The Struggle for Minds and Influence: Understanding the Chinese Communist Party’s Global Outreach

We cordially invite you to the next session of our workshop series on Authoritarian Politics and International Relations at WZB.

Christine Hackenesch and Julia Bader will talk about the international politics of the Chinese Communist Party. 

The authors address a largely overlooked actor in China’s foreign relations, the International Department of the Community Party of China (ID-CPC). Using publicly available documentation, they systematically analyze the patterns of the CPC’s external relations since the early 2000s. Building on an intense travel diplomacy, the ID-CPC maintains a widely stretched network to political elites across the globe. The ID-CPC’s engagement is not new; but since Xi Jinping toolkits office, the CPC has bolstered its efforts to reach out to other parties. 

We find that party relations not only serve as an additional channel to advance China’s foreign policy interests. Since President Xi has come to power, party relations also emerged as a key instrument to promote China’s vision for reforming the global order. Moreover, China increasingly uses the party channel as a vehicle of authoritarian learning by sharing experiences of its economic modernization and authoritarian one-party regime. The cross-regional analysis of the CPC’s engagement with other parties held us to better understand the role of the CPC in Chinese foreign policy making, pointing to a new research agenda at the intersection of China’s foreign relations, authoritarian diffusion, and transnational relations. 

The seminar series aims at bringing together scholars from Comparative Politics and International Relations. We invite papers combining comparative authoritarianism and IR, as well as contributions that help clarify important theoretical concepts and empirical patterns in either discipline. Colleagues interested in presenting in the workshop series should email Alex Tokhi (alexandros.tokhi [at] wzb.eu) or Alex Schmotz (alexander.schmotz [at] wzb.eu).

When: Once a month on a Tuesday afternoon (see dates below)

Where: WZB Berlin Social Science Center, Reichpietschufer 50, 10785 Berlin, Room A305

What: A classic format: 90 minute research seminar with one paper presentation (15 min), one discussant (10), and plenty of time for Q&A

Who: All scholars from WZB and the Berlin area and anyone interested in authoritarian politics and/or international relations

You can find the upcoming sessions here.

Organized by Alexandros Tokhi (Department Global Governance) and Alexander Schmotz (Department of Democracy & Democratisation)