Trade and investment in the face of declining international cooperation. This project aims to investigate the impact and policy implications of trade and investment policies in a world trade system facing increasing uncertainty. The project intends to gain an improved understanding of investment regulations like Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) agreements and their impact on trade and foreign direct investment. Expected outcomes include new theories for the breakdown of international agr ....Trade and investment in the face of declining international cooperation. This project aims to investigate the impact and policy implications of trade and investment policies in a world trade system facing increasing uncertainty. The project intends to gain an improved understanding of investment regulations like Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) agreements and their impact on trade and foreign direct investment. Expected outcomes include new theories for the breakdown of international agreements and their effects on third world countries as well as empirical methods that allow for a quantification of the welfare and employment effects of investment policies like ISDS. This project should provide benefits by informing government policy makers to improve Australia’s trade and investment policies.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
Improving International Law Regulation of Maritime Autonomous Vessels . The use of maritime autonomous vessels (MAVs) is creating regulatory and enforcement opportunities and challenges under international law. The aim of this project is to fill a critical gap in current responses in international law in focusing on the challenges posed by MAVs to international maritime security law. MAVs are increasingly useful for states in peacetime military operations, in response to transnational crime, mar ....Improving International Law Regulation of Maritime Autonomous Vessels . The use of maritime autonomous vessels (MAVs) is creating regulatory and enforcement opportunities and challenges under international law. The aim of this project is to fill a critical gap in current responses in international law in focusing on the challenges posed by MAVs to international maritime security law. MAVs are increasingly useful for states in peacetime military operations, in response to transnational crime, maritime cybersecurity, and in promoting broader national security goals, but non-state actors may also use them for terrorist and transnational criminal activity. International law has not kept up with this technology so this project will redress that problem and propose law reform to enhance global maritime security.Read moreRead less
Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era. This project seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order, in the face of a sustained populist backlash. It proposes to develop a new analytical framework to evaluate the origins and impact of populist concerns about international law. Expected outcomes include detailed empirical studies of the extent to which countries with populist leaders have disengaged f ....Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era. This project seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order, in the face of a sustained populist backlash. It proposes to develop a new analytical framework to evaluate the origins and impact of populist concerns about international law. Expected outcomes include detailed empirical studies of the extent to which countries with populist leaders have disengaged from the international legal order, and evidence-based recommendations to increase committed engagement by states with that order. Anticipated benefits include expanding national research and policy capacity in reinforcing the rules and institutions that support Australia’s security and prosperity.Read moreRead less
Drugs, books and seeds: The politics of access to intellectual property. The project aims to compare three transnational campaigns to increase access to drugs (patents and data protection), books (copyright) and seeds (plant variety protection and patents). It expects to generate new knowledge in intellectual property regulation and global governance through an interdisciplinary approach combining concepts from political science, law, and sociology. Expected outcomes include the identification o ....Drugs, books and seeds: The politics of access to intellectual property. The project aims to compare three transnational campaigns to increase access to drugs (patents and data protection), books (copyright) and seeds (plant variety protection and patents). It expects to generate new knowledge in intellectual property regulation and global governance through an interdisciplinary approach combining concepts from political science, law, and sociology. Expected outcomes include the identification of strategies and policies that assist with striking an equitable balance between intellectual property and rights of access, with potential benefits benefits for health, education and nutrition.Read moreRead less
Leveraging power and influence on the United Nations Security Council. This project examines the fundamental problem of how elected members on the Security Council can influence Council decision-making and norm development. Assembling a research team of international lawyers and political scientists, the project seeks to provide a rigorous, multi-disciplinary evaluation of why and when non-permanent Council members have succeeded in having impact on the Council's decision-making process. Drawing ....Leveraging power and influence on the United Nations Security Council. This project examines the fundamental problem of how elected members on the Security Council can influence Council decision-making and norm development. Assembling a research team of international lawyers and political scientists, the project seeks to provide a rigorous, multi-disciplinary evaluation of why and when non-permanent Council members have succeeded in having impact on the Council's decision-making process. Drawing on recent experiences of elected members, including Australia, the project is expected to advance evidence-based and empirically grounded policy proposals designed to increase the capacity of elected members to exercise power and influence over the Council's agenda and policy.Read moreRead less
