Ongoing research projects (selective)
Understanding China's Role as a Norm-Shaper in Cyberspace Governance
co-investigator: Dr Xinchuchu Gao (University of Lincoln)
This project is funded by the The British Academy/Leverhulme Small Grant (2022 - 2024).
Summary:
With information communication technologies (ICT) penetrating all aspects of human activities, concerns over cyberspace practices have become central to achieving a consensus on an international agenda for cyberspace governance. Therefore, cyberspace governance has become a global priority not only for nationstates and international organisations but also for industry and users in general, and it has had a transformative impact on domestic and international politics. In the last two decades, there has been increasing research interest in global cyber governance and cybersecurity politics, leading to a heated debate over ‘whose ideas matter’ in the construction of cyber norms at the global level. This project will investigate China’s role as a norm-shaper in cyberspace governance by uncovering the processes of China’s norm construction and norm diffusion in data governance and cybersecurity.
Project outputs and research dissemination:
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Book project entitled "Understanding China's role as a norm-entrepreneur in global cyber governance", under contract with Palgrave Macmillan.
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Chinese Internet Research Conference 2023, presentation "One-way Norm Diffusion or Two-way Socialisation? A Case Study of China-ASEAN Engagement in Digital Governance", Chiang Mai, Thailand, July 2023.
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Workshop on Digital China in the Global South, Department of International Development, LSE, presentation “Norm diffusion in cyber governance: China as an emerging entrepreneur?”, London, UK, February 2024.
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The 4th Belt and Road Initiative Interdisciplinary Conference at Lancaster University, presentation "China's narratives of Digital Silk Road: towards a desecuritisation agenda?', Lancaster, June, 2024.
Artificial Intelligence to unpack the Dynamic Relationships between Media Narratives, Foreign Policy, and Public Opinion
(co-PIs: Dr Seoeun Yang CSSH & CAMD, NEU; Dr Myojung Chung, CAMD NEU)
This project is funded by Northeastern University Tier 1 Seed Grant (2023-2025)
Summary:
Scholars in International Relations (IR) and Political Communication have established that media narratives of global events have a far-reaching impact on shaping public opinion and foreign policy behaviors. However, there is limited empirical research that unpacks the complex relationship between media discourse, foreign policy, and the public's responses to global crises. Besides, existing research on this topic tends to rely on small-scale media datasets and labor intensive case studies, which hinders comparative analysis of large-scale multilingual media narratives across different cultural and political contexts. To fill these gaps of research, this project adopts cutting-edge artificial intelligence techniques to uncover the relationship between media narratives, foreign policy, and public opinion concerning contemporary warfare and humanitarian crises. By bringing together an interdisciplinary team with its roots in Computational Social Science, IR, and Media Studies, this project also seeks to pursue greater societal impact by responding to the pressing need to develop effective models and tools which can be used by policy-makers and business sectors to make scientific prediction regarding international actors’ political communication, diplomacy and the public’s responses to global crises.
Project outputs and research dissemination:
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6th Annual COMPTEXT Conference 2024. Application of Multimedia Knowledge Graph: Systematic Narratives of the 2022 Ukraine War in US and Chinese Media. (May 2024).
Chinese strategic narratives on the Russia’s War in Ukraine: Nuances and variations
Collaborator: Dr Angela Pennisi di Floristella, University of Malta
This book project is currently under contract with the Palgrave Macmillan Series in International Political Communication
Summary:
Strategic narratives have become an important tool with which states define their geopolitical reality and shape the types of foreign policy decisions that emerge. In order to build a more favourable international environment, China has deployed substantial resources to disseminate its strategic narratives and communicate its role, identity and vision and legitimise Chinese Communist Party (CCP) rule. Despite the obvious importance of narratives on conflict and global security, remarkably few studies have examined China’s strategic narratives on security-related issues. This book is the first systematic effort to map out China’s strategic narratives in the context of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Building upon academic literature recognizing that the Chinese actors involved with and influencing Chinese foreign policy has continued to grow under the leadership of Xi Jinping, this book aims at shedding light on the nuances and variations of distinctive sources of China’s foreign policy with regard to the current war in Ukraine. Due to their numerous ramifications for global security politics, the analysis of China’s strategic narratives on the war in Ukraine is urgently needed to understand China’s view of contemporary international security politics and governance. In particular the book aims to offer knowledge into China’s security understanding and possible course of action in the current and future international security crises for students in international relations, in China’s foreign policy, in Asian studies, in diplomacy as well as for policy practitioners.