Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100622
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,340.00
Summary
Digital authoritarian practices and the 21st century autocrat. This project aims to examine the emerging digital practices of authoritarian regimes, generating new knowledge on authoritarianism through qualitative methods that are underused in cybersecurity research. It proposes to determine whether such ‘digital authoritarianism’ is a new and distinct phenomenon, or rather the transposition of offline authoritarian practices into the online space. Expected outcomes include enhanced understandin ....Digital authoritarian practices and the 21st century autocrat. This project aims to examine the emerging digital practices of authoritarian regimes, generating new knowledge on authoritarianism through qualitative methods that are underused in cybersecurity research. It proposes to determine whether such ‘digital authoritarianism’ is a new and distinct phenomenon, or rather the transposition of offline authoritarian practices into the online space. Expected outcomes include enhanced understanding of technology’s impacts on autocratic agendas and generating data that supports effective national security policy. This should create benefits such as (1) furthering knowledge on authoritarianism and (2) supporting evidence-based policies to respond to the authoritarian cyber threat.Read moreRead less
Illicit networks and emerging nuclear states. This project aims to understand how illicit networks might proliferate by tapping into the legitimate global spread of nuclear materials and dual-use technologies. Using an economic geographic framework, the project will conceptually integrate terrorists, criminals, and companies into nuclear-related trade networks, and assess the nuclear proliferation threat illicit networks pose in emerging civil nuclear states, with proof of concept through Southe ....Illicit networks and emerging nuclear states. This project aims to understand how illicit networks might proliferate by tapping into the legitimate global spread of nuclear materials and dual-use technologies. Using an economic geographic framework, the project will conceptually integrate terrorists, criminals, and companies into nuclear-related trade networks, and assess the nuclear proliferation threat illicit networks pose in emerging civil nuclear states, with proof of concept through Southeast Asian case studies. This is intended to minimise proliferation risk, and improve the Australian government and industry’s ability to participate in the global nuclear trade by increasing the effectiveness of strategic trade controls and nuclear materials security.Read moreRead less
Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Restraint of Non-Nuclear Allies: Material Cooperation and Strategic Dialogue. Extended nuclear deterrence is central to the security commitments offered by the US to its European and Asian allies, but little is known about why non-nuclear allies ask for the nuclear assurances they do and how they influence the assurances they ultimately receive. Using the lenses of intra-alliance bargaining, the role and composition of assurances, and domestic and internationa ....Extended Nuclear Deterrence and the Restraint of Non-Nuclear Allies: Material Cooperation and Strategic Dialogue. Extended nuclear deterrence is central to the security commitments offered by the US to its European and Asian allies, but little is known about why non-nuclear allies ask for the nuclear assurances they do and how they influence the assurances they ultimately receive. Using the lenses of intra-alliance bargaining, the role and composition of assurances, and domestic and international interactions, the project investigates why non-nuclear allies often seek modest extended nuclear deterrence guarantees when they could push for more ambitious commitments. The outcomes of the project will advance theoretical understanding of alliances, assurance and nuclear strategy, with direct relevance to foreign policy and nuclear disarmament.Read moreRead less
Uncovering the organisational dynamics of pirates and maritime terrorists. This project will develop a novel framework to assess the organisational dynamics of two major maritime threats: piracy syndicates and maritime-capable terrorist groups. The results will allow analysts and policymakers to understand the behaviour of violent maritime organisations, and to maximise the effectiveness of policies designed to stop them.
Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to prom ....Expectations and commitments in the Australia-USA alliance. This project aims to investigate the gap between the high expectations of mutual support and the lack of detailed security commitments in the Australia-US Alliance. The project intends to use a focused approach that captures thematic aspects of the alliance through project frames and historical slices across time. Expected outcomes can advance understanding of how alliances operate as security institutions. The outcomes can help to promote a more informed national conversation about the costs and benefits of Australia's security relationship with the United States of America (USA) and contribute to debates over the future of the Australia-USA Alliance during a period of strategic uncertainty.Read moreRead less
Creating Accountability: Improving Responses to Forced Displacement Crimes. This project aims to investigate how the United Nations and individual states can respond to forced displacement crimes through seven emerging accountability mechanisms at the domestic, regional, and international levels. The growth of conflict-induced forced migration is at unprecedented levels, driven in part by states that deliberately displace their own populations in contravention of international law. This project ....Creating Accountability: Improving Responses to Forced Displacement Crimes. This project aims to investigate how the United Nations and individual states can respond to forced displacement crimes through seven emerging accountability mechanisms at the domestic, regional, and international levels. The growth of conflict-induced forced migration is at unprecedented levels, driven in part by states that deliberately displace their own populations in contravention of international law. This project will use a comparative and focused approach to examine the effectiveness of the range of current efforts to hold state and individual perpetrators accountable. In so doing, it will directly inform the Australian and international policy-making response to such crimes with the goal of averting future forced migrant movements.Read moreRead less
Contested multilateralism 2.0 and Asia Pacific security. This project aims to examine the foreign policy choices of five major powers – the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia – toward multilateral institutions in the Asia Pacific after the Cold War through an economic-security-nexus model. Through in-depth theoretical and empirical case studies, this project will explore when states are more likely to rely on rule-based institutions or to use power-based strategies, such as a ....Contested multilateralism 2.0 and Asia Pacific security. This project aims to examine the foreign policy choices of five major powers – the United States, China, Japan, South Korea and Australia – toward multilateral institutions in the Asia Pacific after the Cold War through an economic-security-nexus model. Through in-depth theoretical and empirical case studies, this project will explore when states are more likely to rely on rule-based institutions or to use power-based strategies, such as alliance formation, to pursue security in world politics. This project aims to provide policy insights for Australian policy makers to conduct a sensible and effective “Asia policy” in the 21st century.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140100481
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$389,548.00
Summary
Women in Combat: a comparative analysis of removing the combat exclusion. Women are excluded from combat duties in the majority of defence forces across the world. This project will consider why some countries, such as Australia, have chosen to remove the combat exclusion and the impacts of this policy change. By gathering and analysing data from four countries that have removed the exclusion (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States), this project will advance our understanding of t ....Women in Combat: a comparative analysis of removing the combat exclusion. Women are excluded from combat duties in the majority of defence forces across the world. This project will consider why some countries, such as Australia, have chosen to remove the combat exclusion and the impacts of this policy change. By gathering and analysing data from four countries that have removed the exclusion (Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States), this project will advance our understanding of the political drivers and the consequences of this policy change, in terms of gender integration. Read moreRead less
Australia's Nuclear Choices. Australia's nuclear choices will be made in the context of a challenging and fluid international strategic environment characterised in Australia's immediate region by heightened global concerns regarding such transnational dilemmas as terrorism, energy security and nuclear proliferation. This project, through exploring the nature, evolution and consequences of contemporary strategic, military and civil nuclear developments impacting on the international non-prolifer ....Australia's Nuclear Choices. Australia's nuclear choices will be made in the context of a challenging and fluid international strategic environment characterised in Australia's immediate region by heightened global concerns regarding such transnational dilemmas as terrorism, energy security and nuclear proliferation. This project, through exploring the nature, evolution and consequences of contemporary strategic, military and civil nuclear developments impacting on the international non-proliferation regime will enable Australian policy-makers to better calibrate the costs and benefits of potential policy changes across these strategic, regime and market realms of Australia's nuclear interests.Read moreRead less
Civilian Protection and the Use of Force in UN Peacekeeping Operations. This project seeks to evaluate the use of force to protect civilians in United Nations peacekeeping. United Nations peacekeepers are on the frontline of efforts to protect civilians from violence. More than 100 were killed in 2014. Hundreds of thousands of civilians depend on peacekeepers for their safety. To date, however, there has been little systematic evaluation of the impact of the use of force for civilian protection ....Civilian Protection and the Use of Force in UN Peacekeeping Operations. This project seeks to evaluate the use of force to protect civilians in United Nations peacekeeping. United Nations peacekeepers are on the frontline of efforts to protect civilians from violence. More than 100 were killed in 2014. Hundreds of thousands of civilians depend on peacekeepers for their safety. To date, however, there has been little systematic evaluation of the impact of the use of force for civilian protection mandates on both immediate protection goals and the wider goals of peacekeeping. This project aims to assess the impact of the implementation of mandates to use force to protect civilians. Through a focused comparison of six missions, it plans to identify what works, what doesn't, and the factors which determine these outcomes in order to identify ways of improving performance in the future.Read moreRead less