The role of community sponsorship for refugee resettlement in Australia . This Project aims to conduct the first large-scale comparative study of community or private sponsorship of refugee resettlement in Australia and other jurisdictions. It will generate ground-breaking insights into Australia’s role historically in community sponsorship of refugee resettlement and identify the legal and policy background of current successful community sponsorship programs. Expected outcomes include clarity ....The role of community sponsorship for refugee resettlement in Australia . This Project aims to conduct the first large-scale comparative study of community or private sponsorship of refugee resettlement in Australia and other jurisdictions. It will generate ground-breaking insights into Australia’s role historically in community sponsorship of refugee resettlement and identify the legal and policy background of current successful community sponsorship programs. Expected outcomes include clarity and policy guidance about how community or private sponsorship is understood, conceived and implemented globally; and better knowledge about the motives of community sponsors. This Project will position Australia as a world leader in practice and research on community or private sponsorship for refugee resettlement. Read moreRead less
Local Remembering and National Forgetting: Memory Politics in Modern China. This project aims to explore the politics of local remembering and national forgetting, and their roles in shaping state-society relationships in modern China. The project expects to generate new insights into key narratives of China’s recent past, and how they are recast by local museums to counter official discourses that elevate certain memories and suppress others. Expected outcomes include enhancing theoretical and ....Local Remembering and National Forgetting: Memory Politics in Modern China. This project aims to explore the politics of local remembering and national forgetting, and their roles in shaping state-society relationships in modern China. The project expects to generate new insights into key narratives of China’s recent past, and how they are recast by local museums to counter official discourses that elevate certain memories and suppress others. Expected outcomes include enhancing theoretical and empirical knowledge of the roles of heritage and memory in China’s contemporary cultural politics. Significant benefits to Australia will include new knowledge towards a more nuanced and multidimensional understanding of China’s priorities in cultural politics, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.
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Governing harmful commodities: the case of ultra-processed foods. This project aims to generate new knowledge on how to influence public policy in order to reduce the supply and consumption of a health-harming commodity, ultra-processed foods. Using governance theory and qualitative techniques the project intends to identify the actors who are influential in the three key policy areas of trade, taxation and marketing and who affect the consumption of these foods in Australia, Thailand and Fiji. ....Governing harmful commodities: the case of ultra-processed foods. This project aims to generate new knowledge on how to influence public policy in order to reduce the supply and consumption of a health-harming commodity, ultra-processed foods. Using governance theory and qualitative techniques the project intends to identify the actors who are influential in the three key policy areas of trade, taxation and marketing and who affect the consumption of these foods in Australia, Thailand and Fiji. Expected outcomes include strategies for pursuing these different actors’ interests and evidence that can help institutions to promote better policies. Intended benefits include better nutrition outcomes in Australia, Thailand and Fiji.Read moreRead less
Nature futures: mapping pathways to prosperity for people and nature. Population growth, consumption and trade are direct socio-economic drivers of land use change and climate change, which determine where species can persist. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and national policies acknowledge the dependence of people on nature and the impact of socio-economic drivers on nature. However, few analyses of impacts on nature explicitly incorporate socio-economic drivers. Utilising a novel modelli ....Nature futures: mapping pathways to prosperity for people and nature. Population growth, consumption and trade are direct socio-economic drivers of land use change and climate change, which determine where species can persist. The UN Sustainable Development Goals and national policies acknowledge the dependence of people on nature and the impact of socio-economic drivers on nature. However, few analyses of impacts on nature explicitly incorporate socio-economic drivers. Utilising a novel modelling framework and high-performance computing we will integrate economic, land use and biodiversity models to evaluate: (i) policies and incentives for increasing national vegetation cover for carbon sequestration and habitat, and (ii) global risks to nature posed by land use change under future geopolitical scenarios.Read moreRead less