Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer

Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer

Junior-Professor of International Relations and Global Politics of Technology

Contact

E-Mail: maximilian.mayer@uni-bonn.de
Phone: +49 (0)228/73-5640
Address: Römerstraße 164, D-53117 Bonn, Room 4.011b
Website: Institut für Politische Wissenschaft und Soziologie¹
Twitter: @mayer_iras²

Office Hours and Profile

Office hours

During the lecture-free period, the office hours take place online (via Zoom or Skype) every Thursday between 10:00 and 11:30 a.m. or by prior appointment. Registration via email (maximilian.mayer@uni-bonn.de) required. Contact: Room 4.011b, Phone: +49 (0)228 73 5640.

Profile

Dr. Maximilian Mayer is Junior-Professor of International Relations and Global Politics of Technology at University of Bonn. He was assistant professor at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China³ (2019-2020). He is also research fellow at Renmin University Beijing (2018-2020), worked as Research Professor at Tongji University, Shanghai (2015-2018) and was senior researcher at the Munich Center for Technology in Society, Technical University Munich (2018-2019). Maximilian worked at the Bonn University’s Center for Global Studies (CGS⁴) as managing assistant and senior here⁵fellow (2009-2015). Maximilian holds a master degree from Ruhr University Bochum and obtained his PhD at Bonn University. His research interests include the global politics of science, innovation, and technology; China’s foreign and energy policy; global energy and climate politics; theories of International Relations. Maximilian presents regularly at international conferences, publishes his research in peer-reviewed journals, and has authored seven books including China’s Energy Thirst: Myth or Reality?⁶ (2007 together with Xuewu Gu), Changing orders: transdiciplinary analysis of global and local realities (2008, co-editer), two-volumes on The Global Politics of Science and Technology⁷ (2014, lead editor). He is coeditor of Art and Sovereignty in Global Politics⁸ (Palgrave, 2016) and edited Rethinking the Silk-Road: Chinas Belt and Road Initiative and Emerging Eurasian Relations⁹ (Palgrave, 2018). Maximilian was visiting scholar at Harvard Kennedy School, Program on Science, Technology and Society, and section co-chair of STAIR ¹⁰(Science, Technology, Arts and international relations) of the International Studies Association (2015-2017) and STAIR program chair (2014-2015). Furthermore, he is part of the research group The Second Cold War Observatory¹¹.

Full CV here¹². More information on the website¹ of the Institute for Political Science and Sociology.

Research Interests

Role of science and technology in International Relations
Chinas foreign and energy politics
Global enviroment and climate politics

Doctoral students supervised by Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer ¹³

Research Projects and Events

Ongoing Research Projects

Infrastructures of China’s Modernity and Their Global Constitutive Effects¹⁴
Autonomy and autonomous systems¹⁵
Asia-European Consortium on AI Research¹⁶ (AECAIR)
Katekisama¹⁷
Netzwerk KI und digitale Autonomie in Wissenschaft und Bildung¹⁸ (KIAuBi)
Tech Middle Power Cooperation¹⁹

Former Research Projects

Surveying Strategic Digital Politics (funded by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung)²⁰
No-Covid-Strategie²¹
Comparative Covid Response: Crisis, Knowledge, Politics²²
Assessment of Evolving International Infrastructures and Pandemic Management²³
Digital Fragmentations and Digital Sovereignty²⁴ (funded by TRA4 of the University of Bonn)

