Department of Politics and International Relations

The Department offers cutting-edge approaches to analysing how power operates in Australian society and beyond. We critically assess political institutions and practices in both domestic and international contexts.

politics-and-international-relations-university-of-adelaide

The world is confronted with complex political problems that need to be analysed and met with creative solutions. We train our students to do that and also to become better informed about the world.

  • Our teaching

    Our world-class researchers teach across Australian politics, international relations, political theory, security studies, comparative politics, political economy and environmental politics.

    Our courses consider a wide range of actors, including governments, political leaders, international organisations, non-governmental organisations, political parties, transnational corporations and terrorist groups.

    We examine democracy, populism, extremism, liberalism, war and peace, human rights, foreign policy making, national security, terrorism, cyber politics, globalisation, trade, identity politics, citizenship, public policy, political systems and institutions, ethics and justice and climate change. Expect to explore these issues through the lens of our cutting-edge research.

    Study politics and international relations  Study Politics

  • Our people

    Name

    Role

    Dr Priya Chacko Head of Department
    Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
    Undergraduate Discipline Advisor
    Undergraduate Program Coordinator, Bachelor of International Relations
    Dr Benito Cao Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations
    Dr Melissa-Ellen Dowling Research Fellow

    Professor Timothy Doyle

    Professor in Politics

    Professor Lisa Hill

    Professor in Political Theory and Democratic Participation
    Research Leader

    Associate Professor Tim Legrand

    Associate Professor in Politics and International Security

    Dr Nikola Pijovic Research Fellow

    Dr Tiziana Torresi

    Lecturer in Political Theory
    Honours Convenor
    Postgraduate Coordinator

    Student Support Academic Mentor (School of Social Sciences)

    Dr Czeslaw Tubilewicz

    Senior Lecturer in International Relations and China/Taiwan Studies

    Professor Joanne Wallis Professor of International Security
    Postgraduate Program Coordinator, Master of International Security
    A/Prof Peter Mayer Visiting Research Fellow
    Dr Kirsty Whitman Scholarly Teaching Fellow
  • Our research

    Our research includes Australian politics, international relations, political economy, global governance, electoral studies, political theory, human rights, corruption gender and sexuality, political leadership, global justice, radicalization and terrorism, cyber politics and cyber security, identity politics, citizenship, migration, populism and environmental politics.

    We also specialise in the politics and international relations of the United States, Europe and the Indo-Pacific, including the rising powers of China and India.

  • Our HDR's

    Current Students 
    Name Topic
    Aavriti Gautam Spiritual Aspects of Indian Politics and Power
    Adam Leih Vallelonga Domestic Constructions of Australia as a Middle Power and Their Significance
    Ainoa Cabada The role of state dominance in the interpretation and implementation of refugee rights in the Asia-Pacific
    Anna Larson Australian Expatriates and the Nation State: Identity, National Affiliation and Influences on Repatriation
    Benjamin Jason Cherry-Smith All the way with the USA? The effect of the US-Australia alliance on Australian Foreign Policy
    Declan James Lawless Online backlash against "identity politics" and "political correctness": analysing the "alt-lite" and "dirtbag left"
    Eden Blazejak Epicureanism in the Enlightenment: The Influence of Epicurean Political Thought on the Western Political Tradition
    Edward Acton-Cavanough International influence and domestic political agency in Solomon Islands
    Fathimath Shafeega Women in Governance in Maldives: Expectations, Barriers and Opportunities
    Kirsty Nicole Haynes Government Gender Equality Policy and Women's Participation in STEM
    Maggie Paul Insecuritization and the Citizenship Regime: Claims of Citizenship of Bangladeshi Migrants amidst the Politics of Insecurity in Mumbai, India
    Nicholas Allan Falcinella Electoral Politics and the state of the centre-left in the UK, USA and Australia
    Philip Argenio Natural Law Influences on the Classical Economic Tradition
    Roy Sneddon Exploring gender equity issues experienced by Theravada Buddhist nuns in Australia
    Rudaralingum Coopamootoo Australia, Mauritius, Bilateralism and the IORA Agenda
    Solstice Middleby Pacific mediation of the dynamics, legitimacy and influence of Australia and New Zealand and their 'alliance'
    Tania Maike Zessig Analysis of Anti-terrorist Proscription Regimes in Cameroon, will furnish new insights into how anti–terrorism powers in Cameroon are mobilised against civil society.
    Unaza Khan Ideological and Political Trends in Sufism in South Asia in the 1800s

