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Jean Christopher (Chris) Mittelstaedt is a Lecturer in the Politics of China. His research broadly focuses on the creation, organization, maintenance, and reproduction of China’s political institutions.

Before joining SOAS, he was a Departmental Lecturer in Modern Chinese Studies at the University of Oxford’s Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. He holds a DPhil in Politics from the University of Oxford, a Master’s degree in International Relations from SciencesPo Paris, and a Bachelor’s degree in International Politics from Peking University.

At SOAS, he convenes the postgraduate module China and International Politics and the undergraduate module Government and Politics of China, while also contributing to the graduate modules Democracy and Authoritarianism in Asia and Frameworks of Political Analysis.

Chris’s research is structured around two primary clusters: Party governance and cultural governance. Within these areas, his current research interests include:

1. The governance of history within the Chinese Party-state, with a focus on historical nihilism.
2. The emergence of Xi Jinping Cultural Thought.
3. New approaches to ideology in China.
4. Temporal governance and the conceptualization of “time” in the 21st-century Chinese Party-state.
5. Disciplinary governance.
6. The role of technology at the Party’s grassroots.

His research draws on four original databases, covering leadership speeches and meetings, intra-Party rules and normative documents, disciplinary punishments, and grassroots Party events. He plans to make these publicly accessible in the coming years.