Biography
Viola Rothschild is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at College of the Holy Cross. After completing her PhD in political science at Duke University, Rothschild served as a foreign policy analyst at the US Department of State. Her research centers on state-society relations and grassroots governance in authoritarian regimes, with a regional focus on China. Rothschild's work has appeared in China Quarterly (forthcoming), Political Behavior, Chinese Political Science Review, Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Global Networks, and Issues & Studies. Her policy analysis and commentary has featured in popular media outlets such as Foreign Policy, CNN, CNBC, The Spectator (UK), The Diplomat, and the Toronto Star, among others.
Prior to graduate school, Rothschild was a research associate for China Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations and a J. William Fulbright Scholar in China. She received a MSc from the University of Oxford in Contemporary Chinese Studies (with distinction), and a BA with honors in Government/Legal Studies and Asian Studies from Bowdoin College.
Selected Publications
“State Repression and Selective Expression: Communal Canteens and the 'Collective' Memory of China's Great Famine,” China Quarterly, Forthcoming.
“Crisis and Correction: Do Government Rectification Efforts Restore Citizen Trust After Governance Failure?,” with Melanie Manion and Hongshen Zhu, Political Behavior, 2025.
“Protest and Repression in China’s Digital Surveillance State,” Journal of Information Technology & Politics, 2024.
“Dual Mandates in Chinese Congresses: Information and Cooptation,” with Melanie Manion and Hongshen Zhu, Issues & Studies, 58 (1), 2022.