RTG 3209 China-GRASP

Research Clusters

PhD projects will be situated within one of 15 Focus Areas, grouped into five Research Clusters. This provides each project with a clear thematic home while connecting it to a broader intellectual agenda spanning China’s role in regions along the Belt and Road, as well as in Africa, Eurasia, and Europe. While each Research Cluster has its own thematic focus, the clusters are designed to speak to one another, and projects may productively bridge two or more clusters

Researchers: Simon Fink (lead), Anja Jetschke, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Henrike Rudolph, Dominic Sachsenmaier, Sebastian Vollmer

Research Cluster A provides the conceptual and analytical foundation for the entire RTG. It investigates how China accumulates and exercises structural power through network centrality in global systems of trade, finance, security, and knowledge. The cluster develops shared theoretical approaches to understand how interdependence can generate political leverage and how macro-level shifts in China’s geoeconomic position translate into micro-level reactions by governments, firms, and individuals. It combines network analysis, historical institutional analysis, behavioral approaches, and macro–micro linkage models to study the emergence, persistence, and societal effects of China’s structural power.

Focus Area A1: Measuring and Theorizing Network Positions and Dynamics of Structural Power

The aim of this Focus Area is to examine how network positions generate and sustain structural power in international relations. It focuses on the mechanisms through which states shape interstate interactions across networks of trade, finance, security, and knowledge. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): how incentive-based and information-based mechanisms of structural power operate in different network types; how network centrality can be conceptualized and measured as a form of dominance; and how China’s changing network position reshapes global interdependencies and geopolitical influence. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines qualitative and quantitative network analysis, adapts centrality measures such as closeness, brokerage, and betweenness, and investigates changes in China’s network position in relation to broader global developments and US responses.

Focus Area A2: Persistent Influences of China’s Structural Power

The aim of this Focus Area is to investigate the long-term historical and cultural foundations of China’s structural power. It examines how historical Chinese rule and cultural influence continue to shape contemporary attitudes, beliefs, institutional arrangements, and network positions in neighboring regions. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the persistence of institutional and cultural legacies of Chinese rule; the long-run effects of historical Chinese influence on political and social preferences in border regions; and the role of historical exposure in shaping contemporary economic, societal, and cultural outcomes. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines historical analysis with quantitative approaches such as geographic regression discontinuity designs and behavioral experiments conducted along former historical borders in order to identify long-run causal effects.

Focus Area A3. Micro-Level Reactions to Structural Power Building

The aim of this Focus Area is to analyze how governments, firms, and individuals respond to China’s growing structural power at the micro level. It focuses on the local effects of geopolitical and economic dependencies created through China’s expanding global engagement. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): how public attitudes, policy preferences, and political outcomes are shaped by Chinese influence; how perceptions and soft power of China and China-aligned actors evolve; and how China’s engagement contributes to political stability, power shifts, and changing alignments in different regions. Methodologically, this Focus Area links macro-level power dynamics with micro-level outcomes, regional exposure analysis, and macro–micro linkage models based on data on export controls, investment restrictions, and policy variation.

Researchers: Anja Jetschke (lead), Sarah Langlotz, Christoph Trebesch

Research Cluster B examines how China develops structural power through dual-use technology, weapons’ exports, peacekeeping operations, and security engagement in fragile states. Rather than focusing only on coercion, the cluster analyzes how technological integration, institutional influence, and security engagement create dependencies and political leverage. It studies China’s growing role in global security governance, including UN peacekeeping operations and conflict regions connected to the Belt and Road Initiative. Methodologically, the cluster combines network analysis, conflict studies, quasi-experimental approaches, and process tracing to analyze security-related dependencies and geopolitical alignments.

Focus Area B1: China’s Dual-Use Industry and Technological Integration

The aim of this Focus Area is to examine the expansion of China’s defense-industrial capabilities and the role of technological integration in the accumulation of geopolitical influence. It focuses on how China’s growing defense sector and international weapons trade networks generate dependencies and strategic leverage abroad. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): China’s reduction of reliance on foreign suppliers; the development of technological capabilities in defense innovation; the structure of global Chinese weapons trade networks; and the implications of defense-industrial growth for global security governance. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines network analysis, while also mapping export networks and technological dependencies.

Focus Area B2: Script Writing in Peacekeeping

The aim of this Focus Area is to investigate China’s growing influence within UN peacekeeping operations and international security governance. It examines how China shapes doctrines, institutional practices, and field-level dependencies through its expanding role in peacekeeping missions and UN institutions. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the influence of Chinese personnel in the Department of Peace Operations (DPKO); doctrinal changes in peacekeeping operations; China’s role in shaping international security norms; and the effects of Chinese engagement on the security options of African governments. Methodologically, this Focus Area employs a comparative multi-method approach combining text analysis, process tracing, quasi-experimental designs, and interviews with UN officials, supported by newly compiled data on staffing, funding, troop deployments, and military agreements.

