Opening Markets through State Action:
West German Foreign Economic and Development Policies towards China, 1972–1996
PhD project
My doctoral project examines the Federal Republic of Germany’s foreign economic and development policies towards China from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. It explores how different political and economic actors assessed China’s development, how their assessments shaped policies, forms of cooperation, and subsequent evaluations, and how experiences with China, in turn, influenced their perceptions of domestic and international affairs. By tracing these interactions, the project investigates how changes in West Germany’s political and economic conditions and ideas were entangled with the development of Sino-German relations.
During his stay at the ZZF, Xintong Zhou is conducting research for his dissertation in Department II: Knowledge – Economy – Politics.