Dr Robert Weatherley

Dr Robert Weatherley is an affiliated lecturer in modern Chinese history and politics at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and the Department of Politics and International Studies. As an undergraduate in Chinese politics at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Robert spent a year studying Chinese at Renmin University in Beijing (1991-92). As part of his PhD research (also at Newcastle), Robert spent a year at Nankai University in Tianjin (1995-96).

Robert is author of five books: The Discourse of Human Rights in China: Historical and Ideological Perspectives (Macmillan, 1999), Politics in China Since 1949: Legitimizing Authoritarian Rule (Routledge, 2006), Mao's Forgotten Successor: The Political Career of Hua Guofeng (Palgrave, 2010), Making China Strong: The Role of Nationalism in Chinese Thinking on Democracy and Human Rights (Palgrave, 2014) and History and Legitimacy in Contemporary China: A Double-Edged Sword (Palgrave, 2017).

Robert has also written a number of academic articles on China covering subjects such as human rights, democracy, nationalism, regime legitimacy, intellectual property rights and death penalty criminal reconciliation.