Curriculum Vitae

Research interests:

• Digital governance
• Environmental politics
• Political economy
• Regional focus: China

Current research projects:

• Recipient of Volkswagen Foundation Societal Transformation Grant: PRIVACY-China (2024-2027), together with Rachel Murphy (University of Oxford) and Ang Gao (University for the Creative Arts), more details see here.

• SCRIPTS – Co-PI with Alexander Libman (FU) on project: ‘Reinterpreting the alternative script? War in Ukraine, state-sponsored narratives of block building in authoritarian countries and their public perception’ (2022-2025)
• Recipient of an ERC Starting Grant 2019: “Governing with Data: Local Experimentation in Authoritarian China” (2020-2025), more details see here

Past research projects:

• SCRIPTS - Cluster of Excellence "Contestation of the Liberal Script": Studying Contestations to the Liberal Script in Authoritarian Contexts in Times of Crises: Digital Repression (with Anita Gohdes and Alexander Libman), funding for workshop in May 2024 (2024)
• SCRIPTS - Cluster of Excellence "Contestation of the Liberal Script": Studying Contestations to the Liberal Script in Authoritarian Contexts in Times of Crises: Methodological Challenges (with Anja Osei, Alexander Libman, und Tobias Berger), funding for workshop in October 2023 (2023)
• Recipient of VW Scoping Workshop Grants 2023: The Digital Reach of the Chiense State: Emerging Research Fields

Program of VW Scoping Workshop

• BUA Seed Funding (2022-2023): funding for establisching a digital platform for China Knowledge Exchange for the Berlin Contemporary China Network (BCCN), with Sarah Eaton (HU Berlin)
• Small grant from the Oxford-Berlin Research Partnership (2021-2022): collaborative activities with Rachel Murphy (Oxford University) on ‘Privacy and Ethical Online Research into Private Lives in China’
• DFG Project (2019-2022): Interjurisdictional Competition and Cooperation in China
• DFG Project (2019-2022):Infrastructure Provision in China
• Digital governance in Chinese smart cities: Call for Papers for Workshop May 2019
• VW-Foundation Planning Grant (2019-2020): 'State-business relations in the Field of Artificial Intelligence and its Implications for Society‘
• Cross-national survey on social acceptance of facial recognition technologies: Paper available here
  
• Social Credit Systems (SCSs) in China
  • Paper explaining high public acceptance: available here (published in New Media & Society 2019)
  • Paper studying changing behavior: available here (published in Policy & Internet 2019
• Digital Transformation in China (Workshop 2018)
• Data, Technology and Digitalization & Environmental Governance in China (May Workshop 2018)

Articles in Peer-Reviewed Journals

• Guo, D., Bondes, M., Kostka, G. and Rabe, W. (2025) In or outside the box? Citizen action between institutional and extra-institutional channels in Chinese environmental governance, Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, [Download article (Open Access)]

• Ma, M, Romanov, D. Libman, A., and Kostka, G.  (2025) Mirrors and Mosaics: Decyphering Russian and Chinese Domestic Bloc-Building Narratives. Conditionally accepted by Perspectives on Politics

• Schulhof, V., Hartley, K., Rabe, W., Kostka, G., Kirchherr, J. (2025) Conceptualizing Sustainability in China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Longitudinal Analysis of Scholarship (2013 - 2024), Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 212, 107891 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Li, H. and Kostka, G. (2024) Chinese Citizens’ Digital Engagement with Local Mobile Government Platforms, Global Media and China., 46(6), 1181-1199. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Bondes, M., Kostka, G. and Rabe, W. (2024) ICT-based Environmental Participation in China: Same, Same but Digital?, Environmental Science & Policy. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Li, H. and Kostka, G. (2024) Navigating the Digital Age: The gray digital divide and digital inclusion in China, Media, Culture & Society. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Rabe, W. and Kostka, G. (2024). Perceptions of social credit systems in Southeast Asia: An external technology acceptance model, Global Policy. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Guo, D., Habich-Sobiegalla, S. and Kostka G. (2024): Emotions, crisis, and institutions: Explaining compliance with COVID-19 regulations, Regulation & Governance 18 (1), 177-2020 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G., and Habich-Sobiegalla, S. (2024): In times of crisis: Public perceptions towards COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps in China, Germany and the US, New Media and Society, 26 (4), 2256-2294. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Jiang, X., Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2023): Women’s Work: The Gendered Nature of Appointment Politics in Subnational China. Government and Opposition. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Shao, Q., and Kostka, G. (2023): The COVID-19 pandemic and deepening digital inequalities in China. Telecommunications Policy.  [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G. (2023). Digital Doubters in Different Political and Cultural Contexts: Comparing Citizen Attitudes Across Three Major Digital Technologies, Data & Policy, 5, E27. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Jiang, X., Kostka, G. and Eaton, S. (2023): Provinces in command: Changes in prefectural appointments from Hu Jintao to Xi Jinping (2003–2020). Journal of Contemporary China, 32 (144), 963-983 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Jiang, X., Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2023): No County is an Island: The Rise of Interjurisdictional Cooperation among Counties in China. Regional Studies [Download article (Open Access)]
  

