How has China’s behavior in global politics changed? Is the country evolving into a new form of empire, and what strategies is it pursuing in this process?
The research group “Learning Empire: Autonomy, Dependence, and China’s Emerging Imperial Practices” assumes that China fundamentally transformed its international strategy with Xi Jinping’s rise to power in 2013. Whereas a restrained foreign policy (“keeping a low profile”) had previously dominated, China subsequently began to actively shape global, China-centered hierarchies.

To understand this shift, eight subprojects were designed, each focusing on four central objectives:

 • Understanding policy learning
 • Investigating imperial practices
 • Analyzing outcomes
 • Theorizing empire

Funding: supported by the German Research Foundation (DFG)

To Projectpage

The subproject is based on the assumption that China is developing into a specific type of “learning empire.” It focuses on the role of transnational corporations in constructing and expanding imperial control structures, particularly in the field of digital infrastructures in the Global South. The project examines the practices of Chinese high-tech firms as well as those of the party-state in developing connectivity.
First, it analyzes how policy strategies are being adapted in the course of the People’s Republic of China’s rise as a digital power, especially through increased coordination among different Chinese actors. Second, it investigates whether and to what extent Chinese providers are gaining control over all layers of the “digital stack” on which countries such as Ethiopia depend. Third, it assesses the extent to which these digital dependencies contribute to the marginalization of Ethiopia.

To Projectpage