Selected Events

ASC Annual Meeting 2024²⁵ (11/2024)
Lunch talk at CASSIS with experts from the field of space policy and space security²⁶ (10/2024)
Summer School on "Artificial Intelligence, Social Machines, and the Future of Democratic Societies"²⁷ (09/2024)
Understanding China's Modernity - European Reflections²⁸ (usually once a month)
Roundtable “What is Global China?”, Jagiellonian University Kraków²⁹ (10/2023)
Lecture Series "Digitalization of Memory Practices and Heritage in Global Perspectives"³⁰ (Summer semester 2023)
Autonomy in the Digital Age: Rethinking Relationships between Humans, Technology and Society ³¹(11/2022)
Fifth AECAIR International Conference: Artificial Intelligence Solutions in a Turbulent World³² (11/2022)
„China in der deglobalen Konstellation“, Dialog with Heinz Bude in the Series „Krieg und Frieden--Streit ums Politische“³³ (11/2022)
Fourth AECAIR International Conference: Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence³⁴ (12/2021)
International Security Forum Bonn 2021: Special Focus Day "The Rise of Eastern Modernity? European Responses to China’s Global Role” ³⁵(9/2021)
Der Westen liegt auch im Osten. Wie eine europäische Initiative im „Indo-Pazifik“ aussehen könnte ³⁶(1/2021)
International Security Forum Bonn 2020: Special Focus Day on "What to Learn from the Pandemic: Security in the Light of COVID-19"³⁷ (12/2020)
China as Digital Superpower: An American-German Workshop on Digital Infrastructure and Digital Security ³⁸(12/2020)
Framing the Future of AI: Policy Dilemmas and Solutions ³⁹(11/2020)
EU-Korea convergence and partnerships 10 years after the EU-Korea FTA ⁴⁰(11/2020)
Seminarreihe: Innovation in Health Governance and AI ⁴¹(6/7 2020)

Upcoming Events ⁴²

Current Teaching

Summer Semester 2025

Team

Anna Böhmer

anna.boehmer@uni-bonn.de

Website⁴⁷

+49 228 73-60191

Dr. Katharina C. Cramer

kcramer@uni-bonn.de

Website⁴⁸

Johannes Doerfert

Website⁴⁹

Mitra Heydari

Website⁵⁰

Xin Jin

Website⁵¹

Yen-Chi Lu

yenchilu@uni-bonn.de

Website⁵²

Mara Nazaretyan

mnazaret@uni-bonn.de

Website⁵³

+49 228 73-60191

Philip Nock

nock@uni-bonn.de

Website⁵⁴

Frederik Schmitz

frederik.schmitz@uni-bonn.de

Website⁵⁵

+49 228 73-60191

Ningjie Zhu

nzhu@uni-bonn.de

Website⁵⁶

+49 151 54351969

Publications

⁵⁷

After NATO — the way forward⁵⁷

Emilian Kavalski and Maximilian Mayer write about the growing rift between Europe and the United States, drawing parallels between Winston Churchill’s contradictory views on America and the current strategic dilemmas facing Europe. While publicly advocating for a strong Anglo-American alliance, Churchill privately viewed the U.S. as an unreliable and self-interested partner—an argument that resonates today as the Trump administration actively undermines European security. In response, the authors call for Europe to pursue an independent defense strategy, moving away from reliance on the U.S. and toward a new security architecture.

⁵⁸

U.S.-China Digital Fragmentation Is Putting the World in a Bind⁵⁸

Laura Mahrenbach and Maximilian Mayer write about the increasing digital fragmentation driven by regulation and national interests in major tech powers such as the U.S., China and the EU. To address the challenges and risks, they argue that countries should adopt a strategy of pragmatic resilience combined with cooperative approaches.

⁵⁹

Digital platforms in the agricultural sector: Dynamics of oligopolistic platformisation⁵⁹

In their article, Monja Sauvagerd, Maximilian Mayer and Monika Hartmann introduce the concept of "oligopolistic platformisation" to explore the dynamics of collaboration and competition between multinational agribusinesses and Big Tech in the agricultural sector. They analyze this phenomenon through platform mechanisms such as datafication, selection, and commodification.

⁶⁰

Digital fragmentations, technological sovereignty and new perspectives on the global digital political economy⁶⁰

In their article, Maximilian Mayer & Philip Nock discuss the interactions between digital sovereignty and the fragmentation of digital ecosystems and internet governance. They address "cyber-balkanisation" and related challenges to the global digital political economy, including implications for governance, economic autonomy and technological dependencies.

All Publications ⁶¹

Google Scholar ⁶²