William J. Hurst

Professor William J. Hurst is a distinguished academic in the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Cambridge. He holds the Chong Hua Professorship of Chinese Development and is affiliated with Wolfson College. His academic journey includes degrees from the University of Chicago (BA in Political Science and East Asian Languages & Civilisations, MA in Sociology) and a PhD in Political Science from UC Berkeley. Prior to Cambridge, he held positions at institutions such as Northwestern University and the University of Toronto.

Professor Hurst specializes in Chinese and Indonesian political economy, focusing on governance, law, urban/rural politics, and social movements. His interdisciplinary work integrates sociology, history, law, and international relations. Key research themes include local governance innovation, labor politics, and comparative subnational dynamics.

He has authored influential books such as Ruling Before the Law: The Politics of Legal Regimes in China and Indonesia (2018) and The Chinese Worker after Socialism (2009). His research is fieldwork-intensive, with extensive experience in China, Taiwan, and Indonesia.

Teaching spans undergraduate to PhD levels, covering contemporary Chinese politics, society, and international relations. Supervision focuses on interdisciplinary doctoral projects requiring original data collection and conceptual innovation.