HighlightsThese highlights are AI-generated using the faculty's CV and Google Scholar profile
John A. Donaldson is a leading scholar in political science whose research on poverty, rural development, and governance in China has shaped international understanding of economic and social change in Asia.
Internationally recognized for combining rigorous qualitative and comparative approaches with deep fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia; influential in policy and academic circles for nuanced analyses of poverty reduction, rural transformation, and governance; recipient of multiple research and teaching awards, including the Fulbright Fellowship and Research Paper Award from the American Sociological Association.
Focused research areas include Economic development and poverty in China and Southeast Asia; provincial and local governance; agrarian reform and rural livelihoods; social innovation; inequality and policy responses; comparative analysis of development strategies.
Internationally recognized for combining rigorous qualitative and comparative approaches with deep fieldwork in China and Southeast Asia; influential in policy and academic circles for nuanced analyses of poverty reduction, rural transformation, and governance; recipient of multiple research and teaching awards, including the Fulbright Fellowship and Research Paper Award from the American Sociological Association.
Focused research areas include Economic development and poverty in China and Southeast Asia; provincial and local governance; agrarian reform and rural livelihoods; social innovation; inequality and policy responses; comparative analysis of development strategies.
Areas of Expertise
Chinese politicsDevelopmentPovertyCentral-Local Relations
Past Awarded Grant
- National Heritage Board Research Fund (2018)
- Lee Kong Chian Fellowship for Research Excellence (2015-16)
- Singapore Ministry of Education Academic Research Fund Tier 2 Grant (2013-2016)
- Singapore Management University Research Grant Tier 1 or Tier 1A (2005-2017)
- Fulbright Fellowship (2003-2004)
Latest Publications
Showing up to 6 latest publications from the past 5 years.
- M Wu, QF Zhang, J DonaldsonJournal of Rural Studies 110, 103382, 2024
- JD Moore, JA DonaldsonJournal of Agrarian Change 23 (4), 844-867, 2023
- JA DonaldsonCHINA JOURNAL, 174-+, 2023
- Z HU, QF ZHANG, JA DONALDSONOpen Times 2023 (3), 178, 2023
- O Woods, J DonaldsonFood, Culture & Society 25 (2), 237-253, 2022
- Shifting strategies: the politics of radical change in provincial development policy in China [2022]JA Donaldson, X YangThe China Quarterly 249, 139-159, 2022
Dr John Donaldson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University (SMU). He researches on politics, rural development and poverty in China and elsewhere, having conducted extensive fieldwork in rural India and Thailand, as well as in Singapore. John Donaldson is the author of Small Works: Poverty and Economic Development in Southwestern China (Cornell University Press, 2011). His research has also been published in such journals as World Development, Journal of Development Studies, International Studies Quarterly, Politics and Society, China Journal, China Quarterly and Journal of Contemporary Asia.
Qualifications
- PhD Political Science, The George Washington University, 2005
- BA Chinese Language and Literature and Psychology, Washington University, 1991
Research Interests
- Politics in developing countries
- Poverty
- Chinese politics
- Agrarian political economy
- Decentralization and Local Politics
Course(s) Taught in SMU
- Development, Underdevelopment & Poverty
- Public Policy Task Force
- Political Economy of East Asia
