Thomas Heberer (political scientist)

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Thomas Heberer (born November 13, 1947 in Offenbach am Main ) is a German political scientist and East Asian scholar with a focus on China .

Life

Heberer studied ethnology, political science, philosophy and sinology in Frankfurt am Main , Göttingen , Mainz and Heidelberg . In 1977 he received his doctorate in social sciences from the University of Bremen . From 1977 to 1981 he worked as an editor and translator at the publishing house for foreign language literature in Beijing , where he experienced the process of change from the cultural revolutionary phase to reform politics.

After returning to Germany, he initially worked as a sworn interpreter. After stints at the Bremen Überseemuseum (construction of the permanent China exhibition), at the University of Bremen ( habilitation on the individual sector in China) and at the University of Duisburg-Essen (substitute for the Chair for East Asian Politics), he became Professor of Economic Sinology at the University of Bremen in 1991 . In 1989 he had already received the license to teach (Venia legendi) for political science at the University of Bremen. From 1992 to 1998 he held the chair for political science with a focus on East Asia at the University of Trier , and since 1998 a chair of the same name at the institutes for political science and for East Asian studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since 2010 he has also been co-director of the Confucius Institute Metropole Ruhr at the University of Duisburg-Essen. He is also a permanent visiting professor at Zhejiang University , Renmin University and Nankai University . He retired in 2013 . Immediately afterwards, the University of Duisburg-Essen awarded him a senior professorship , through which he continues to work for and at the university, especially in basic research.

Heberer held numerous visiting professorships at foreign institutions such as Seoul National University; at the University of Washington; at the China Center for Comparative Politics and Economics in Beijing ;; at the National Taiwan University and the National Sun Yat-sen University in Taiwan; at Zhejiang University and Peking University.

research

Heberer's thinking was influenced by social scientists like James C. Scott, Pierre Bourdieu , Theodor Adorno , Norbert Elias, Lucian E. Pye, and Michel Foucault . As a result of his social science studies, he gains important insights into the research topic China from his regular field research. Field research - according to Heberer - is the most important instrument for understanding societies from within. In this sense, he once wrote in an essay about the “scientist as a traveler”: “By discovering the other we discover ourselves, we confirm our superiority or we fundamentally question ourselves. Research also needs meaningful incentives, and immersion in the Dionysian world of research is such an incentive, which greatly reduces the transaction costs of travel to remote areas ”.

His first field research on nationality policy and development policy in ethnic minority areas was carried out in 1981 in the Liangshan Autonomous District of Yi (Sichuan Province). Since then, he has repeatedly researched the Yi (Nuosu), one of the largest ethnic groups in China, whether about the private sector, ethnic entrepreneurs or environmental governance. In addition, he actively campaigned for the dissemination of knowledge about the Yi, also beyond the academic sphere. In 1998 he organized the second international conference on Yi studies at the University of Trier, and in 2006 a large exhibition on the history, society and customs of the Yi in the City History Museum in Duisburg. In 2001 he also collected 250,000 DM (from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the Society for Technical Cooperation and the Mercator Foundation ) for the establishment of a Yi minority school in the Chinese district of Meigu . Heberer regularly conducts field research on various political science topics and in different regions of China. Among other things, he dealt with the development of the individual and private sector (1986-88), rural urbanization and social change in rural areas (1993-95), with the political and social role of private entrepreneurs in China and Vietnam (1996- 98), the role of ideas and intellectuals in policy-making (1998–2000), with the role of ethnic entrepreneurs and their economic thinking and social attitudes (Yi nationality, 1999–2003), with neighborhoods, participation and communitarian approaches in urban areas (2003 –2005), with environmental management (2005–2009), rural governance (2008–2011) and interaction between local governments and private entrepreneurs (2012–2016). Together with Gunter Schubert (Tübingen) he further developed the sociological approach of the “strategic groups” and analyzed the behavior of local managers and private entrepreneurs as strategic groups in local development processes. More recently he has also dealt with the subject of the political representation of social groups in China, including via the medium of the Internet. He also works on political and social innovation in China, the Chinese developmental state, and critical junctures of the authoritarian state.

