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26.10.2026
Institutskolloquium IfP (11.11.2026) – Normative power or geopolitical power? The EU’s identity rearticulation in the era of global reordering
Speaker: Yifan Yang (East China Normal University, Shanghai)
Wednesday, November 11, 2026, 16:00 (c.t.)
Room 124, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, or online via Zoom
About the lecture:
Infrastructure connectivity has become a site of global competition, particularly between the EU and China. Drawing on identity theory and an infrastructure/world-order perspective, this research conducts a qualitative analysis of EU policy documents, speeches, and think tank reports to examine how the Global Gateway articulates the relationship between the EU’s normative and geopolitical identities in comparison with China’s Belt and Road Initiative. It argues that the Global Gateway should not be understood as a linear transition from normative to geopolitical power. Instead, it represents the strategic foregrounding of geopolitical reasoning within the EU’s historically hybrid identity, while institutional fragmentation and normative commitments constrain its geopolitical identity projection.
Yifan Yang currently serves as a visiting research fellow at the Institute for Political Science, University of Tübingen. He works as Associate Professor in International Politics at the School of Politics and International Relations, East China Normal University. He holds a PhD degree in IPE from King’s College London, and his research lies in the field of Chinese Foreign Policy, EU-China Relations and the impact of ICTs on Chinese Politics/Society. His academic papers have appeared in British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of European Integration among others.
The lecture will be held in English