on in my book on the CCP), in part because the main function of the CCP has been under debate, with changing answers of the years.

@KossDaniel This thread is focused on political parties in democracies - mainly because the functions of parties differ markedly across these contexts. This (👇) is my summary of the institutionalist literature on auth. regimes and ruling parties.

1/ While many non-political-scientists look askance at political parties, the pol sci literature regards them as vital for making democracies in large societies work. Let me explain why in this 🧵. First things first: How do we define political parties?

Harvard's Fairbank Center now invites applications for two post-doc fellowships. Exciting theme: “Global Firms and Rival States: Business, Transnational Commerce, and China’s Rise." Postdocs will join a research group led by Meg Rithmire and @david_yang: fairbank.fas.harvard.edu/programs/an-wa…

Harvard offers a new summer program in Shanghai, for 2024, with two courses: My course “East Asian Development Models” places transformations of China's economy into the context of other experiences in East Asia. #courses" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">summer.harvard.edu/study-abroad/s… Thanks to inspiration from @BillKirbyHBS.

What a pleasure to visit @UMich! I shared findings on how the CCP penetrates firms, how party cells/cttees influence business decisions - with implications for China's future economic governance. youtu.be/FAnV9axugTY Thanks for their hospitality to @MaryGao and @MichiganChina

What's It Like To Study China-Africa Relations At Harvard? @KossDaniel @ChinaGSProject tinyurl.com/4s42eude @MazzucatoM @BethanyAllenEbr @nglinsman @Halsrethink @Brad_Setser @michaelxpettis @M_C_Klein @davidpilling @rainerkattel @zeithistoriker @EliDFriedman @ChinaBeigeBook

@lnachman32 @jwassers @BonnieGlaser Congratulations! Can't wait to have this book on my desk, especially for teaching.

The reviews are in! I am honored that my forthcoming book “Taiwan: A Contested Democracy Under Threat” has been endorsed by three leading experts on Taiwan. From @BonnieGlaser:

Is China the largest investor in Africa? Not by UNCTAD reporting standards, where China is "only" the fifth largest investor economy in Africa by FDI stock in 2021: unctad.org/system/files/n… (Does this include Hong Kong? Two years ago, Hong Kong was reported separately.)

@jcmittelstaedt @PM_Thornton Thank you for the compliment!

amazing recent article by @KossDaniel muse.jhu.edu/pub/43/article… compare this with speed-dating and pillow fights @PM_Thornton jstor.org/stable/10.1086…

this kind of stuff is wherever there are Party members, and has been for many years, but acceleration since ~2018 if not published directly on their website, check out their WeChat accounts...you'll be able to find something like this at most private companies

@ihutch92 Great! Zambia, including the debt deal, will be an important case for this class. Going back all the way to the TanZam railway, reading Ching Kwan Lee's important book "Specter of Global China" and then discussing the debt deal. Thanks!

@KossDaniel For your discussion on China as a development partner, my colleagues have done some interesting work on debt restructuring after the Zambia deal you/your students might find interesting! rhg.com/research/china…

Courses at Harvard start next week, and I am thrilled to offer another iteration of "China and the African Continent" - hoping for many contrasting perspectives in the classroom, and good insights through the creative assignments.

@shen_shiwei Not that precise flag, but the dragon metaphor, mostly but not exclusively in the West. So isn't it a good idea to discuss this imagery in class?

@KossDaniel Actually, not so many people aware of that flag. When we talk about China-Africa cooperation, I haven’t seen anyone use this flag or this symbol.

@ReadingThaWorld You would need to compare the number of applications over time (these data are public). I thought about your hypothesis, but the timing does not work out: There is a major time gap between deciding to apply to becoming a member, usually several years.

in a better world scholars would write pieces examining whatever could it have been that led so many people to joining the party? Perhaps the world historic success in fighting the pandemic as the rest of the world burned??

@DeepShort7 Thanks for your interest, you can download the syllabus here: scholar.harvard.edu/koss/teaching-0

@KossDaniel May I ask which textbooks/readings are recommended/mandatory for the course?

@shen_shiwei Good eye - now the big question is what we should associate with that dragon? What are the highly positive connotations that lands this dragon on a flag? Will discuss in class...

@KossDaniel OMG, did you use the Yellow Dragon Flag of Qing Empire on that cover?