    Recently Completed

    Name Topic Degree
    Adele Klara Lausberg Cross–Party Collaboration in the Australian Federal Parliament: Testing the Limits of Institutional Constraints and Enabling Factors PhD
    Brendan Robert Drew The Thai State and Sexual Health Policy: Deconstructing the culture of silence and stigmatisation of young people's non-marital heterosexual activity PhD
    Elyse Mary Chapman Philantropolitics: Philanthropy and the Role of Government in the Australian Context PhD
    Glynn Evans Proportional Representation in Theory and Practice: The Australian Experience PhD
    Guy Richardson Adam Smith in Immanuel Kant's Moral Philosophy PhD
    Kwaku Opoku Dankwah

    Domestic Constructions of China in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Comparative Study of Ghana and Kenya

    PhD
    Paul Relf-Christopher Honneth's Theory of Recognition: A More Hospitable Asylum Seeker Policy MPhil
    Samuel Thomas Nicholls A Moment of Possibility: The Rise and Fall of the New International Economic Order PhD
    Stephen Gatkak Chan The Development of IGAD as a Distinctively African Regional Security Community for the Horn of Africa with Case Studies of South Sudan and Somalia MPhil
    Veronica Coram Future Benefits, Future Burdens: Age, Policy Attitudes and Values in Australia PhD
    Yvonne Jazz Rowa Liminal Boundaries and Vulnerabilities to Radicalisation in the Context of Securitisation of Migration PhD
  • Politics and International Relations Association (PIRA)

    The Politics and International Relations Association (PIRA) is the representative body for students and graduates in the Department of Politics & International Relations.

    Find out more 

Publications

Arya, V., A. Page, G. Armstrong and P. Mayer. (2022) “Suicide rates among Dalits”. In: S. Pai, S. Babu and R. Verma (eds) Dalits in the New Millennium. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. (in press)

Dowling, M. E. (2022) “Foreign interference and digital democracy: is digital era governance putting Australia at risk?” Australian Journal of Political Science.

Girard, V., C. Chassonnery-Zaïgouche and P. Mayer (2022) “Measuring Caste-based Discrimination ”. In: S. Pai, S. Babu and R. Verma (eds) Dalits in the New Millennium. New Delhi: Oxford University Press. (in press)

Johnson, C. (2022). What COVID-19 revealed about gender equality policy framing. Australian Journal of Political Science, 20 pages.

Mayer, P.(2022) “Militarism and Development in Underdeveloped Societies”. In: Kurtz L (ed) Encyclopedia of Violence, Peace, and Conflict. Third Edition: Elsevier, Academic Press, Vol. 3, pp. 192–206.

Mayer, P.(2022) “The Jajmani System”. In: S.S. Jodhka and J. Naudet (eds) The Oxford Handbook on Caste in the Modern World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (in press)

Mayer, P. (2022) “They Did Not Have to Burn My Sister Alive”: Causes and Distribution by State of Dowry Murders in India”. Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence 7(1): Article 9. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/dignity/vol7/iss1/9/

Mayer, P. (2022) “Disease & Democracy: Which way does the arrow of causality point in India?” accepted for publication in New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies.

Balint, P., & Torresi, T. (2021). Migration, Integration, and the City. Journal of Applied Philosophy, 10 pages.

Beasley, C., & Holmes, M. (2021). Internet Dating (1 ed.). Routledge.

Cao, B. ed. (2021). Environmental Citizenship in the Indian Ocean Region. Routledge.

Chacko, P & Strating, R 2021, ‘The Demise of “Pragmatism”? Assessing the Public Debate on Australia’s Engagement with China’, The Australian Journal of Politics and History.

Chacko, P. (2021). "A New Quest for Self-Reliance: East Asia and Indian Economic Nationalism." The Journal of Indian and Asian Studies 02(02)

Chacko, P., & Jayasuriya, K. (2021). The economics–security nexus and East Asian
integration. In F. Kimura, M. Pangestu, S. M. Thangavelu, & C. Findlay (Eds.), Handbook on East Asian Economic Integration. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Chacko, P., & Strating, R. (2021). The Demise of “Pragmatism”? Assessing the Public Debate on Australia's Engagement with China. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 18 pages.

Clarke, M., Henschke, A., Sussex, M., & Legrand, T. (Eds.) (2021). The Palgrave Handbook of National Security. Palgrave Macmillan.

Dowling, M. (2021). Democracy under Siege: foreign interference in a digital era. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 75(4), 383-387.

Dowling, M. E. (2021). Foreign interference and Australian electoral security in the digital era. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 1-17.

Dowling, M. E. (2021). Writing Russia: The discursive construction of another nation. Routledge.

