BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:talks.ox.ac.uk
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Politics in the Peripheries: The Spatial and Relational Dimensions
  of China’s ‘Democratic Parties and Groups' - Dr Henrike Rudolph (Univ
 ersity of Göttingen)
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260219T170000Z
DTEND;VALUE=DATE-TIME:20260219T183000Z
UID:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/cf37e3b0-870c-4555-8fee-d8b478e631cb/
DESCRIPTION:For foreign observers\, China is often perceived as a closed p
 olitical system\, marked by opacity in decision-making and one-party rule\
 , which creates clearly demarcated boundaries between those included and e
 xcluded from power. Upon closer inspection\, however\, there are designate
 d spaces for the political engagement of Chinese elites outside the Chines
 e Communist Party (CCP)\, such as the so-called 'democratic parties and gr
 oups' (DPGs). Closely supervised by the CCP’s United Front Work Departme
 nt\, they operate in what Dr Rudolph calls the peripheries of power\, brid
 ging the divide between the party-state and non-party elites. This talk ex
 amines the symbolic and practical functions of these peripheral organizati
 ons in China’s political system and presents a brief history of China’
 s DPGs\, from their institutionalization in the 1940s to their current ree
 valuation under Xi Jinping. Drawing on theories of the spatial and relatio
 nal dimensions of power\, the talk sheds light on understudied political s
 tructures and their role in stabilizing the political regime. It thus cont
 ributes to the existing research on space in authoritarian contexts\, whic
 h often neglects coopting mechanisms and focuses either on the spatiality 
 of anti-hegemonic contentious politics or on the state’s repressive orde
 ring of space. Understanding China’s DPGs as networked structures ground
 ed in spatial realities and imaginaries contributes to a clearer understan
 ding of their current reconfiguration within new Chinese policies of 'whol
 e-process people’s democracy'.\n \nHenrike Rudolph is a lecturer at the 
 Department of East Asian Studies at the University of Göttingen. Trained 
 in Sinology and Political Science\, she completed her PhD at Hamburg Unive
 rsity and Fudan University\, Shanghai\, in 2017. Rudolph worked as a postd
 octoral fellow at the Chair of Contemporary Chinese Studies at Friedrich-A
 lexander University in Erlangen-Nuremberg. Before coming to Göttingen\, s
 he held an interim professorship at the University of Heidelberg. Rudolph
 ’s research interests include the transcultural exchange of knowledge an
 d skills\, educational thought\, and network approaches to social and poli
 tical history\, with a focus on twentieth-century China. Her current book 
 project examines the history and current political function of the Jiusan 
 Society\, one of China’s so-called 'democratic parties and groups'.\n\nS
 peakers:\nDr Henrike Rudolph (University of Göttingen)
LOCATION:Dickson Poon Building (Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre (lower ground
  floor))\, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
TZID:Europe/London
URL:https://talks.ox.ac.uk/talks/id/cf37e3b0-870c-4555-8fee-d8b478e631cb/
BEGIN:VALARM
ACTION:display
DESCRIPTION:Talk:Politics in the Peripheries: The Spatial and Relational D
 imensions of China’s ‘Democratic Parties and Groups' - Dr Henrike Rudo
 lph (University of Göttingen)
TRIGGER:-PT1H
END:VALARM
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR