Research Results & Projects of Prof. Dr. Dr. Nele Noesselt
World Order Fluctuations
πάντα ῥεῖ
Current Research Project
World Order Visions and National/Global Role Contestation: China, US, Russia
Research Interests
World Order Fluctuations and Global Power Shifts
Reflections on the positions and power constellations of EUrope, the US, Russia and China. Are the US and China caught in a Thucydides’ Trap? Are Russia and China actively promoting autocracy and the formation of an illiberal world order?
Organized Workshops:
International Authors Workshop "China-US-EUrope", October 22-25, 2020 (virtual meeting, in cooperation with Katja Levy, Manchester)
International Authors Workshop "China & Latin America and the Caribbean", July 2020 (virtual meeting)
International Experts Workshop "China’s Silk Road Initiative: Concepts and Actors", Berlin, June 28-30, 2019 (in cooperation with Katja Levy, FU Berlin)
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (2021), China’s New Regional Responsiveness: Passive Agency and Counter-agency in Processes of Democratic Transitions in Asia, Democratization, 28:1, 219-236.
Noesselt, Nele (ed.) (2020), China’s Interactions with Latin America and the Caribbean: Conquering the US’s Strategic Backyard? Baden-Baden: Tectum/Nomos.
Noesselt, Nele (2019), Diplomatischer Tanz auf dem Eis: China, Russland und die "Arktis-Seidenstraße" (Diplomatic Dancing on Ice: China, Russia, and the Artic Strategy), Rußland-Analysen, 374, 5-8. https://www.laender-analysen.de/russlandanalysen/374/RusslandAnalysen374.pdf.
Noesselt, Nele (ed.) (2019), Reassessing Chinese Politics: National System Dynamics and Global Implications. Baden-Baden: Tectum/Nomos.
Noesselt, Nele (2019), Sino–EU Cooperation 2.0: Toward a Global "Green" Strategy?, East Asian Community Review, 2:1&2, 39-55.
Noesselt, Nele (2019), New Political Cartography of Eurasia: China’s Belt and Road-Initiative—The Eurasian Economic Union—India’s New Silk Road, in: Li, Yuan/Taube, Markus (eds.) (2019), How China’s Silk Road Initiative is Changing the Global Economic Landscape. London; New York: Routledge.
Noesselt, Nele (2016), The European Union and China’s Multidimensional Diplomacy: Strategic Triangulation?, European Foreign Affairs Review, 21 (October 2016), 11-27.
National Role Theory & Global Role Contestations
Contemplations on global role and positions claims. How do critical junctures and global crises impact on global powers’ definitions of their role-identities and the roles (and positions) they ascribe to significant others?
DFG Research Project:
Role Change and Role Contestation in the People's Republic of China: Globalization of "Chinese" Concepts of Order?
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (2019), Über Pekings Afrika-Dilemma: Rollenkonflikte und geostrategische Machtkonkurrenz (Beijing’s Africa Dilemma: Role Conflicts and Geo-Strategic Power Competition), Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte. https://www.frankfurter-hefte.de/artikel/rollenkonflikte-und-geostrategischemachtkonkurrenz-2837/.
Noesselt, Nele (2016), Contested Global Order(s): Rising Powers and the Re-Legitimation of Global Constitutionalization, International Journal on Constitutional Law, 14:3, 639-656.
Noesselt, Nele (2015), China and Socialist Countries: Role Change and Role Continuity. In: Harnisch, Sebastian/Bersick, Sebastian/Gottwald, Jörn-Carsten (eds.) (2015), China’s International Roles: Challenging or Supporting International Order? London; New York: Routledge, 171-187.
Noesselt, Nele (2014), China’s Contradictory Role(s) in World Politics: Decrypting China’s North Korea Strategy, Third World Quarterly, 35:7, 1307-1325.
Post-Structuralism, Post-Positivism & IR Theory
Reflections on innovative, cross-disciplinary approaches to IR theory in the 21st century, critical evaluation of the global debates about "non-Western"/"post-Western" IR theories.
Roundtable :
Re-imaging or Reproducing IR: How Critical is the Chinese IR? WISC Roundtable RT-7 (with Barry Buzan, LSE; Shih Chih-yu, NTU; Zhang Yongjin, Bristol), Taipeh, April 1, 2017
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (2015), Revisiting the Debate on Constructing a Theory of International Relations with Chinese Characteristics, The China Quarterly, 222, 430-448.
Noesselt, Nele (2014), Die Grenzen "nicht-westlicher" Theorien der Internationalen Beziehungen (The Limits of "Non-Western" Theories of International Relations), Zeitschrift für Internationale Beziehungen, 21:1, 79-107.
Noesselt, Nele (2010), Alternative Weltordnungsmodelle? IB-Diskurse in China (Alternative Models of World Order? International Relations Discourses in China). Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.