Dowling, M. E. (2021). “Cambridge Analytica: Governance and Sensemaking” in UNSW et al. Understanding Mass Influence: Three Case Studies of Contemporary Mass Influence Activities (Canberra: Department of Defence).

Higgott, R., Woo, J. J., & Legrand, T. (2021). The demand for IPE and public policy in the governance of global policy design. Policy and Society, 1-18.

Hill, L. (2021). Australia’s Electoral Innovations. In Jenny M. Lewis and Anne Tiernan (eds.) The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics (2020) 74-91.

Hill, L. (2021). Civil Society Theory: Ferguson. In International Encyclopedia of Civil Society (pp. 1-6). Springer International Publishing.

Hill, L. (2021). Compulsory Voting: Activating the Demos and Enhancing Procedural Democracy in Australia’. In M. Bonotti, & P. Strangio (Eds.), A Century of Compulsory Voting in Australia Genesis, Impact and Future. Springer Nature.

Hill, L., & Blazejak, E. (2021). Stoicism and the Western Political Tradition. Palgrave Macmillan.

Hill, L., & Nidumolu, P. (2021). The influence of classical Stoicism on John Locke’s theory of self-ownership. History of the Human Sciences, 34(3-4), 3-24.

Johnson, C. (2021). “The gendered identities of Australian political leaders: From Hawkie to ScoMo”. In Z. Ghazarian, & K. Lee-Koo (Eds.), Gender Politics: Navigating Political Leadership in Australia (1 ed., pp. 11-23). Sydney: UNSW Press.

Johnson, C. (2021). Feeling protected: protective masculinity and femininity from Donald Trump and Joe Biden to Jacinda Ardern. Emotions and Society.

Johnson, C., & Williams, B. (2021). Still lacking her rights at work: the treatment of women politicians in the Australian parliament and print news media. Australasian Parliamentary Review, 36(2), 110-129.

Legrand, T. (2021). Preserving sovereignty: crisis and the arc of British proscription pre- and post-9/11. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 14(4), 1-5.

Legrand, T. (2021). The Architecture of Policy Transfer Ideas, Institutions and Networks in Transnational Policymaking. Palgrave Macmillan.

Legrand, T., & Stone, D. (2021). Governing global policy: what IPE can learn from public policy?. POLICY AND SOCIETY, 18 pages.

Papadelos, P., Beasley, C., & Treagus, M. (2021). Social change and masculinities: exploring favourable spaces?. Journal of Sociology, 144078332110482.

Skuse, A. and Dowling, M. (2021) 'Refugees, Media Representation and Counter-Narrative: An Analysis of TEDxKakumaCamp'. In S. Borden (Ed.) The Routledge Companion to Media and Poverty, Routledge.

Tubilewicz, C. (2021). Foreign capital and US states’ contested strategies of internationalisation: a constructivist analysis. Contemporary Politics, 22 pages.

Tubilewicz, C., & Omond, N. (2021). The United States' subnational relations with divided China: A constructivist approach to paradiplomacy. Routledge.

Wallis, J. (2021). Contradictions in Australia's Pacific Islands discourse. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 75(5), 487-506.

Wallis, J. (2021). It’s the Little Things: The Role of International Interveners in the Social (re)Construction of the International Peace Architecture. Global Society, 35(4), 456-478.

Wallis, J. (2021). Strategic competition and the pacific Islands. In Asia-Pacific Regional Security Assessment 2021: Key Developments and Trends (pp. 115-134).

Wallis, J. (2021). The social construction of peace. In O. Richmond, & G. Visoka (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Peacebuilding, Statebuilding, and Peace Formation (pp. 77-90). Oxford University Press.

Wallis, J., & McNeill, H. (2021). The implications of COVID-19 for security in the Pacific Islands. Round Table, 110(2), 203-216.

Wallis, J., & Neves, G. (2021). Evaluating the legacy of state-building in Timor-Leste. Asian Journal of Peacebuilding, 9(1), 19-40.

Wallis, J., & Powles, A. (2021). Burden-sharing: the US, Australia and New Zealand alliances in the Pacific islands. International Affairs, 97(4), 1045-1065.

Barthwal-Datta, M., & Chacko, P. (2020). The politics of strategic narratives of regional order in the Indo-Pacific: Free, open, prosperous, inclusive?. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 74(3), 244-263.

Beasley, C. (2020). Feminism and men/masculinities scholarship: connections, disjunctions and possibilities. In L. Gottzen, U. Mellstrom, & T. Shefer (Eds.), Routledge International Handbook of Masculinity Studies (1st ed., pp. 31-40). Routledge.

