Research

The chair’s research focuses on development policy, international development, social movements, democratization, and digital media, especially in East and Southeast Asia. It examines the upheaval in international development through inter- and transdisciplinary projects at Passau’s Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences.

The core areas include Digitalization, Networked Society, and (Internet) Cultures, analysing political, social, historical, cultural, and economic inequalities using critical social research concepts. Particular attention is given to phenomena related to digitalization, such as social media, the platform economy, artificial intelligence, and infrastructures like digital industry infrastructure and China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Within this framework, it also examines how digital infrastructures and networked media intersect with social movements, collective memory, and everyday political practices. This includes analysing how younger generations engage with historical legacies, inequality, and how broader regional and global processes shape local experiences of democratization. The approach combines local and global perspectives within critical regional studies.

Since World War II, the global development system has faced major change due to crises like climate change, COVID-19, and conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, exposing institutional weaknesses and aiding authoritarian regimes. This legitimacy crisis links to a shift from a US-led order to a new system where China emerges as a major power, seen as an alternative governance model by the EU and US amidst a bipolar world. The digital revolution fuels these shifts economically, politically, and culturally, especially in Southeast Asia—home to big projects, climate impacts, social media, China proximity, and Belt and Road ties. Countries like Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines lean toward authoritarianism, while new democracy movements emerge, comparable to the Arab Spring.