WIIW The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies - Wiener Institut für Internationale Wirtschaftsvergleiche

Investigating China's strategy in the evolving global context

09  April 2025    4:00 pm CEST

Professor Hall will speak on 'The People's Republic of China—A Global Opposition Party?

In cooperation with:
 

Venue

wiiw, Rahlgasse 3, 1060 Vienna, seminar room (entrance from the ground floor)

Description

Much recent research has examined the People’s Republic of China through the lens of power transition theory, asking to what extent China is a dissatisfied, revisionist state likely to challenge the United States militarily. In this talk, we present an alternative way of thinking about China’s international behaviour and tactics. Drawing on an analogy with domestic opposition parties, we argue that it is useful to think of the People’s Republic of China as seeking leadership through followership, and outline the implications of this across three domains.

This will be followed by comments from the discussants and a Q&A session.

Speaker

Professor Todd Hall, Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford and Director of the University of Oxford China Centre

Discussants

Waltraut Urban, wiiw
Thomas Eder, oiip

Professor Hall earned his PhD from the University of Chicago in 2008 and has held postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton and Harvard, as well as visiting scholar appointments at the Free University of Berlin, Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the University of Tokyo. Prior to joining the University of Oxford, Professor Hall was teaching Political Science at the University of Toronto (2010-2013). Research interests extend to the areas of international relations theory; the intersection of emotion, affect, and foreign policy; and Chinese foreign policy.

For some recent publications, see:

'Non-decision decisions in the Huawei 5G dilemma: Policy in Japan, the UK, and Germany', (co-authored with Alanna Krolikowski of Missouri S&T), Japanese Journal of Political Science, early view. 2023.

'Making Sense of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A Review Essay', (co-authored with Alanna Krolikowski of Missouri S&T), International Studies Review, 24(3). 2022.

'The Politics of Emotion in International Relations: Who gets to feel what, whose feelings matter, and the ‘history problem’ in Sino-Japanese relations', (co-authored with Karl Gustafsson at Stockholm University), International Studies Quarterly, 65(4):973-984. 2021.

'Emotional Diplomacy: Official Emotion on the International Stage', Cornell University Press, 2015. (Co-Winner of the 2016 Best Book Award, Diplomatic Studies Section of the International Studies Association)