Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcom ....Balancing National Security and Economic Interests in Foreign Investment. The project aims to investigate growing divergence between countries’ inward foreign investment policies and their increasing links to national security. Novel interdisciplinary collaboration integrating political science, economics and law promises insights into these policy shifts, which appear driven by digitalisation of the economy and the rise of emerging markets (eg China) and State-linked investment. Expected outcomes include clarification of the causes and implications of these shifts and innovative understanding of the connection between national security and economic interests in investment. This new knowledge should enhance balance in investment policy and decision-making, with economic and foreign policy benefits for Australia.Read moreRead less
Sovereignty at the extremes: micro-states and international relations theory. Australia's leading regional challenges all involve small and micro-states, yet there is little systematic international relations knowledge about this increasingly common type of polity. The project looks to capitalise on the neglected potential of micro-states to advance our knowledge of the international system.
An Early Warning Framework for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. Australia is an active participant in international efforts to prevent mass killing and rebuild wartorn societies, with missions deployed in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan. Australia is also a leading global advocate of the 'responsibility to protect'. The most important aspect of this doctrine is the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. By developing a framework to provide timely and accu ....An Early Warning Framework for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities. Australia is an active participant in international efforts to prevent mass killing and rebuild wartorn societies, with missions deployed in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands and Afghanistan. Australia is also a leading global advocate of the 'responsibility to protect'. The most important aspect of this doctrine is the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities. By developing a framework to provide timely and accurate forewarning of the outbreak of genocide and mass atrocities, this project aims to fill an important gap in the policy toolkit and make a positive contribution to evidence based policy-making that will help Australia prioritise humanitarian emergencies and craft appropriate preventive strategies.Read moreRead less
Global Governing Gaps and Accountability Traps for Solar Energy and Storage. The climate crisis has spurred the global race for renewables, dramatically increasing solar energy and lithium-ion storage battery use. This project investigates the global governance of these technologies environmental and social impacts. This is significant because regulation lags technology: there are governance 'gaps' for protecting
communities, ecosystems, and developing states, and accountability 'traps' that pri ....Global Governing Gaps and Accountability Traps for Solar Energy and Storage. The climate crisis has spurred the global race for renewables, dramatically increasing solar energy and lithium-ion storage battery use. This project investigates the global governance of these technologies environmental and social impacts. This is significant because regulation lags technology: there are governance 'gaps' for protecting
communities, ecosystems, and developing states, and accountability 'traps' that prioritise governance processes over outcomes. The project examines how solar and storage production, use, and disposal is governed and whether governance initiatives can account for harm. The expected outcomes are to determine whether global governance can regulate renewables, with benefit for improving global protection rules.Read moreRead less
Revisiting Australia’s preferential trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties to safeguard regulatory autonomy. This project critically evaluates Australia’s free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties in the light of recent national and international experience. Its recommendations for systematically revising existing agreements and refining approaches to negotiating new agreements will assist in protecting Australian policy space.
The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If ....The Global Governance of Tax and Financial Services: Who Regulates, Who Wins, Who Loses. This project analyses the role of power in the global economy, specifically, whether powerful states can establish global rules concerning tax and financial services by coercion. Large states working through international organisations have floated global tax and financial standards that would regulate international competition for mobile investment but also impose disproportionate costs on small states. If coercion is cheap and easy to use in solving economic disputes large states will be able to impose these standards on small states. If not, large states will instead have to compromise or offer compensation to establish effective regulations.Read moreRead less
Closing the Political Legitimacy Gap: The International Monetary Fund and Tax Reform, 1965-2005. This project investigates how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can improve its poor success with tax reform programs in borrowing states. It does so by analysing the success and failure of IMF tax reform programs in 20 borrowing states with varied regional, political, and economic characteristics between 1965 and 2005. This research has national and community benefit for two reasons. First, Aust ....Closing the Political Legitimacy Gap: The International Monetary Fund and Tax Reform, 1965-2005. This project investigates how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) can improve its poor success with tax reform programs in borrowing states. It does so by analysing the success and failure of IMF tax reform programs in 20 borrowing states with varied regional, political, and economic characteristics between 1965 and 2005. This research has national and community benefit for two reasons. First, Australia has a close relationship with the IMF and an obligation to assist it with issues of global political and economic concern. Second, as problems with fiscal sustainability are strongly associated with international political and economic instability, Australia must develop its knowledge base on the politics of successful tax reform.Read moreRead less
The Impact of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on the Dynamics of Conflict. This project aims to understand the impact of sexual and gender-based violence on the dynamics of conflict. With an innovative mixed method design it will study all reported incidences of sexual and gender-based violence in 41 conflict-affected countries between 1998 and 2018. It will generate new knowledge establishing how and when crimes of sexual and gender-based violence affect the onset and intensity of conflict. Th ....The Impact of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence on the Dynamics of Conflict. This project aims to understand the impact of sexual and gender-based violence on the dynamics of conflict. With an innovative mixed method design it will study all reported incidences of sexual and gender-based violence in 41 conflict-affected countries between 1998 and 2018. It will generate new knowledge establishing how and when crimes of sexual and gender-based violence affect the onset and intensity of conflict. The expected outcomes of this project include the identification of the most high-risk situations, the phases of violence, and the improvement of risk assessments for such violence. The project will significantly benefit the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict-affected situations globally.Read moreRead less
Preventing Mass Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Conflict and Non-Conflict Affected Countries. Widespread and systematic Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has been recognised by the United Nations Security Council since 2000 as a matter of international peace and security. Under the 1998 Rome Statute it is a crime against humanity, a war crime and an act of genocide. There are two explanations for mass SGBV: the presence of armed conflict and the existence of extreme gender inequality a ....Preventing Mass Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Conflict and Non-Conflict Affected Countries. Widespread and systematic Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) has been recognised by the United Nations Security Council since 2000 as a matter of international peace and security. Under the 1998 Rome Statute it is a crime against humanity, a war crime and an act of genocide. There are two explanations for mass SGBV: the presence of armed conflict and the existence of extreme gender inequality and oppression prior to onset of conflict. Yet, to date, there is little knowledge of how variations in the type of conflict and gender inequality contribute to SGBV crimes. This project will test and refine the two dominant and competing explanations for SGBV crimes to inform strategies for the prevention of SGBV where risk is high.Read moreRead less
Explaining Crises: Ideas, Instability and Change from Gold Standard to GFC. This project aims to explain recurring international economic instability. While global orders spanning the Classical Gold Standard, Keynesian Bretton Woods institutions, and contemporary Neoliberal order each provided key sources of stability, each also yielded to crises in the 1930s Great Depression, the 1970s Great Stagflation, and the Global Financial Crisis. To explain such instability, this project advances an inno ....Explaining Crises: Ideas, Instability and Change from Gold Standard to GFC. This project aims to explain recurring international economic instability. While global orders spanning the Classical Gold Standard, Keynesian Bretton Woods institutions, and contemporary Neoliberal order each provided key sources of stability, each also yielded to crises in the 1930s Great Depression, the 1970s Great Stagflation, and the Global Financial Crisis. To explain such instability, this project advances an innovative constructivist argument that ideas which initially enable policymakers to restrain market excesses can over time obscure new sources of instability. Over case studies of these crises, this project will produce high quality publications and contribute to debate over national interests in an era of populist challenge.Read moreRead less