Focus Area B3. Micro-Level Reactions to Structural Power Building

The aim of this Focus Area is to analyze how Chinese security engagement shapes political alignments, conflict dynamics, and perceptions in fragile and conflict-affected states. It focuses on China’s involvement through arms exports, peacekeeping missions, and other forms of security interventions, particularly in regions connected to the Belt and Road Initiative. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the allocation of Chinese security engagement; the effects of Chinese involvement on conflict intensity and duration; the role of Chinese soft power in shaping public opinion and political stability; and strategic reactions by competing global actors. Methodologically, this Focus Area applies quasi-experimental methods, spatial regression discontinuity designs, and event studies, while combining conflict data with newly collected information on Chinese arms exports and security activities.


Researchers: Lei Li (lead), Simon Fink, Andreas Fuchs, Soo Yeon Kim, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Xiaohua Yu
Research Cluster C investigates how China reshapes global production systems, supply chains, industrial policies, and agricultural markets in ways that generate structural power and interdependence. The cluster focuses on international trade governance, industrial upgrading, technological dominance, and food security strategies. It analyzes how Chinese firms and state actors use infrastructure investments, strategic industries, and agricultural sourcing to strengthen China’s position in global value chains while influencing political and economic outcomes abroad. The cluster combines large-scale trade and firm-level datasets, machine learning, causal inference methods, and micro-econometric approaches to examine global production networks and dependency structures.

Focus Area C1: International Trade Order and Supply Chains

The aim of this Focus Area is to investigate how China reshapes global trade governance and supply-chain structures through its economic and geopolitical strategies. It examines how governments and firms respond to China’s expanding role in trade, infrastructure, and investment networks. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): reactions to Chinese foreign direct investment; de-risking and supply-chain diversification strategies; and the political and economic consequences of China’s trade and investment policies. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines newly compiled datasets on infrastructure investments and trade exposure with micro-econometric and quasi-experimental approaches to analyze firm-, sector-, and country-level responses to geopolitical tensions.

Focus Area C2: Industrial Policies and Dominance

The aim of this Focus Area is to analyze how China’s industrial policies contribute to technological upgrading, global market dominance, and structural power. It focuses on the interaction between state-led industrial strategies and firm-level adaptation to external economic and geopolitical pressures. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the effects of foreign protectionism on Chinese industrial policy; technological rivalry and innovation; the role of state-owned enterprises; and the restructuring of global supply chains. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines large-scale firm- and industry-level datasets with machine learning, event studies, difference-in-differences designs, and linked customs, patent, and financial data to identify causal mechanisms of industrial transformation.


Focus Area C3: Agricultural Dependence and Food Security

The aim of this Focus Area is to examine how China’s agricultural investments and food-security strategies create new forms of global interdependence. It focuses on China’s efforts to reduce vulnerabilities in agricultural supply chains through domestic technological development and international investment strategies. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): Chinese agricultural investments in Africa and Southeast Asia; their effects on local agricultural development and international trade; and the geopolitical implications of food-security dependencies. Methodologically, this Focus Area develops new datasets on Chinese agricultural investments and applies causal machine-learning methods to assess their economic, political, and developmental consequences.

Researchers: Andreas Fuchs (lead), Anja Jetschke, Soo Yeon Kim, Krisztina Kis-Katos, Christoph Trebesch

Research Cluster D studies how China uses finance, lending, development aid, and international financial institutions as instruments of structural power and geopolitical influence. The cluster focuses on the Belt and Road Initiative, rescue lending, the rise of Chinese-led multilateral institutions, and the internationalization of the renminbi (RMB). It examines how Chinese financial networks reshape political alignments, economic governance, and global financial dependencies. Combining comparative institutional analysis, georeferenced project-level data, elite interviews, and quasi-experimental designs, the cluster analyzes both the political effects of Chinese finance and the broader transformation of international economic governance.


Focus Area D1: Aid and Lending

The aim of this Focus Area is to study how China uses aid and lending as instruments of structural power and geopolitical influence. It examines the Belt and Road Initiative as a central mechanism through which Chinese finance reshapes political and economic relations in recipient countries. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the impact of Chinese lending on trade relations, UN voting behavior, and domestic political attitudes; the determinants of China’s rescue lending; and debates surrounding “debt-trap diplomacy.” Methodologically, this Focus Area employs actor-centered analytical frameworks, quasi-experimental designs, and georeferenced project-level data linked to national, regional, and individual indicators to identify the political effects of Chinese finance.

