Xiaoming Huang is Professor of International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington, and specializes in East Asian politics, political economy and international relations, and the structural, institutional, and civilizational forces shaping international order.
 
Professor Huang received his PhD in International Relations in 1993 from USC (Los Angeles), and BA in international politics in 1983 and MA in international relations in 1986, both from Peking University. Before joining Victoria University of Wellington in 1997, he had held teaching and research positions at the Asia Program, Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars (Washington, DC, 1988); the School of International Relations, USC (Los Angeles, 1991–1993); the Program of International Politics and Economy, East-West Center (Honolulu, 1993–1994); the Center for International Studies/Pacific Council on International Policy (Los Angeles, 1994–1995); the Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Tampere (Finland, 1995–1996); and the Department of Sociology and Political Science, University of Trondheim (Norway, 1996–1997).

Since the early years of his academic career, Professor Huang has developed a keen interest in the patterns of political economic organization of the modern state in different political, institutional and cultural settings, and effective ways we understand them. This core interest has led to his research and publication in areas such as the political economy of East Asian industrial development; modern international relations of East Asia; China's evolving relations with the Liberal International Order; and, broadly in methodology, the recognition and analysis of structural, institutional and civilizational forces in the rise and fall of political order. 

Professor Huang organized the founding of the New Zealand Contemporary China Research Centre and directed it from 2009 to 2014; was an editor of International Studies Perspectives from 2009 to 2014; and is a member of the Advisory Group for the Global International Relations section of the International Studies Association. Professor Huang is a leading academic in shaping and promoting global international relations, the study of international relations and political science at Victoria University of Wellington, and in global social sciences research on East Asia. Professor Huang was a senior visiting professor at Peking University in 2003; Center for Asian-Pacific Studies, Seikei University, 2003; the Academy of Korean Studies, 2003-2004; International Institute of Asian Studies, Leiden University, 2007-2008; Department of Global Studies, Ryukoku University, 2018-2019; Center for Northeast Asian Studies, Tohoku University, 2025; Taipei School of Economics and Political Science, Tsinghua University, 2025.

Professor Huang's latest research publications:

◾Huang, Xiaoming, 2026. China and the Liberal International Order: Roots of A Plural World Order. Routledge.

This book offers a structural analysis of China’s evolving relations with the Liberal International Order (LIO) over the 40 years of China’s Reform and Opening since 1979. Placing China's modern industrial rise in the longue durée of the global industrial order from the 19th century,  the book argues that China’s recent ascendance in wealth and power is more explained by the effective function of the historic LIO than that of the Chinese model of political economic organization. The book further demonstrates that the same structural, institutional and normative forces that motivated engagement also led to the pluralization of the international system. By utilizing systemic time series data on key indicators of global industrial production and distribution, and tools of data visualization, structure recognition, and network analysis, the book identifies international structures in global industrial production and distribution at key points of time in China’s industrial rise, highlighting the effects and consequences of the structural change on the organizing principles and mechanisms of the international economic order.

◾Huang, Xiaoming, 2022. Political Order in Modern East Asian States. New York and London: Routledge.

This book uses a theory of political order to explain modern political change in Japan, China, Korea and Vietnam; how the traditional East Asian forms of state organization and national politics evolved in the 20th century; and why different types of political order emerged in the 21st century Japan, PRC, ROC, ROK, DPRK and SRV. A political order arises in a polity under an effective, legitimate state authority capable of enforcing specific authority relations among contending political forces in society. Structural, institutional and normative forces grew to scope the people, territory and authority structure for the new states in modern East Asia. Institutional setups and normative influences allowed a particular set of political forces to influence the exercise of state authority, determined a distinct set of relations among active political forces,  and forged a polity-wide national identity and political culture. The book offers an innovative account of the grand historical process of modern state formation in East Asia.

◾ Huang, Xiaoming, 2019. International Relations of East Asia: Structures, Institutions and International Order. Red Globe.

East Asia’s rapidly changing role in international security, the global economy, development, and global governance are expertly accounted for in this much-needed, state-of-the-art text. Xiaoming Huang offers an engaging and informed account of the key concepts, issues, and actors working in this area. Ranging from the region’s history to culture and a comparative assessment of the region’s states, this text is informed throughout by a compelling theoretical framework. In so doing, it unpicks the often complex relationships both at the domestic level and externally. Only with this understanding is it possible to make sense of the region’s complex relationships both internally and externally. Structured around key concepts in international relations of war and peace, economic development, and increased contemporary security threats, this text offers an empirically-rich, engaging account of the changing fortunes of East Asia.