Project core

CHINAGLOBAL analyses how the People's Republic of China shapes the global governance system through strategic narratives and their practical implementation. The focus of the project lies on China's guiding principle of a ‘Global Community of Shared Future’: (1) its substantive meaning and strategic function, and (2) the question of how concrete ideas of order are derived from it and politically implemented – and what consequences this has for international norms, institutions and spheres of action.

Analytical focus and approach

Empirically, the project focuses on the thus far little-studied nexus of development, infrastructure and security, which closely intertwines China's narratives and practices. Methodologically, CHINAGLOBAL employs a mixed-methods design and compares the global level (UN system) with the regional level (East Africa) in order to reveal mechanisms of influence and control as well as their political implications.

Structure: Three sub-projects (joint project)

Sub-project 1 – Development: Examines how China uses development cooperation as a strategic narrative to promote alternative concepts of order – within the UN system (including through formats such as the ‘GDI Group of Friends’) and in East Africa as an implementation area.

Sub-project 2 – Infrastructure: Analyses the infrastructure sector as the key driver of global connectivity (including industrial and energy policy) and the resulting geo-economic and security policy effects, examined in the case of East Africa.

Subproject 3 – Security: Analyses Chinese discourses and practices of international security in the UN context, as well as the regional implementation of the Global Security Initiative (GSI) in East Africa and its geopolitical effects.

Guiding assumptions and relevance

The project starts from the hypothesis that the ‘Community’ as a comprehensive strategic narrative not only has a rhetorical effect, but is also reflected in concrete foreign, security and global policy practices and can thus also guide the actions of actors in the Global South. At the same time, the project assumes that global governance can be shaped through the strategic use of narratives and practices – and that China is using this scope for action to shape existing patterns of order in its own interests. CHINAGLOBAL thus provides evidence-based insights into the mechanisms of Chinese order-shaping and identifies challenges for German and European foreign, security and development policy.

Project partners (consortium)

• Heidelberg University – project coordination and sub-project ‘Development’ (led by Marina Rudyak)
• University of Bonn – sub-project ‘Infrastructure’ (led by Maximilian Mayer)
• German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) – sub-project ‘Security’ (led by Nadine Godehardt)