Assessing the Role of Political and Regulatory Risks for Foreign Investors: A Multi-Country Study of Four Industry Sectors. This project will benefit Australian enterprise engaged in investment activities in Asia by providing them with the necessary methodological and analytical systems to identify, measure and assess political and regulatory risks to their investment interests. By doing so, the project will increase the investment transparency of Asia's emerging economies and thus the ability ....Assessing the Role of Political and Regulatory Risks for Foreign Investors: A Multi-Country Study of Four Industry Sectors. This project will benefit Australian enterprise engaged in investment activities in Asia by providing them with the necessary methodological and analytical systems to identify, measure and assess political and regulatory risks to their investment interests. By doing so, the project will increase the investment transparency of Asia's emerging economies and thus the ability of Australian enterprise to operate efficiently in institutionally complex and competitive offshore environments. This will benefit Australia's economy by strengthening Australia's national economic security and the safety of Australia's national savings invested in the region.Read moreRead less
Political institutions, war, and peace: Global and regional dynamics. Ideas about democratic peace have been seized upon by some political leaders, and resonate with the public imagination. Australia has important relationships with countries of a wide range of regime types beyond stable democracy, such as Afghanistan, China, Fiji, Indonesia, and Iraq. This project gives systematic understanding of the real-world foreign policy implications of the range of political regimes. It allows scholars, ....Political institutions, war, and peace: Global and regional dynamics. Ideas about democratic peace have been seized upon by some political leaders, and resonate with the public imagination. Australia has important relationships with countries of a wide range of regime types beyond stable democracy, such as Afghanistan, China, Fiji, Indonesia, and Iraq. This project gives systematic understanding of the real-world foreign policy implications of the range of political regimes. It allows scholars, citizens, and policy makers to move beyond generalisations like democratic peace, the universality of which is belied in recent research. It contributes to safeguarding Australia, develops multidisciplinary social science capacity in cutting edge quantitative methods, and mentors a PhD student.Read moreRead less
Political Risk, Institutions and Regulatory Regimes: Business, Foreign Investment and Public Administration in Asia. Rating accurately the risk environment of emerging economies has always been problematic. Insufficiently developed methodological tools and the lack of institutional and regulatory data make the process imprecise. This project overcomes this problem, developing a new industry based risk assessment system for understanding political risk to commercial activities and foreign investo ....Political Risk, Institutions and Regulatory Regimes: Business, Foreign Investment and Public Administration in Asia. Rating accurately the risk environment of emerging economies has always been problematic. Insufficiently developed methodological tools and the lack of institutional and regulatory data make the process imprecise. This project overcomes this problem, developing a new industry based risk assessment system for understanding political risk to commercial activities and foreign investors in nine of Asia's most rapidly developing economies. The study, one of the first to correlate institutional and regulatory forms to the incidence, severity and recurrence of risk, will deepen our knowledge of political and regulatory institutions in Asia and provide investors with the ability to navigate those environments successfully. Read moreRead less
Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expandi ....Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expanding Australian expertise in border studies. This project will provide the intellectual environment and collaborative networks necessary to establish the first dedicated Centre for Border Studies in Australia.Read moreRead less
Brokering Democracy: United States Policy toward Chile from Nixon to Bush Sr. (September 1973-December 1989). Australia's capacity to interpret and engage its regional and global environment is more dependent on thorough anaysis of American foreign policy than ever before. Distinguishing between US and Ausralian national interests is vital to avoid making commitments that prove harmful to Australia's best interests and its international standing. The way in which the US resolved the tensions bee ....Brokering Democracy: United States Policy toward Chile from Nixon to Bush Sr. (September 1973-December 1989). Australia's capacity to interpret and engage its regional and global environment is more dependent on thorough anaysis of American foreign policy than ever before. Distinguishing between US and Ausralian national interests is vital to avoid making commitments that prove harmful to Australia's best interests and its international standing. The way in which the US resolved the tensions been national interest and democracy promotion in Chile provides a key reference point for subsequent US interventions in the Third World up to the present. Public discussion about contemporary US foreign policy will be encouraged via newspaper articles, media interviews, and a companion website to the monographRead moreRead less
Insurgency and Strategic Non-Violence: The Resistance in East Timor. The best-known forms of resistance to foreign occupation are violent ones. This project investigates how a largely non-violent insurgency was successful despite being geographically and militarily isolated. It provides important new insights into the research on insurgency and non-violence. It also helps us to better understand East Timor.
Agriculture, politics and trade: Understanding Japan's reform processes and prospects. Japan's continuing agricultural trade liberalisation is essential to Australia's future export prospects in Asia because Japan is Australia's largest export market for agricultural products. By assessing the nature and strength of key domestic factors encouraging reform of Japan's agricultural trade policy, the research will advance knowledge about an area of Japanese political economy that directly affects Au ....Agriculture, politics and trade: Understanding Japan's reform processes and prospects. Japan's continuing agricultural trade liberalisation is essential to Australia's future export prospects in Asia because Japan is Australia's largest export market for agricultural products. By assessing the nature and strength of key domestic factors encouraging reform of Japan's agricultural trade policy, the research will advance knowledge about an area of Japanese political economy that directly affects Australia's trade position and commercial policy. This knowledge will provide intellectual support to the design of current and future Australian multilateral and bilateral trade bargaining strategies at the World Trade Organization and in relation to the Australia-Japan Free Trade Agreement respectively. Read moreRead less
Globalisation's Impact on the Government-Business Relationship: A Theoretical and Multi-Country Study. This project will explain why states in many contexts are developing more collaborative relationships with business (both domestic and transnational), contrary to the expectations of globalisation theory. It will develop a novel perspective on globalisation that recognises its potential to ?enable? and not merely to ?constrain? the state's capacities for industrial governance, and explain why s ....Globalisation's Impact on the Government-Business Relationship: A Theoretical and Multi-Country Study. This project will explain why states in many contexts are developing more collaborative relationships with business (both domestic and transnational), contrary to the expectations of globalisation theory. It will develop a novel perspective on globalisation that recognises its potential to ?enable? and not merely to ?constrain? the state's capacities for industrial governance, and explain why states tend to become more, not less, important to social life as economic interdependence rises and vulnerability increases. It will offer a new conceptualisation of state transformation by identifying the conditions under which globalisation creates pressures for increased public-private coordination of economic upgrading.Read moreRead less
Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and oppositio ....Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and opposition parties unite in order to tackle the national crisis and portray consensus to the outside world? Or should they continue to engage in routine adversary criticism, facilitating dialogue and providing a 'check' on a centralised response? Our research will help develop an understanding of Australia's capacity to respond to major economic threats.Read moreRead less
Improving effectiveness of Australian aid to the island-Pacific. Improving the effectiveness of aid to the island Pacific so as to secure peace and prosperity within our immediate neighbourhood is in Australia's own national interest. This research investigates issues of state functioning and state failure with a view to improving the effectiveness of external interventions and of bolstering state capacity in the South Pacific. It is now widely acknowledged that ?failed states? can generate ref ....Improving effectiveness of Australian aid to the island-Pacific. Improving the effectiveness of aid to the island Pacific so as to secure peace and prosperity within our immediate neighbourhood is in Australia's own national interest. This research investigates issues of state functioning and state failure with a view to improving the effectiveness of external interventions and of bolstering state capacity in the South Pacific. It is now widely acknowledged that ?failed states? can generate refugee flows and create havens for organised crime or terrorist groups, thus becoming a threat to neighbouring states. Such cross-border spillovers have major implications for Australia's national security and have been the primary rationale for the recent interventions into Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.Read moreRead less