• Kostka, G., Steinacker, L. and Meckel M. (2023): Under Big Brother’s Watchful Eye: Cross-country attitudes toward facial recognition technology, Government Information Quarterly, 40 (1) , Article 101761 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Xu X.,  Kostka, G  and Cao, X. (2022): Information Control and Public Support for Social Credit Systems in China, The Journal of Politics, Volume 84, Number 4, pp. 2230–2245 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Li, H. and Kostka, G. (2022): Accepting but Not Engaging with It: Digital Participation in Local Government-Run Social Credit Systems in China, Policy & Internet, 14 (4):  845-874. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Habich-Sobiegalla, S. and Kostka, G. (2022): Sharing is caring: willingness to share personal data through contact tracing apps in China, Germany, and the US, Information, Communication & Society. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Rabe, W. and Kostka, G. (2022): China’s growing digital reach: Explaining citizens’ high approval rates of fintech investments in Southeast Asia, Review of International Political Economy. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Rabe, W. and Kostka, G. (2022): Leaping over the Dragon's Gate: The "Air Silk Road" between Henan Province and Luxembourg, The China Quarterly, 249: 160 - 182 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Jiang, X., Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2021). Not at the table but stuck paying the bill: Perceptions of injustice in China’s Xin’anjiang Eco-compensation program, Journal of Environment Policy & Planning. [Download article]

• Große-Bley, J. and Kostka, G. (2021): Big Data Dreams and Reality in Shenzhen: An Investigation of Smart City Implementation in China, Big Data & Society. [Download article]

• Kostka, G.,  Steinacker, L.  and Meckel M. (2021), Between security and convenience: Facial recognition technology in the eyes of citizens in China, the UK and the US, Public Understanding of Science. 30 (6): 671-690 [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G., Goron, C. (2021), From targets to inspections: the issue of fairness in China’s environmental policy implementation, Environmental Politics. 30 (4): 513-537 [Download Manuscript]

• Rabe, W., Kostka, G. and  Habich-Sobiegalla, S. (2020): Socio-Economic Development and Infrastructure Cost Performance in China: Comparing Transport and Energy Sectors, Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, Vol. 49 (2): 185-206. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G., Zhang, X. and Shin, K. (2020), Information, Technology, and Digitalization in China’s Environmental Governance, Introduction to Special Issue,  Journal of Environmental Planning and Management (CJEP), 63 (1), 1-13. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G., Antoine, L. (2020):  Fostering Model Citizenship: Behavioral Responses to China’s Emerging Social Credit Systems, Policy & Internet, 12 (3), 256-289. [Download article]

• Habich-Sobiegalla, S., Kostka, G. and Anzinger, N. (2019): Citizens’ Electric Vehicle Purchase Intentions in China: An Analysis of Micro-level and Macro-level Factors, Transport Policy, 79, 223-233. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. (2019) China’s Social Credit Systems and Public Opinion: Explaining High Levels of Approval, New Media & Society, 21(7),1565 –1593. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Harrison, T. and Kostka G. (2019): Bureaucratic manoeuvres and the local politics of climate change mitigation in China and India, Development Policy Review, 37, 68-84. [Download Manuscript]

• Cao, X., Kostka, G. and Xu, X. (2019):Environmental Political Business Cycles: The Case of PM2.5 Air Pollution in Chinese Prefectures, Environmental Science and Policy, 93, 92-100. [Download Manuscript]

• Habich-Sobiegalla, S., Kostka, G., and Anzinger, N. (2018): Electric vehicle purchase intentions of Chinese, Russian and Brazilian citizens: An international comparative study, Journal of Cleaner Production, 205, 188-200. [Download Manuscript]

• Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2018): What Makes for Good and Bad Neighbours? An Emerging Research Agenda in the Study of Chinese Environmental Politics, Environmental Politics, 27 (5), 782-803. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Zhang. C. (2018) Tightening the Grip: Environmental Governance under Xi Jinping (Introduction for Symposium), Environmental Politics, 27 (5), 769-781. [Download article (Open Access)]

• Kostka, G. and Nahm, J. (2017): Central–Local Relations: Recentralization and Environmental Governance in China (Introduction to Special Section,) The China Quarterly, (231), 567-582. [Download Manuscript]

• Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2017): Central Protectionism in China: The “Central SOE Problem” in Environmental Governance, The China Quarterly, (231), 685-704. [Download Manuscript]

• Conrad, B. and Kostka, G. (2017): Chinese Investments in Europe’s Energy Sector: Risks and Opportunities? (Introduction to Special Issue on Chinese Investments in Europe’s Energy Sector), Energy Policy, Vol. 101, 644-648. [Download Manuscript]

• Rabe, W., Kostka, G., and Smith-Stegen K. (2017), China’s Supply of Critical Raw Materials: Risks for Europe’s Solar and Wind Industries?, Energy Policy, Vol. 101, 692-699. [Download Manuscript]

• Shin, K. and Kostka, G. (2016) 探寻合适的治理模式： 信任与社会关系网络在中国节能服务公司发展过程中的作用 in Comparative Economic & Social Systems (经济社会体制比较) (peer-reviewed Chinese Journal), 3, 40-51. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. (2016), Command without control: The case of China’s environmental target system, Regulation & Governance, Vol. 10, 58–74. [Download Manuscript]

• Hochstetler, K., and Kostka, G. (2015), Wind and Solar Sectors in Brazil and China: Interests, State-Business Relations, and Policy Outcomes, Global Environmental Politics, Vol. 15, No. 3, 74-94. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Yu, X. (2015), Career backgrounds of municipal Party secretaries in China: Why do so few municipal Party secretaries rise from the county level?, Modern China, Vol. 41 No. 5, 467-505. [Download Manuscript]

• Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2014): Authoritarian environmentalism undermined? Local leaders’ time horizons and environmental policy implementation in China, The China Quarterly, Vol. 218, 359 - 380. [Download Manuscript]

• Harrison, T. and Kostka, G. (2014): Balancing priorities, aligning interests: Developing mitigation capacity in China and India, Comparative Political Studies, Vol. 47, Issue 3 March, 450 - 480. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Zhou, J. (2013), Enterprise-government alliances in state capitalist economies: Evidence from low-income markets in China, Business and Politics, Vol. 15, Issue 2, 245–274. [Download Manuscript]
  

• Kostka, G., Moslener, U., and Andreas, J. (2013): Barriers to increasing energy efficiency: Evidence from small-and medium-sized enterprises in China, Journal of Cleaner Production, Vol. 57, 59-68. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Hobbs, W. (2013), Embedded interests and the managerial local state: the political economy of methanol fuel-switching in China, Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 22, No. 80, 204-218. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Mol, A. (2013), Implementation and Participation in China’s Local Environmental Politics: Challenges and Innovations, Journal of Environmental Planning and Policy, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 3-16. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. (2013), Environmental protection bureau leadership at the provincial level in China: Examining diverging career backgrounds and appointment patterns, Journal of Environmental Planning and Policy, Vol. 15, Issue 1, 41-63. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Shin, K. (2013), Energy conservation through energy service companies: Empirical analysis from China, Energy Policy, Vol. 52, 748-759. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. and Hobbs, W. (2012), Local energy efficiency policy implementation in China: Bridging the gap between national priorities and local interests, The China Quarterly, Vol. 211, 765-­785. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G. (2012), Mobility and agency: Private sector development in rural central China, The China Journal, Issue 67, 47-65. [Download Manuscript]

• Kostka, G., Polzin, C., and Scharrer, J. (2009), The future of sugar cane in China and India – supply constraints and expansion potential. Journal of Applied Energy, Vol. 86, S100-S107.

Books and Edited Books

• Wegrich, K., Kostka, G., and Hammerschmidt, G. (2017), The Governance of Infrastructure, edited volume, Oxford University Press.

