Introduction: Part III

Jia Xu is Associate Professor of Social Policy and Public Administration at the School of Marxism at Anhui Normal University (China). Her research interests encompass comparative welfare state research from both cross–national and historical perspectives, public management, poverty alleviation, and higher education teaching methods. Her most recent research has appeared in Geriatric Nursing, the Journal of Family History, the International Journal of Social Welfare Policy, and Social Inclusion.

Lisheng Dong is Professor Emeritus at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China. He was a visiting professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Zurich, Switzerland, Professor of Asian Politics at the University of Tartu, Estonia, and a Marie Curie Professorial Fellow at the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow, UK. He has published 23 books and 60 refereed articles and was the 2012 co-recipient of the Pierre de Celles Award for Best Paper in Public Administration (International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration). His books include Public Administration Theories (Palgrave, 2015), Trump and the Hidden Empire (Springer, 2025), The Glory Trap (Palgrave, 2025), and China’s Path to Global Status (Palgrave, 2025).

Qun Cui is Associate Professor of Public Management at the Qingdao Institute of Administration, located in the eastern coastal region of China (since 2020). She earned her PhD in political science from the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS) and was a visiting scholar at the Department of Political Science, University of Oslo (2014-2015). Her research interests include comparative politics between China and Europe, local politics and governance in China, crisis management in mega cities, and public service provision such as healthcare, long-term care, and social assistance.