Memberships

Heberer is a member of the editorial committees and advisory boards of various international journals (such as: The China Quarterly, the Journal of China in Comparative Perspective, the European Journal of East Asian Studies, the Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, the Journal of Chinese Governance , the Chinese Political Science Review, the journal International Quarterly for Asian Studies, the International Asia Forum, the International Journal of Political Science & Diplomacy, the journal 国外 理论 动态 / Foreign Theoretical Trends, etc.). He is co-founder of the Working Group on Social Science Research on China (ASC) and was a member of the Advisory Board of the Europe-China Academic Network (ECAN) of the European Commission for several years .

Politicians at the federal, state and municipal levels have repeatedly taken him on their trips to China in an advisory capacity (including Federal President Joachim Gauck, Prime Ministers Johannes Rau and Jürgen Rüttgers, and Duisburg's Lord Mayor Sören Link).

Publications (selection)

Heberer is the author / co-author of 42 book publications and editor / co-editor of 23 other book publications in German, English and Chinese as well as a large number of articles in international scientific journals in a total of ten languages. The most important recent publications include:

  • Private entrepreneurs in China and Vietnam. Social and Political Functioning of Strategic Groups . China Studies published for the Institute for Chinese Studies, University of Oxford, Leiden (Brill) 2003.
  • with Fan Jie and W. Taubmann: Rural China Economic and Social Change in the Late Twentieth Century . Armonk, London (Sharpe) 2006 [Reprint: Routledge, 2015].
  • Doing Business in Rural China . Liangshan's New Ethnic Entrepreneurs , Seattle / London (University of Washington Press) 2007;
  • with G. Schubert: Political Participation and Regime Legitimacy in the People's Republic of China , Vol. 1. In: Der urbane Raum , Wiesbaden 2008.
  • with G. Schubert: Political Participation and Regimelegitimität in the People's Republic of China , Vol. 2. In: Der rural Raum , Wiesbaden 2009.
  • with Christian Göbel: The Politics of Community Building in Urban China . London, New York (Routledge) 2011, Paperback 2013.
  • with Claudia Derichs: The Political Systems of East Asia. An introduction , 3rd updated and revised edition, Wiesbaden 2014.
  • Revised edition of Lin Yutang's My Land and My People . Drachenhaus-Verlag, Esslingen 2015.
  • with G. Schubert, Weapons of the Rich. Strategic Behavior and Collective Action of Private Entrepreneurs in Contemporary China, Singapore, London, New York et al. (World Scientific) 2020.
  • East Prussia and China: Tracing a Wonderful Relationship. Husum: Husumer Verlagsgruppe 2020. [An investigation into cultures of remembrance based on Heberer's family background.]
  • with Armin Müller, developing country China. Politics, economics, social cohesion and ideology. Edited by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation . Berlin 2000.

Thomas Heberer attaches particular importance to the publication of his writings in Chinese so that his research results can also be made accessible to a larger group of Chinese scientists.

On the occasion of his 70th birthday in 2017, the publishing house of the renowned Zhejiang University published a larger selection of his writings on China studies (托马斯 ∙ 海贝勒 中国 研究 文选), edited by the political scientist Professor Yu Jianxing.

In the Chinese language are u. a. the following other book publications have appeared:

  • 作为 战略 群体 的 企业家. 中国 私营企业 家 的 社会 与 政治 功能 研究 (Entrepreneurs as Strategic Groups. The Social and Political Function of Private Entrepreneurs in China), Beijing (Zhongyang bianyi chubanshe) 2003.
  • 凉山 彝族 企业家. 社会 与 制度 变迁 的 承载 着 (Yi entrepreneur in Liangshan. Vehicle of social and institutional change), Beijing (Minzu chubanshe) 2005.
  • 从 群众 到 公民. 中国 的 政治 参与 (From masses to citizens. Political participation in China), Beijing (Zhongyang bianyi chubanshe) 2009.
  • Co-editors D. Grunow and Li Huibin, 中国 与 德国 的 环境 治理 比较 的 视角 (Environmental Governance in China and Germany from a Comparative Perspective), Beijing (Zhongyang Bianyi Chubanshe) 2012.
  • Co-editors Gunter Schubert and Yang Xuedong, 主动 的 地方 政治。 作为 战略 群体 的 县乡 干部 (Proactive local politics: District and community cadres as strategic groups), Beijing, Zhongyang Bianyi Chubanshe, December 2013.
  • Co-editors Yu Keping and Björn Alpermann, 中共 的 治理 与 适应 ： 比较 的 视野 (Governance and Adaptation of the CPC: A Comparative Perspective), Beijing (Zhongyang Bianyi Chubanshe) 2015.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Quoted from Thomas Heberer: The scientist as a traveler - an essay on scientific travel, its benefits and knowledge value, in: T. Fues / J. Hippler (Ed.), Global Politics. Development and Peace in the Global Society. Festschrift for Franz Nuscheler, Bonn 2003: 358.
  2. ↑ Thomas Heberer: The Contention Between Han 'Civilisers' and Yi 'Civilisees' over Environmental Governance: A Case Study of Liangshan Prefecture in Sichuan . In: The China Quarterly . September 2014, p. 736-759 .
  3. ↑ Thomas Heberer & Anna Shpakovskaya (co-editors): Reappraisal of Political Representation across Political Orders: New Conceptual and Analytic Tools . In: Journal of Chinese Governance . No. 4 , 2019.
  4. ↑ Thomas Heberer - Private Entrepreneurs in China and Vietnam. Researchgate. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  5. ^ Thomas Heberer - Doing Business in Rural China. University of Washington Press website. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  6. ↑ Thomas Heberer & Gunter Schubert - Political Participation and Regime Legitimacy in the People's Republic of China (Volume 1 - The Urban Space). Springer Verlag website. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  7. ↑ Thomas Heberer & Gunter Schubert - Political Participation and Regime Legitimacy in the People's Republic of China (Volume 2 - The rural area). Springer Verlag website. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  8. ^ Thomas Heberer & Christian Göbel - The Politics of Community Building in Urban China. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group website. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  9. ↑ Thomas Heberer & Claudia Derichs - The Political Systems of East Asia. An introduction. Springer Verlag website. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  10. ↑ Lin Yutang - My Country and My People. Reading sample from the Drachenhaus publishing house. Retrieved January 8, 2016.
  11. ↑ Thomas Heberer & Armin Müller: Developing State China - Politics, Economy, Social Cohesion and Ideology. Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung , March 2020, accessed on March 24, 2020 .
  12. ↑ U. a. the following book publications have been published in Chinese: 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ， 俞 可 平 ， 安晓波 （主编） ： 中共 的 治理 与 适应。 比较 的 视野。 北京 ， 中央 编译 出版社 ， 2015; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ， 杨雪冬 ， 舒 耕 德 共同 主编 ： “主动 的” 地方 政治 ： 作为 战略 群体 的 县乡 干部 “。 北京 (中央 编译 出版社) ， 2013 年; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ， 迪特 • 格鲁诺 ， 李惠彬 共同 主编 ： 中国 与 德国 的 环境 治理 (比较 的 视角) (中文)。 北京 (中央 编译 出版社) ， 2012 年; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ， 舒 耕 德 ： 从 群众 到 公民 —— 中国 的 政治 参与。 北京 (中央 编译 出版社) ， 2009 年; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ， 何 增 科 ， 舒 耕 德 ： 城乡 公民 参与 和 政治 合法性 ， 北京 （中央 编译 出版社） ， 2007; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ： 凉山 彝族 企业家。 社会 和 制度 变迁 的 承载 者。 北京 （民族 出版社） ， 2005; 托马斯 • 海贝勒 ： 作为 战略 群体 的 企业家。 中国 私营企业 家 的 社会 与 政治 功能 研究。 北京 (中央 编译 出版社) 2003.
personal data
SURNAME Heberer, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German political scientist
DATE OF BIRTH November 13, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Offenbach am Main