South-South Cooperation: Africa & China
What are the main drivers of cooperation between Africa and the PRC? Does regime type impact on African states' strategies towards China? Does the PRC pursue a unified approach vis-à-vis the African continent ? How does Beijing respond to structural changes, power shifts, and local crises (rebellions, civil wars)?
Organized Workshops:
International Authors Workshop "China & Africa", supported by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Duisburg, June 22-24, 2017 (jointly organized with Christof Hartmann, UDE)
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele/Hartmann, Christof (2020), China's New Silk Road and (Changing) State Trajectories in Africa, Berliner China-Hefte, 52, 133-143.
Noesselt, Nele (2019), Über Pekings Afrika-Dilemma: Rollenkonflikte und geostrategische Machtkonkurrenz (Beijing's Africa Dilemma: Role Conflicts and Geo-Strategic Power Competition), Neue Gesellschaft/Frankfurter Hefte.https://www.frankfurter-hefte.de/artikel/rollenkonflikte-und-geostrategischemachtkonkurrenz-2837/.
Noesselt, Nele (2019/2020), China's African Dream: Assessing China's New Strategy. In: Noesselt, Nele/Hartmann, Christof (eds.) (2019/2020), China’s New Role in African Politics: From Non-Intervention towards Stabilization? London/New York: Routledge, 17-31.
Noesselt, Nele/Hartmann, Christof (2017), Ende der Neutralität: Pekings Doktrin der Nichteinmischung
gilt für Afrika nicht mehr, Internationale Politik, 3, 107-113.
Visualized Narratives of (World) Politics
Contemplations on the visual dimensions of (world) politics and world order imaginations. Assessing states' national and global role conceptions via the decryption of newsreel, political documentaries, art films.
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (forthcoming), Re-Imaginations of Utopian Socialism & Post-Solar Nightmares: Liu Cixin’s Wandering Earth Project (book chapter).
Noesselt, Nele (ed.) (2021), Visualized Narratives: Signs, Symbols and Political Mythology in East Asia, Europe and the US. Baden-Baden: Tectum/Nomos.
Noesselt, Nele (with Gansen, Ulrike /Miller, Martin/Seyferth, Jonas) (2018), 人民的名义 (Im Namen des Volkes) versus House of Cards: Polit-Serien als Legitimierungsinstrument aktueller chinesischer Reformpolitik (In the Name of the People versus House of Cards: Political Drama Series as an Instrument for Legitimizing Chinese Reform Politics), in: Switek, Niko (ed.) (2018), Politische Erzählungen in Fernsehserien. Bielefeld: transcript, 327-343.
H(uman)-AI Society
Theory-guided assessments of the socio-economic, socio-political repercussions of artificial intelligence (AI) - and their global implications
Talks & Conference Roundtables:
Roundtable at the Annual Conference of the International Studies Association (ISA) 2021: Cyber Dimensions of Chinese Politics, April 9, 2021 (organizer & chair)
Online Lecture: China’s R-AI-se: The Digital New Silk Road and China’s Global AI Dreams, March 18, 2021, University of Goettingen
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (2020), A Presidential Signature Initiative: Xiong’an and Governance Modernization under Xi Jinping, Journal of Contemporary China, DOI:10.1080/10670564.2020.1744378.
Noesselt, Nele (2020), City Brains and Smart Urbanization: Regulating 'Sharing Economy' Innovation in China, Journal of Chinese Governance, DOI: 10.1080/23812346.2020.1762466.
Governance Innovation and Policy Learning
Some basic thoughts on the determinants and patterns of policy change in autocratic/hybrid regimes as compared to multi-party democracies. How do non-democratic systems manage to legitimate and stabilize their political regime?
Organized Workshops:
International Authors Workshop "Governance Innovation and Policy Change under Xi Jinping", Tutzing, September 09-15, 2019 (in cooperation with Saskia Hieber, APB Tutzing)
Publications (selection):
Noesselt, Nele (2018), Reinventing the Chinese "Leviathan": Constitutionalizing Politics under Xi Jinping. In: Noesselt, Nele (ed.) (2018), Governance Innovation and Policy Change: Re-Calibrations of Chinese Politics under Xi Jinping. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 171-191.
Noesselt, Nele (2017), Governance Change and Patterns of Continuity: Assessing China’s "New Normal", Journal of Chinese Political Science, 22:3, 341-355.
Noesselt, Nele/Senghaas, Dieter (2016), "Neue Normalität" (xin changtai) und Re-Konfuzianisierung des chinesischen Marxismus: Die VR China auf der Suche nach einem neuen Konzept politischer Herrschaft (New Normal and the Re-Confucianization of Chinese Marxism), Leviathan, 44:4, 558-577.