• Kostka, G. and Fiedler, J. (2016), Large Infrastructure Projects in Germany - Between Ambition and Realities, edited volume, Palgrave.

• Kostka, G. and Mol, A., (2013), Local environmental politics in China – Challenges and Innovations, edited volume, Routledge.

Book Chapters

• Goron, C. and Kostka, G. (2024) From War on Nature to War on Pollution: Continuity and Change in the Chinese Communist Party’s Ecological Agenda, in edited book by Doyon, J., and Froissart, C. The Chinese Communist Party – A 100 Years Trajectory. ANU Press. (Download)

• Kostka, G. (2023): China – A Rising Tech Power?: National Ambitions and Local Realities in The Emergence of China’s Smart State, edited by R. Creemers, S. Papagianneas, and A. Knight, Rowman & Littlefield. (Open Access)

• Kostka, G. (2023) Digital Governance in China, in Handbook on Local Governance in China: Structures, Variations, and Innovations, edited by Ceren Ergenc, David S. G. Goodman, p. 178-207. (Download)

• Kostka, G. (2019), Local Implementation of Energy Conservation Policies in China, in The Palgrave Handbook of Local Governance in Contemporary China, Jianxing Yu and Sujian Guo, Palgrave, Singapore, pp 675-693. (Download)

• Kostka, G. (2017), China’s local environmental politics, in edited book by Eva Sternfeld, The Routledge Handbook of China’s Environmental Policies, Routledge.

• Kostka, G. (2009), Private sector development in Anhui province – The impact of regional spillovers from Jiangsu province’ in edited book by Wu, Zhongmin ‘China in the World Economy’, Routledge.

• Eaton, S. and Kostka, G. (2013), Does cadre turnover help or hinder China’s green rise? Evidence from Shanxi province, in edited book by Ren Bingqiang and Shou Shuisheng ‘Chinese environmental policy: Dynamics, challenges, and prospects in a changing society’, Palgrave Macmillan Publishers.

• Kostka, G., Sandilands, R. (2008), A property rights puzzle?: The development of Chinese non-state enterprises, in: Philip Hanson, Tomasz Mickiewicz, Roger Sandilands, Jan Winiecki, Genia Kostka (Editors): The future of capitalism after the collapse of communism, London: Centre for Research into Post-Communist Economies (CRCE), New Series No. 24, p. 61-86.

Others (selection)

• Kostka, G. (2023): What is the Relation of Markets, property, and Freedom in the Liberal Script – The Case of China. Scripts Arguments,  downloadable 

• Kostka, G. (2022): China's Environmental Health Crisis and Its Challenge to the Chinese State Yanzhong Huang Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020 xviii + 264 pp. £22.99 ISBN 978-1-1088-1528-4, The China Quarterly, First View, pp.1-2 (https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741022000121)

• Kostka, G. (2018): China’s social credit systems are highly popular – for now, guest blog for MERICS (https://www.merics.org/en/blog/chinas-social-credit-systems-are-highly-popular-now).

• Kostka, G. (2017): Survival of the unfittest – Lessons from Chinas infrastructure boom, opinion piece for CSIS (https://reconasia.csis.org/analysis/entries/survival-of-the-unfittest/).

• Kostka, G., (2016) Chapter 4 on Infrastructure Project Delivery and Implementation: Risk Management Across a Project’s Life Cycle, in Hertie School of Governance and OECD: Governance Report 2016, Oxford University Press.

• Kostka, G., and Anzinger, N. (2015): Datenbank - Infrastruktur-Großprojekte in Deutschland, in Public Governance (www.publicgovernance.de/26247.htm).

• Kostka, G. (2014): Barriers to the implementation of environmental policies at the local level in China, World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. WPS 7016. Washington, DC: World Bank Group. (http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/08/20144757/barriers-implementation-environmental-policies-local-level-china).

• Kostka, G. and Eaton, S. (2012), China’s green rise: Growing ambition, growing challenges, Canadian International Council (CIC) http://www.opencanada.org/features/the-think-tank/chinas-green-rise-growing-ambition-growing-challenges/.

• Harrison, T. and Kostka, G. (2012), Manoeuvres for a low carbon state: The local politics of climate change in China and India; AusAID Development Leadership Program, Research Report No. 22 (http://www.frankfurt-school.de/clicnetclm/fileDownload.do?goid=000000389741AB4).