Person

Mobrand, Erik

His interests in politics are broad. He is especially keen to better understand the interplay of informal power relationships and formal political arrangements. Most of his research focuses on Korean and Chinese societies. Through research on those places, though, he is trying to engage in wider discussions about politics in Asia and the developing world. One stream of his work examines the resistance of poor people in Korean and Chinese cities to central state projects. Another offers a reinterpretation of South Korea's democratization through a focus on elite management of political institutions. He is also interested in approaches to Asian studies that begin with intra-regional comparisons and connections.