Cao, B. (2020). Environmental citizenship in the Indian Ocean region. Journal of the Indian Ocean Region, 16(1), 1-5.

Chacko, P. (2020). Gender and authoritarian populism: empowerment, protection, and the politics of resentful aspiration in India. CRITICAL ASIAN STUDIES, 52(2), 22 pages.

Dowling, M. (2020). Romancing Russia: The effect of emplotment on the representation of a nation. Rethinking History, 24(3-4), 523-542.

Hill, L. (2020). Adam Smith as Political Problem Solver: The ‘Project of an Empire’ and the American War of Independence". In F. Forman (Ed.), The Adam Smith Review Volume 12 (Vol. 12, 2020 ed., pp. 1-20). Routledge.

Hill, L. (2020). Adam Smith's Pragmatic Liberalism The Science of Welfare. Palgrave Macmillan (Springer).

Hill, L. (2020). Feminism and stoic sagehood. In The Routledge Handbook of Hellenistic Philosophy (pp. 410-421). Routledge.

Hill, L. (2020). Invisible Hands. In S. Schwarzkopf (Ed.), Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology. Routledge.

Jarvis, L., & Legrand, T. (2020). Banning them, securing us? Terrorism, parliament and the ritual of proscription. Manchester University Press.

Johnson, C. (2020). Ideology and populism. In A. Gauja, M. Sawer, & M. Simms (Eds.), Morrison's Miracle: The 2019 Australian Federal Election (1st ed., pp. 91-106). ANU Press.

Johnson, C. A. (2020). Gender, emotion and political discourse: masculinity, femininity and populism. In O. Feldman (Ed.), The Rhetoric of Political Leadership Logic and Emotion in Public Discourse (1st ed., pp. 16-33). Edward Elgar Publishing.

Johnson, C. A. (2020). The 2019 Australian Election. Asian Journal of Comparative Politics, 5(1), 38-51.

Johnson, C. A., & Mackie, V. (2020). Sexual citizenship in a comparative perspective. In N. Naples (Ed.), Companion to Sexuality Studies (1st ed., pp. 337-356). John Wiley & Sons.

Johnson, C., & Williams, B. (2020). Gender and political leadership in a time of COVID. Politics and Gender, 16(4), 943-950.

Legrand, T. (2020). The past, present and future of Anglosphere security networks: Constitutive reduction of a shared identity. In B. Wellings, & A. Mycock (Eds.), The Anglosphere: Continuity, Dissonance and Location (Vol. 226). Oxford University Press.

Malkopoulou, A., & Hill, L. (2020). The politics of voter presence. International Political Science Review, 1-16.

Tubilewicz, C. (2020). Chinese Constructions of Sovereignty and the East China Sea Conflict. Routledge.

Wallis, J. (2020). Displaced security? The relationships, routines and rhythms of peacebuilding interveners. Cooperation and Conflict, 55(4), 479-496.

Wallis, J. (2020). Is It Time for Australia to Adopt a “Free and Open” Middle-Power Foreign Policy?. Asia Policy, 15(4), 7-20.

Wallis, J., & Batley, J. (2020). How does the ‘Pacific’ fit into the ‘Indo-Pacific’? The changing geopolitics of the Pacific Islands. Security Challenges, 16(1), 2-10.

Wallis, J., & Kent, L. (2020). Reconceiving Civil Society and Transitional Justice Lessons from Asia and the Pacific.

Wallis, J., Reeves, J., Chinoy, S. R., & Sambhi, N. (2020). A Free and Open Indo-Pacific: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Opportunities for Engagement. Asia Policy, 15(4), 1-6.

Arya, V., A. Page, R. Dandona and P. Mayer (2019) “The Geographic Heterogeneity of Suicide Rates in India by Religion, Caste, Tribe, and Other Backward Classes”. Crisis The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention DOI: 10.1027/0227-5910/a000574.

Beasley, C., & Brook, H. (2019). The Cultural Politics of Contemporary Hollywood Film: Power, Culture and Society. Manchester University Press.

Bhatnagar, S., & Chacko, P. (2019). Peacebuilding think tanks, Indian foreign policy and the Kashmir conflict. Third World Quarterly, 40(8), 1496-1515.

Chacko, P. (2019), ‘Constructivism and Indian Foreign Policy’ in Pant, H. (ed.), New Directions in Indian Foreign Policy: Theory and Praxis, Cambridge University Press.

Chacko, P. (2019), ‘Emerging Regimes of Market Citizenship: The Politics of Social Policy in Contemporary India’, in Chakraborty, A. and D’Costa, A. (eds.) Changing Contexts and Shifting Roles of the Indian State: New Perspectives on Development Dynamics, Springer.

