Prof. Dr. Anja Senz Economy, State and Society in Contemporary China
The People's Republic of China is not only one of the largest economies in the world, but also a central player in international politics - with a political system that differs substantially from Western democracies. Observing contemporary China through a research lens opens up nuanced perspectives on power, socio-political order and change in a globally entangled world.
Our research group is concerned with the interdisciplinary analysis of political, socio-economic, and cultural developments in the PR China, from the period of reform and opening up onwards. We conduct research not only on processes of transformation within China, but also on China's global role and the dynamics characterising the contemporary Chinese-speaking world.
Teaching focus
China has a significant impact on today's world - politically, economically, and socially. The courses conducted by our research group offer a well-founded approach to structures, processes and actors shaping China. This touches upon questions of social change, economic dynamics, state order, regional diversity, and transnational relations. From a theoretical and methodological perspective, we introduce approaches from social sciences as well as cultural studies. Studying contemporary China through a research-based approach provides students with profound cultural insights and key skills for navigating a complex global landscape characterised by both interdependence and geopolitical tensions.
Our areas of research
Our research focuses on political and socio-economic dynamics in the Chinese-speaking world, observing interdependencies between the state order, social change and economic activities from the perspective of the actors involved. Transnational entanglements and the global impact of developments within China are also taken into account in order to provide nuanced analyses of authoritarian mechanisms of rule, everyday manifestations of statehood, as well as political and economic processes as social practices. Our research centres empirically-based studies which link up theory-guided approaches with qualitative methods - in particular, fieldwork, interviews, and the analysis of Chinese-language primary sources. Our goal is to render understandable, and critically reflect on, logics of “doing politics” in China, thereby contributing to research debates and public discourse on contemporary China. Recent research projects are focused on China's border regions, environmental and resource policies, and socio-economic developments.