Focus Area D2: International Financial Institutions

The aim of this Focus Area is to investigate China’s growing influence within international financial institutions and the creation of alternative structures. It focuses on how Chinese-led institutions reshape norms, governance structures, and development-finance practices. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): governance preferences embedded in Chinese-led institutions; staffing and leadership strategies within multilateral organizations; and the relationship between institution-building and strategic competition with the United States and Europe. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines comparative institutional analysis, case studies, elite interviews, process tracing, and original data collection on governance structures, staffing, and funding patterns across international organizations.

Focus Area D3: Internationalization of the Renminbi (RMB)

The aim of this Focus Area is to examine the internationalization of the renminbi and its implications for global financial dependencies and geopolitical influence. It focuses on China’s efforts to reduce reliance on the US dollar and to expand the use of the RMB through trade, lending, and financial infrastructure. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): stakeholder responses to RMB internationalization; the role of the Belt and Road Initiative in promoting RMB usage; and the relationship between Chinese lending and the adoption of the RMB in recipient countries. Methodologically, this Focus Area compiles and analyzes newly collected micro-level data on Chinese loans and currency swap transactions in order to identify the links between financial integration and geopolitical influence.

Researchers: Dominic Sachsenmaier (lead), Julia Bader, Andreas Fuchs, Henrike Rudolph

Research Cluster E explores China’s shifting structural power in the fields of knowledge, information, media, science, and digital communication. The cluster examines institutional and other efforts to shape global narratives, academic standards, elite networks, and digital communication ecosystems. It investigates whether Chinese public diplomacy, scientific cooperation, educational exchanges, and networked digital communication generate alternative normative and cognitive frameworks that normalize Chinese standards. Using methods such as, for example, citation or semantic analysis, conceptual history, topic modeling, process tracing, and qualitative content analysis, the cluster studies how informational and ideational influence may reshape global knowledge regimes and technological development.

Focus Area E1: Image Projection through Public and Elite Diplomacy

The aim of this Focus Area is to investigate how China seeks to counter dominant Western discourses and establish alternative narratives, values, and norms. Among other topics, it investigates elite networks, exchange programs, and academic/diplomatic outreach to shape political alignment and public perceptions abroad. It focuses on efforts to socialize foreign elites into Chinese political and normative frameworks through party-to-party cooperation, scholarships, and training programs. This focus area seeks to fill important gaps in the current literature: There is still little known about its impact on public perceptions, or their influence on decision- makers on the national or even subnational level. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the effectiveness of Chinese elite cultivation processes; the role of material and non-material incentives in building academic influence; and the translation of elite networks into policy outcomes and institutional change. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines case studies, elite interviews, process tracing, and the analysis of Chinese policy documents on international communication and network-building strategies.

Focus Area E2: Scientific Influence

The aim of this Focus Area is to analyze China’s transformation from a knowledge consumer into a globally influential producer of academic knowledge (international publications, patent registrations, etc.) and a leading country in many university ranking systems. It examines the reception of Chinese publications across different fields and world regions using citation analysis and qualitative methods. Building on evidence of China’s expanding research collaboration, we analyze university curricula in partner countries to assess the extent of adoption of Chinese academic standards and educational frameworks. We also plan to analyze changing patterns in academic migration, flows of citations, and collaborative research projects between Chinese and international institutions over the past ten to thirty years, considering geopolitical shifts as important factors. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): Chinese universities’ and research institutions’ roles in international research collaboration networks in different world regions (historical and contemporary comparisons); efforts to globalize the Chinese humanities, or the question of how influential field-specific differences (e.g. MINT, humanities etc.) Chinese research agendas and educational frameworks are in different parts of the world. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines social scientific and historiographical approaches plus mapping of migration and collaboration patterns, interviews, and qualitative content analysis to study academic transformation and international knowledge exchange.

Focus Area E3: China’s Networked Digital Diplomacy

The aim of this Focus Area is to examine how China uses digital communication strategies and networked actors to expand its global influence and shape international narratives. It focuses on hybrid media systems that connect state actors with influencers, companies, cultural producers, and diaspora communities in order to “tell the China story well.” Possible research topics include (but are not limited to): the amplification of China-related content on social media; the integration of non-state actors into China’s communication ecosystem; and the role of digital diplomacy in advancing China’s soft power. Methodologically, this Focus Area combines topic modeling, semantic network analysis, and studies of coded political language and relational diplomacy to reconstruct digital communication networks and narrative strategies.