Other Writing

Op-Eds and Online Journals

"Re-politicising Policing in China," East Asia Forum, 17 April 2019

"Policing Public Relations in China," China Policy Institute: Analysis, 12 February 2018

"Violence Against the Chinese Police," China Policy Institute: Analysis, 26 July 2016

"A Chinese Rights Revolution Reversed?" The Diplomat, 21 August 2015

Blog Posts

"Governments and Umbrellas in Hong Kong," The Berkeley Blog; 9 October 2014

"Hong Kong's Protest Tradition," The Berkeley Blog; 9 October 2014

On Teaching

"Encouraging Full Participation in Section," Graduate Student Instructor Teaching and Resource Center, 2014

Selected Newspaper Quotes:

(2020) Bloomberg Businessweek

While it might seem useful to have full oversight of citizens’ movements and vital signs, making use of data of that scale requires manpower and training that China’s police force lacks, says Suzanne Scoggins, an assistant professor at Clark University. Scoggins, who researches policing and authoritarian control in China, says tracing the spread of a virus is different from tracking the movements of dissidents or criminals. “This is still relatively new technology that is likely being used in a way that is different from its original design,” Scoggins says. “It may help some, but we shouldn’t expect it to contain an outbreak.”

(2018) New York Times

“The stories not only create a positive narrative about the victims, but their choice of professions also shows how the tragedy brought them closer to the state,” said Suzanne Scoggins, an assistant professor of political science at Clark University in Massachusetts. ... By reframing the quake anniversary as a day of thanksgiving, local officials are probably trying to forge an atmosphere of unity, reinforcing “the way in which government groups and residents worked together,” Professor Scoggins said.

(2018) Business Insider

"For frontline police, corruption is more a function of guanxi and gift-giving culture meeting opportunity. It's well known that you can use money, gifts, and connections to get things done, and the police are no exception," Suzanne Scoggins, an expert in Chinese policing at Clark University, told Business Insider.

(2016) The Economist

Such stresses are common across China, according to a new study by Suzanne Scoggins and Kevin O’Brien at the University of California, Berkeley. They argue that a policeman’s lot is “filled with uncertainty, hardship and feelings of powerlessness”. The authors conclude that one must “rethink the image” of the much-disliked police in China’s authoritarian state.