A Meta-study of democratic deliberation: advancing theory and practice. This project aims to reconcile conflicting findings and develop the first comprehensive account of defensible claims about political deliberation. The project will analyse and synthesise results from available studies of deliberation. Source material and findings will be compiled in a publicly-available database to facilitate standardisation and enhancement of future research in the field. This will provide significant bene ....A Meta-study of democratic deliberation: advancing theory and practice. This project aims to reconcile conflicting findings and develop the first comprehensive account of defensible claims about political deliberation. The project will analyse and synthesise results from available studies of deliberation. Source material and findings will be compiled in a publicly-available database to facilitate standardisation and enhancement of future research in the field. This will provide significant benefits, such as settling important questions that remain among deliberative democrats and, more practically, facilitate potential avenues for democratic reform.Read moreRead less
Deliberative democracy in the public sphere: achieving deliberative outcomes in mass publics. This project will systematically explore ways in which citizens can engage more deeply with complex policy issues without the need to resort to massive expenditure on running multiple deliberative forums, such as citizens' assemblies. It will identify the language is needed to deliberatively inform and the vehicles for providing that information.
Environmental Justice and the Making of Just Food and Energy Policy. This project aims to improve two key areas of environmental policy by investigating the meaning of environmental justice and how it is best implemented. It will generate a significant new framework of the idea of environmental justice and offer innovative research that demonstrates what hinders and enables just policies in practice. Expected outcomes of this project include an updated and enhanced theory of environmental justic ....Environmental Justice and the Making of Just Food and Energy Policy. This project aims to improve two key areas of environmental policy by investigating the meaning of environmental justice and how it is best implemented. It will generate a significant new framework of the idea of environmental justice and offer innovative research that demonstrates what hinders and enables just policies in practice. Expected outcomes of this project include an updated and enhanced theory of environmental justice, a new understanding of the enablers and barriers to its implementation in practice, and recommendations to make policies on urban food security and energy transition more just. Overall, the project should provide the benefit of the development of more just policies on two key environmental issues facing Australia.Read moreRead less
Rethinking climate justice in an age of adaptation: capabilities, local variation, and public deliberation. This project aims to produce recommendations, designed by citizens and stakeholders, for climate adaptation policies in three regions of Australia. These recommendations will be based on a definition of climate justice that incorporates basic needs and resources to be protected, as identified by potentially impacted communities.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101522
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$368,000.00
Summary
The politics of torture in Myanmar and Thailand. This project aims to explore how torture occurs in Asian countries of political, economic and strategic importance to Australia. Torture is by many accounts routine practice for police and security forces across Asia. How is torture possible? What role is it playing? By documenting where, when and how torture occurs, this project aims to determine what torture constitutes and analyse the politics that enable it. It is anticipated that information ....The politics of torture in Myanmar and Thailand. This project aims to explore how torture occurs in Asian countries of political, economic and strategic importance to Australia. Torture is by many accounts routine practice for police and security forces across Asia. How is torture possible? What role is it playing? By documenting where, when and how torture occurs, this project aims to determine what torture constitutes and analyse the politics that enable it. It is anticipated that information from the project could be used to develop effective interventions to address torture. The project also anticipates contributing to policy-oriented debate on whether torture can be eliminated, or merely suppressed.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100573
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$322,699.00
Summary
Glasnost for Myanmar? Political cultures in transition. Myanmar is a major country in Southeast Asia and has since 2008 made moves towards more democratic government. This project will research and explain this period of transition in terms of political cultures. It will provide guidance on the processes of democratisation underway in a society that has experienced long-term military rule.
Urbanising Western China: Nation-building on the Sino-Tibetan frontier. This project aims to explore urbanisation as a key part of the Chinese Communist Party's policies in Tibet and the novel opportunities it affords for Tibetan identity, language, and culture. An international, multidisciplinary team will combine analysis of key government texts, interviews with government officials and ethnic minority elites, as well as observations of daily life amongst urban Tibetans. The project will produ ....Urbanising Western China: Nation-building on the Sino-Tibetan frontier. This project aims to explore urbanisation as a key part of the Chinese Communist Party's policies in Tibet and the novel opportunities it affords for Tibetan identity, language, and culture. An international, multidisciplinary team will combine analysis of key government texts, interviews with government officials and ethnic minority elites, as well as observations of daily life amongst urban Tibetans. The project will produce new understandings of the challenges of governing diversity in China, and will benefit Australia by exploring a fundamental aspect of the changing social fabric of our region’s dominant power.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101123
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$393,359.00
Summary
Through their eyes: Rethinking the role of information operations in counterinsurgency scholarship and strategy. Western counterinsurgency forces regularly lose the 'information battle' to militarily and economically inferior insurgent forces. This project explores why and how insurgent adversaries often prove superior in shaping the perceptions of local populations and winning their support. Through case studies of East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, the project identifies the key strategic pilla ....Through their eyes: Rethinking the role of information operations in counterinsurgency scholarship and strategy. Western counterinsurgency forces regularly lose the 'information battle' to militarily and economically inferior insurgent forces. This project explores why and how insurgent adversaries often prove superior in shaping the perceptions of local populations and winning their support. Through case studies of East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, the project identifies the key strategic pillars in insurgent information operations in order to critically analyse and revise the role of information operations in counterinsurgency theory and practice. This research will advance scholarly understanding of the psychosocial dynamics of influence during conflict and challenge dominant trends in counterinsurgency theory and practice.Read moreRead less
Money Politics: Patronage, Political Networks and Electoral Dynamics in Southeast Asia. How does money politics shape electoral competition and outcomes in developing democracies? This project tackles this question by focusing on pork barrelling, spoils, vote buying and related phenomena in the four most important electoral regimes of Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Using methods that range from close observation of election campaigns to national surveys, the p ....Money Politics: Patronage, Political Networks and Electoral Dynamics in Southeast Asia. How does money politics shape electoral competition and outcomes in developing democracies? This project tackles this question by focusing on pork barrelling, spoils, vote buying and related phenomena in the four most important electoral regimes of Southeast Asia: Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Using methods that range from close observation of election campaigns to national surveys, the project will analyse how the distribution of material benefits via clientelist and other networks affects political dynamics. By identifying and explaining variations in patronage, the research will cast light on issues critical to the future of democracy, governance and political stability in Southeast Asia and beyond.Read moreRead less
Constructing ethnic politics in Indonesia. Exploring political dynamics in provincial Indonesia, this project will address fundamental questions about how ethnicity becomes important in political affairs, and about why political actors choose to emphasise some ethnic identities but not others. It will also help identify the conditions which lead to inter-ethnic cooperation rather than conflict.