Prof. Dr. Ralph Weber
Associate Professor of European Global Studies / Director of the MA and PhD Programs in European Global Studies / Research Council Swiss National Science Foundation
Institute for European Global Studies,
University of Basel
Riehenstrasse 154
CH-4058 Basel
Office 01.004
Tel: +41 (0)61 207 48 51
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-weber-a8ba4618/
- History and present of Switzerland–China relations, EU–China relations
- Political activities of the Chinese party-state abroad: United Front work, propaganda, transnational repression, intelligence services
- Ideology and organization of the Chinese Communist Party
- Methodological and conceptual aspects of cross-linguistic and cross-cultural research, global intellectual discourses
- Global history of political ideas
- Comparative philosophy and Chinese political philosophy
- Modern Confucianism
Academic Assistant
Postdocs
Doctoral Students
- Noura Saleem Asleem Abu Ghrieqanah, M.A. (ESKAS)
- Sávio Aguiar de Sousa, M.A.
- Sancharini Bhattacharya (SNF)
- Chan Yim Fong, M.A.
- Lorenzo Currenti, M.A.
- Dominika Geiger, M.A.
- Felix Kammer, M.A.
- Milan Matthiesen, M.A.
- Sagar Naidu, M.A.
- Susanna Sargsyan, M.A.
- Evelyne Schlauri, M.A.
- Imad-Eddine Soualhi, M.A. (FAG)
- Emanuel Riem
- Weiping Tang, M.Sc. (SNF)
- Ansgar Taschinski, M.A.
- Noureddine Wenger, M.A.
Student Assistant
- Aisha Hintermann, B.A.
Former team members
- Dr. Philippe Major (Lancaster University)
- Dr. Silvana Tarlea (ZHAW School of Management and Law)
- Dr. Tim Banning (Deutsche Energie-Agentur dena)
- Dr.des. Yim Fong Chan
Affiliation
- African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science
(«Senior Research Associate» am African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science der University of Johannesburg), May 2023-May 2026
Current Projects
- Historical Perspectives on Comparative Philosophy: A Digital Humanities Mapping Approach and Paul Masson-Oursel as Nodal Point for a Global History (SNF-Projekt; with Sancharini Bhattacharya und Weiping Tang), 2024-2028
- European Studies in a Global Perspective
(with Silvana Tarlea, Noura Saleem Asleem Abu Ghrieqanah, Imad-Eddine Soualhi, Noureddine Wenger), 2017–2024 - Mapping New Confucian Networks (1911-2021) (Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation for International Scholarly Exchange; with Yim Fong Chan, Milan Matthiesen and Aisha Hintermann), 2022–2025
Past Projects
- Reversing the Gaze: Towards Post-Comparative Area Studies
(Cooperation between the University of Basel, the University of Edinburgh, and the University of Zurich; with Lerato Posholi), 2020-2024 - The Exterior of Philosophy: On the Practice of New Confucianism
(with Philippe Major, Chan Yim Fong, Milan Matthiesen, Tabea Klaiber), 2019–2023 - Authenticity in Comparison: The Case of Chinese Philosophy
(mit Xu Zhenxu), 2016–2019
Ralph Weber was born in 1974 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He studied Political Science (politics, economics and law) at the University of St. Gallen and at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Further, he studied at the University of Hawai'i in Manoa and the University of Peking, after which he worked as teaching and research assistant at the Chair of Political Science (Prof. Roland Kley) at the University of St. Gallen, where in 2007 he obtained his doctorate and was teaching the history of political ideas and political theory until 2018. Between 2008 and 2014, Weber has been employed as post-doctoral researcher and senior researcher and lecturer (Oberassistent) at the University Research Priority Program “Asia and Europe” at the University of Zurich. In December 2014, Weber began his work as an Assistant Professor of European Global Studies at the Institute for European Global Studies of the University of Basel. In 2016, he successfully completed his habilitation in Philosophy (venia legendi: comparative philosophy) at the University of Zurich. At the University of Basel, he holds full examination and promotion rights in Political Science, Philosophy, and European Global Studies. In February 2020, he was appointed Associate Professor. From 2017 to 2021, Ralph Weber was president of the European Association for Chinese Philosophy. In 2024, he became an external member of the Expert Committee for International Cooperation of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and since April 2025, he has been a member of the Research Council, contributing to the Policy Committee and the Program Committee for International Cooperation.
Further Positions
Since 2014: Co-Chair of the section on Political Theory of the Swiss Political Science Association
Research reports:
“Die Situation der tibetischen und uigurischen Gemeinschaften in der Schweiz: Effektive und wahrgenommene Druckausübung” [The Situation of the Tibetan and Uyghur Communities in Switzerland: Effective and Perceived Pressure], co-authored with Shrey Kapoor, Selina Morell and Barbara von Rütte, study mandated by the Swiss Government, online: https://www.newsd.admin.ch/newsd/message/attachments/91748.pdf (German original), https://europa.unibas.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/europa/News__Events/PDFs_News__Events/Weber-Kapoor-Morell-vonRuette_Research_Report_engl_version.pdf (English translation), 12 February 2025.
“Unified message, rhizomatic delivery: A preliminary analysis of PRC/CCP influence and the united front in Switzerland,” Sinopsis – China in Context and Perspective, online: https://sinopsis.cz/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/switzerland-rhizome.pdf, 18 December 2020.
Books:
Die Schweiz und China: Von den Opiumkriegen bis zur Neuen Seidenstrasse, co-authored co-authored with Ariane Knüsel, Zurich: Hier & Jetzt, 2024, 351 pp.
Articles:
"Global Philosophy, Positionality and Non-Relativist Perspectivism" In: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 75, No. 1, 2025, 6–22.
"The Party-State’s Global Transgressive Political Activities and Influence Work." In: Maximilian Mayer, Emilian Kavalski, Marina Rudyak, Xin Zhang (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Global China. New York: Routledge, 2025, 141–156.
"Authority in Confucian Politics of Religion: Notes on Contemporary Confucianism in the People's Republic of China." In: Steffen Döll and Martin Lehnert (eds.), Interactions between Religious and Political Authority: Case Studies from Japan and China, Past and Present. Wien: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2024, 335–359.
"From Strategic Partner to Systemic Rival? EU-China Relations in Recent Times." In: Zeitschrift für Europarecht (EUZ), Vol. 26, No. 7, 2024, 1–13.
"Die Debatte über Deutschlands Umgang mit China: Versuch einer Einordnung." Together with Eva Pils. In: Leviathan: Berliner Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft, Vol. 52, No. 3, 2024, 327–350