Academic freedom, globalized scholarship and the rise of authoritarian China

In the context of today's globalized scholarship, academic freedom faces novel threats. Autocracies, such as the Chinese one-party state, not only curtail academic freedom within their own borders, but also attempt to export censorship and other repressive practices to other states.

Existing research on the PRC's international rise pay scant attention to higher education, and only few dedicated studies investigate China's role in global academia. Observers of the Chinese Party State's public and science diplomacy (notably think tankers, journalists and civil society activists) have warned that the more academic institutions in Germany, the UK and other liberal democracies rely on cooperation and exchange with China - especially if it is funded by the Party State - the more the integrity of liberal universities is at risk.

The few studies that are available so far fail to link empirical (often only anecdotal) observations with theoretical accounts of authoritarian rule and to spell out the applicable liberal and democratic legal norms that must be protected. Our project is driven by the insight that while empirical study is crucial, it does not give us the conceptual tools required for a normative assessment that can shape intelligent and legitimate responses to authoritarian, transnational pressure on academia.

Our team of scholars working in the fields of law, political studies, Chinese area studies, human rights and moral philosophy will investigate how transnational authoritarian influence shapes concrete relationships between universities, scholars, students, and other academic actors participating in academic cooperation and exchange with China.

In contrast with the few available, empirically driven studies on this subject, our project will develop a more systematic understanding of relevant norms and available responses to undue influence and infringements of academic freedom. We will not consider universities in liberal democracies as mere passive targets. Instead, our focus will be on studying the perspectives, decisions, and actions of UK and German actors engaging in academic collaboration with authoritarian China in a comparative way, taking the different institutional designs of academia in both countries into account.

Our analysis will be guided by a research framework that focuses on 'three pillars of support' for authoritarian rule (repression, legitimation, and co-optation), and on the categories exit, voice, loyalty and neglect, and that examines normative conditions required to protect academic freedom.

As it makes the institutional strength of academia the object of its study, our project will make a contribution to continued academic flourishing both in Germany and the UK, for which an enhanced and common understanding of authoritarian pressure and academic freedom is necessary as a basis for robust responses. More specifically, the project will also deepen future academic cooperation between KCL and FAU.