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
Radical right populist parties. This project aims to explain why some radical right-wing populists in Western democracies enter governmental alliances with mainstream parties while others remain isolated. The emergence, spread and electoral success of radical right populists is a problem facing liberal democracy in the twenty-first century. While these parties’ policies, ideologies and rhetoric are similar, their relationships with mainstream parties are different. By examining explanatory facto ....Radical right populist parties. This project aims to explain why some radical right-wing populists in Western democracies enter governmental alliances with mainstream parties while others remain isolated. The emergence, spread and electoral success of radical right populists is a problem facing liberal democracy in the twenty-first century. While these parties’ policies, ideologies and rhetoric are similar, their relationships with mainstream parties are different. By examining explanatory factors that Political Science studies have so far been neglected, this project seeks to explain this variation and explore its implications for coalition theory.Read moreRead less
Company states and international relations theory. This project aims to investigate the role of chartered companies in European colonialism. Chartered companies, profit-driven forerunners to today’s multinational corporations, wielded extensive sovereign powers (e.g. rights to wage war, conduct diplomacy, and raise taxes) normally reserved for governments. This project intends to establish the importance of chartered companies – not sovereign states – as Europe’s pre-eminent agents of colonial e ....Company states and international relations theory. This project aims to investigate the role of chartered companies in European colonialism. Chartered companies, profit-driven forerunners to today’s multinational corporations, wielded extensive sovereign powers (e.g. rights to wage war, conduct diplomacy, and raise taxes) normally reserved for governments. This project intends to establish the importance of chartered companies – not sovereign states – as Europe’s pre-eminent agents of colonial expansion before c1800, and uncover how their rise and fall shaped modern understandings of the distinction between public and private authority.Read moreRead less
Balance of Power vs. Empire in International Relations: A Global Study. Why have some international systems seen power-balancing between competing Great Powers, while others have been dominated by a single empire? Drawing from European history, International Relations (IR) scholars have conventionally assumed that international systems tend towards a balance of power. Yet recent analyses of East Asia highlight the historical dominance of successive Chinese empires. Other, neglected regional syst ....Balance of Power vs. Empire in International Relations: A Global Study. Why have some international systems seen power-balancing between competing Great Powers, while others have been dominated by a single empire? Drawing from European history, International Relations (IR) scholars have conventionally assumed that international systems tend towards a balance of power. Yet recent analyses of East Asia highlight the historical dominance of successive Chinese empires. Other, neglected regional systems vary between these extremes. IR scholars lack an explanation of when and why international systems tend towards balance of power or empire. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap. With US hegemony in doubt, and China rapidly rising, understanding what drives change in international systems is urgent.
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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
Agents of Disinformation: The Rise of Counterfeit Election Observers. This project investigates the rise of “counterfeit” election observers as agents of disinformation. Using four case studies and four qualitative methods, it identifies how autocratic regimes entice partisan individuals to imitate genuine international observers. The expected project outcome is an explanation for the origins, features and impact of counterfeit election observers that is practically applicable to our foreign aff ....Agents of Disinformation: The Rise of Counterfeit Election Observers. This project investigates the rise of “counterfeit” election observers as agents of disinformation. Using four case studies and four qualitative methods, it identifies how autocratic regimes entice partisan individuals to imitate genuine international observers. The expected project outcome is an explanation for the origins, features and impact of counterfeit election observers that is practically applicable to our foreign affairs and national intelligence communities as well as genuine observation organisations. The knowledge gained from this project will not only help defend Australia from malign disinformation, but advance its interest in the promotion of good governance and stronger democratic institutions everywhere.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100937
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$397,774.00
Summary
Youth Leadership and the Future of Peace and Security. This project aims to investigate the roles youth play in building inclusive and durable peace at local and international levels. It advances one of the first detailed studies of youth-led peacebuilding in three post-conflict contexts in order to generate new insights into best practice for including youth in peace and security policies. Expected outcomes contribute to growing global recognition of youth peace advocacy by providing richer und ....Youth Leadership and the Future of Peace and Security. This project aims to investigate the roles youth play in building inclusive and durable peace at local and international levels. It advances one of the first detailed studies of youth-led peacebuilding in three post-conflict contexts in order to generate new insights into best practice for including youth in peace and security policies. Expected outcomes contribute to growing global recognition of youth peace advocacy by providing richer understandings of how to support and empower youth in conflict-affected contexts. The project seeks to strengthen Australia’s leadership in peacebuilding initiatives and enhance policy efforts towards regional and global security and prosperity.Read moreRead less
In the National Interest? Large Firms and Public Policy in Australia. Institutional and other theories suggest large firms necessarily engage in public policy to mainly serve narrow firm-centric interests. Yet large firms sometimes also engage in national level policy, such as big business support for policy reforms in Australia in the 1980s. Our central question is: how do large Australian firms articulate their public policy interests and goals, what factors drive this, and with what outcomes? ....In the National Interest? Large Firms and Public Policy in Australia. Institutional and other theories suggest large firms necessarily engage in public policy to mainly serve narrow firm-centric interests. Yet large firms sometimes also engage in national level policy, such as big business support for policy reforms in Australia in the 1980s. Our central question is: how do large Australian firms articulate their public policy interests and goals, what factors drive this, and with what outcomes? Do they pursue narrow or broader national agendas and how might the two overlap from the perspective of large firms? In this greenfield research we link questions of big business policy engagement with questions of business power and legitimacy and also to questions of national governance capacity. Read moreRead less
Political Trust and Satisfaction with Democracy in Australia. Declining public support is one of the greatest challenges to democracy. In 2019, Australia recorded the lowest level of trust in politics on record. This project aims to understand the reasons for declining political trust and satisfaction with democracy in Australia. The project hopes to field the 2022-25 Australian Election Study to address these issues by surveying a representative sample of voters following the 2022 and 2025 Aust ....Political Trust and Satisfaction with Democracy in Australia. Declining public support is one of the greatest challenges to democracy. In 2019, Australia recorded the lowest level of trust in politics on record. This project aims to understand the reasons for declining political trust and satisfaction with democracy in Australia. The project hopes to field the 2022-25 Australian Election Study to address these issues by surveying a representative sample of voters following the 2022 and 2025 Australian federal elections, in addition to continuing a longitudinal survey started in 2016. The project wants to add to an unbroken series of publicly available data on Australian political behaviour since 1987, while also producing new insights into how individual opinions change over time.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100210
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,000.00
Summary
Data, digital and field: political parties and 21st century campaigning. This project aims to investigate how political parties in parliamentary democracies are responding to the digital and field revolutions in campaigning. Political parties using these campaigning modes poses challenges for electoral regulators as well as for scholars of political parties trying to understand party organisation. Using six case studies from three parliamentary democracies, the expected outcome of this project i ....Data, digital and field: political parties and 21st century campaigning. This project aims to investigate how political parties in parliamentary democracies are responding to the digital and field revolutions in campaigning. Political parties using these campaigning modes poses challenges for electoral regulators as well as for scholars of political parties trying to understand party organisation. Using six case studies from three parliamentary democracies, the expected outcome of this project is an innovative account of the implications of these changes for political parties and liberal democracy. This project will increase scholarly understanding of political parties, and inform the work of electoral regulators to ensure the integrity of election campaigns are maintained.Read moreRead less