Chacko, P. (2019), ‘Indira Gandhi, the Long 1970s and the Cold War’ in Bhagavan, M. (ed.), India and the Cold War.  University of North Carolina Press

Chacko, P. (2019). Constructivism and Indian Foreign Policy. In H. V. Pant (Ed.), New Directions in Indian Foreign Policy: Theory and Praxis. Cambridge University Press.

Chacko, P. (2019). Emerging Regimes of Market Citizenship: The Politics of Social Policy in Contemporary India. In A. P. DCosta, & A. Chakraborty (Eds.), Changing Contexts and Shifting Roles of the Indian State: New Perspectives on Development Dynamics (pp. 39-55). SPRINGER INDIA.

Chacko, P. (2019). Indira Gandhi, the "Long 1970s", and the Cold War. In M. Bhaghavan (Ed.), India and the Cold War. The University of North Carolina Press.

Chacko, P. (2019). Marketising Hindutva: The state, society and markets in Hindu Nationalism. Modern Asian Studies, 53(2), 377-410.

Cronin, C., Kent, L., & Wallis, J. (2019). Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Asia and the Pacific. ANU Press.

Hill, L. (2019). Adam Ferguson. In S. Kirste, & M. N. S. Sellars (Eds.), Encyclopedia of the Philosophy of Law and Social Philosophy. Routledge.

Johnson, C. (2019). “Gender research and discursive policy framing”. In M. Sawer, & K. Baker (Eds.), Gender Innovation in Political Science New Norms, New Knowledge (pp. 195-217). Springer.

Johnson, C. (2019). Social democracy and the crisis of equality: Australian social democracy in a changing world. Springer.

Kent, L., Wallis, J., & Cronin, C. (2019). Introduction: Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Asia and the Pacific’. In L. Kent, J. Wallis, & C. Cronin (Eds.), Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 1-20). ANU Press.

Legrand, T. (2019). Sovereignty Renewed: Transgovernmental Policy Networks and the Global-Local Dilemma. In D. Stone, & K. Maloney (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Global Policy and Transnational Administration. Oxford University Press.

Legrand, T., & Jarvis, L. (Eds.) (2019). The Proscription of Terrorist Organisations: Modern Blacklisting in Global Perspective. Routledge.

Ottonelli, V., & Torresi, T. (2019). Temporary Migration Projects, Special Rights and Social Dumping. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22(2), 267-281.

M. Oak and P. Mayer (2019) "Modi appeals to voters by putting on khaki and saffron"  East Asia Forum 11th April, 2019 https://www.eastasiaforum.org/?p=178000

Mayer, P. and M. Oak (2019) “The Modi Era: India’s Prime Minister Towers Over Party and Opponents” The Globe Post 30 May, 2019 https://theglobepost.com/2019/05/30/india-modi-era/

Mayer, P. and M. Oak (2019) “Modi’s High Stakes Gamble: How Will India’s Citizenship Act Play Out?” The Globe Post 30 December, 2019 https://theglobepost.com/2019/12/30/india-caa-gamble/

Oak, M. and P. Mayer (2020) “India’s Lockdown Locks Out the Poor” (with Mandar Oak) East Asia Forum 20 June 2020 https://www.eastasiaforum.org/2020/06/20/indias-lockdown-locks-out-the-…

Wallis, J. (2019). Constitution making and state building. In D. Landau, & H. Lerner (Eds.), Comparative Constitution Making (pp. 278-301). Edward Elgar.

Wallis, J. (2019). The role of ‘uncivil’ society in transitional justice: Evidence from Bougainville and Timor-Leste. Global Change, Peace and Security, 31(2), 159-179.

Wallis, J. (2019). The role played by reconciliation in social reconstruction in Bougainville. In L. Kent, J. Wallis, & C. Cronin (Eds.), Civil Society and Transitional Justice in Asia and the Pacific (pp. 157-181). ANU Press.

Wallis, J. (2019). Timor-Leste in a rich country, but also a poor one: the effect and effectiveness of public transfer schemes. In A. McWilliam, & M. Leach (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Timor-Leste (pp. 124-135). Routledge.

Wallis, J. E. (2019). 'Cut and paste' constitution-making in Timor-Leste. Chinese Journal of Comparative Law, 7(2), 333-358.

Wallis, J., & Kent, L. (2019). Special issue on ‘reconceiving civil society and transitional justice: lessons from Asia and the Pacific’. Global Change, Peace and Security, 31(2), 129-138.

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