FOR 5913:  Learning Empire. Autonomy, Dependence, and China’s Emerging Imperial Practices

• Subject Area: Social and Behavioural Sciences
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 550231771

Has the People’s Republic of China (PRC) emerged as a novel empire? What are its key imperial practices, and how and why are they being deployed and adapted? This Research Unit (RU) is inspired by the observation that China’s tradition of "keeping a low profile" internationally was abandoned in 2013. Instead, political leaders and business elites have moved beyond controlled integration into the established international order(s) and are learning how to build Sinocentric hierarchies. This is reflected in aggressive behavior toward Taiwan, the establishment of asymmetrical "partnerships" with states and businesses especially in the so-called Global South, and the creation of a China-led system of financial, digital, science, and outer space infrastructure. Our objective is to better understand and explain this new dimension of China’s global practices. This requires a change of perspective to no longer see the PRC merely as a rising power. Further, it is necessary to understand the party-state as a regime capable of learning. We hypothesize that while the PRC is not pursuing a "grand strategy" to achieve global supremacy, many of its emerging practices have an imperial quality. Against the backdrop of a changing global context, particularly the recent geopolitical turns, Chinese actors attempt to build more economic, political, technological, institutional, and intellectual autonomy. However, this also fosters the perhaps initially unintended creation of dependence of foreign actors and institutions on the PRC. First, the RU will focus on policy learning, and the factors that cause Chinese decision-makers to adapt and change course. Second, we investigate five specific imperial practices: establishing control over transnational economic structures, intermediary creation, divide and rule, ideational binding, and the threat and use of force. Third, we will analyze the outcomes of these imperial practices. Finally, connecting the first with the second funding period, a complementary objective is to develop our conceptual toolkit into a robust theoretical framework for the study of empire(s). We therefore also aim to make a valuable contribution to broader debates about the future of international order(s). Drawing on strong track records in International Relations, International Political Economy, and China Studies, and by making use of qualitative and multi-method research designs, the eight projects will study Chinese practices in areas critical for empire building: finance and foreign investment, infrastructure buildup, raw materials, ideology, and science. All projects investigate elite learning, at least one of the five imperial practices introduced above, and their outcomes. On this basis, we can evaluate whether and how an imperial elite takes shape in the PRC, how the combination of Chinese practices creates a novel empire and what its defining features are, as well as the outcomes of these practices in terms of autonomy and dependence.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• International Connection: Australia, Canada, China, China (Hong Kong), Indonesia, Qatar, Singapore, United Kingdom, USA

Projects

• China’s Raw Materials Empire: Imperial Practices in Overseas Mineral Extraction and Processing (Applicant Rabe, Wiebke Antonia )
• Coordination Funds (Applicant ten Brink, Tobias )
• Digital Empire: Chinese Imperial Practices and Infrastructure in the Global South (Applicant Mayer, Maximilian )
• Economic Empire: Peripheralization along Chinese-led Green Value Chains (Applicant ten Brink, Tobias )
• Financial Empire: China’s Construction of an Alternative Financial System (Applicant Petry, Johannes )
• Ideology of Empire: China’s Ideational Binding Practices in Global Governance (Applicant Stephen, Matthew )
• Scientific Empire: Infrastructure Control and Ideational Binding in China’s International Big Science Projects (Applicant Ahlers, Anna Lisa )
• Unyielding Empire: China’s Quest to Peripheralize Taiwan (Applicant Schubert, Gunter )
• Volumetric Empire: Autonomy and Dependence in Chinese Space Infrastructure Exports (Applicant Godehardt, Nadine )

• Spokesperson: Professor Dr. Tobias ten Brink