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
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
Following the Money: The Birth, Diffusion and Effectiveness of the Global Regime to Counter Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Countering international crime and terrorism are two of the government's top priorities, and attacking the financial underpinnings of these threats is crucial to combatting both. The more knowledge generated about the design, diffusion and effectiveness of existing standards in these areas, the more successful this effort can become. Australia is more closely invo ....Following the Money: The Birth, Diffusion and Effectiveness of the Global Regime to Counter Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing. Countering international crime and terrorism are two of the government's top priorities, and attacking the financial underpinnings of these threats is crucial to combatting both. The more knowledge generated about the design, diffusion and effectiveness of existing standards in these areas, the more successful this effort can become. Australia is more closely involved with the campaign to stop such illicit financial activity than any other country in the Asia-Pacific region. That our domestic laws and regulations are often designed by international organisations, rather than federal or state governments, is a matter of broad political significance and of community interest.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150100576
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$346,000.00
Summary
Taking sides: Assessing the partiality of international peacekeeping. This project aims to examine an enduring question for peacekeeping: should United Nations peacekeepers take sides between conflict parties, or should they remain impartial brokers that assist combatants to find their own peace settlement? Detailed comparison of six decades of peacekeeping will advance both the theory and practice of peacekeeping by understanding and explaining a striking gap between the long-standing principle ....Taking sides: Assessing the partiality of international peacekeeping. This project aims to examine an enduring question for peacekeeping: should United Nations peacekeepers take sides between conflict parties, or should they remain impartial brokers that assist combatants to find their own peace settlement? Detailed comparison of six decades of peacekeeping will advance both the theory and practice of peacekeeping by understanding and explaining a striking gap between the long-standing principle of impartiality and the frequent, controversial practice of taking sides. By conducting the first systematic study of partiality in peacekeeping and evaluating the effectiveness of this practice, the project aims to contribute new data, theoretical tools and policy proposals for building international peace and stability.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
Improving the International Response to Regime-Induced Displacement. This project examines why governments increasingly use force to deliberately displace their own populations on a massive scale, which is termed regime-induced displacement. Through a mix of quantitative and case study research, this project aims to explain why such actions have become rational strategies for regimes to respond to ethnic groups which may be a threat to them and how these regimes try to justify their behaviour in ....Improving the International Response to Regime-Induced Displacement. This project examines why governments increasingly use force to deliberately displace their own populations on a massive scale, which is termed regime-induced displacement. Through a mix of quantitative and case study research, this project aims to explain why such actions have become rational strategies for regimes to respond to ethnic groups which may be a threat to them and how these regimes try to justify their behaviour in order to thwart or delay international action. This is a critical issue as beyond its human cost, regime-induced displacement can lead to state fragility and regional instability as cases from Darfur to Syria demonstrate. Consequently, it directly affects Australia's security interests and international responsibilities.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
Confronting the devolution paradox: constitutional values, federal political culture and governance reform. Australia, like many countries, depends in part on devolutionary reform if its federal system of government is to adapt effectively to change. This project confronts a key barrier to reform; the ‘devolution paradox’, in which popular demands for decentralisation and diversity are confounded by conflicting political pressures for national policy uniformity and control. By mapping and compar ....Confronting the devolution paradox: constitutional values, federal political culture and governance reform. Australia, like many countries, depends in part on devolutionary reform if its federal system of government is to adapt effectively to change. This project confronts a key barrier to reform; the ‘devolution paradox’, in which popular demands for decentralisation and diversity are confounded by conflicting political pressures for national policy uniformity and control. By mapping and comparing the constitutional values and federal political culture of Australian citizens, citizens in Canada, USA and UK, and Australian reform policymakers, in more detail than ever before, it will give insights into how this key paradox might be resolved, helping unlock reform potential and restore adaptive capacity to our political system.Read moreRead less
Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent co ....Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. Strengthening Australia's national integrity system. This project aims to equip governments and civil society stakeholders with evidence-based options to improve the structure and operations of integrity institutions, by undertaking a second National Integrity System Assessment. Public integrity is vital to social and economic prosperity and the quality of democracy. This project intends to identify new, more effective strategies to prevent corruption and other integrity violations; coordinate the work of integrity institutions; ensure their accountability; and measure the effectiveness of integrity and anti-corruption policy settings. This research is expected to contribute to better evaluation of integrity policies worldwide.Read moreRead less