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.
A comparative study on women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia. This project aims to contribute to the better understanding of women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia in order to develop more effective policymaking and implementation. This topic is theoretically and empirically under researched. The project, as a major comparative study on women's policies in two countries will make a significant contribution to the understanding of women's policy making process in a specific nat ....A comparative study on women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia. This project aims to contribute to the better understanding of women's policy machinery in Korea and Australia in order to develop more effective policymaking and implementation. This topic is theoretically and empirically under researched. The project, as a major comparative study on women's policies in two countries will make a significant contribution to the understanding of women's policy making process in a specific national context. This research will investigate the relevance of national machineries for the advancement of women. Appropriate mechanisms through which the mainstreaming of gender can take place are considered, and the levels of governance involved - the relationship between gender mainstreaming and state structures, and the effect of this relationship on policy implementation will be examined. Thus, this research will contribute to the better understanding of how and by what processes women's interests are represented to the state policy making structures.Read moreRead less
Institutions for Food Security: Global Lessons from Rural India. Between 2006 and 2008, global progress in combating world hunger stalled. World food prices increased by 71.4% and an additional 115 million people joined the ranks of the undernourished. This is a human tragedy which has fuelled political and economic turmoil across many countries. India has 28% of the world's hungry, and is an increasingly important economic and political partner to Australia. This research will involve a team of ....Institutions for Food Security: Global Lessons from Rural India. Between 2006 and 2008, global progress in combating world hunger stalled. World food prices increased by 71.4% and an additional 115 million people joined the ranks of the undernourished. This is a human tragedy which has fuelled political and economic turmoil across many countries. India has 28% of the world's hungry, and is an increasingly important economic and political partner to Australia. This research will involve a team of Australian researchers working with Indian counterparts to develop a framework that explains what causes risk and resilience to food insecurity, and offers practical insights for policy-makers. 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
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR0354509
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$20,000.00
Summary
China's Asia-Pacific Century: Enhancing Australia's Engagement. The emerging regional economic sphere of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, encompassing close to a quarter of humankind, is fast becoming one of the world's two major powerhouses--and a potential locus for international conflict. Australia contains a very large and robust field of hundreds of modern China specialists--as many as all of Europe--but we are very spread out geographically and divided among twenty disciplines. There is a pate ....China's Asia-Pacific Century: Enhancing Australia's Engagement. The emerging regional economic sphere of China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, encompassing close to a quarter of humankind, is fast becoming one of the world's two major powerhouses--and a potential locus for international conflict. Australia contains a very large and robust field of hundreds of modern China specialists--as many as all of Europe--but we are very spread out geographically and divided among twenty disciplines. There is a patent, felt need for concerted, collaborative, multi-disciplinary research and analysis, as a wide range of important potential synergies exist.Read moreRead less
From Local Stories to National Identity: Competing National Myths in Chinese Nativist Fiction. China's continuous and rapid economic upsurge means it will play an increasingly greater role globally but its influence in our region will even be greater. Understanding China is imperative for Australia, which can only be achieved through understanding the core Chinese social and cultural values. It is vital for Australian policy-makers to know how cultural identification within China functions and h ....From Local Stories to National Identity: Competing National Myths in Chinese Nativist Fiction. China's continuous and rapid economic upsurge means it will play an increasingly greater role globally but its influence in our region will even be greater. Understanding China is imperative for Australia, which can only be achieved through understanding the core Chinese social and cultural values. It is vital for Australian policy-makers to know how cultural identification within China functions and how the Chinese government uses culture (among other means) to hold the vastly different regions together. Cultural understanding demands an appreciation of literature, the importance of which in Chinese cultural life is often underestimated outside China.Read moreRead less
From Local Stories to National Identity: Competing National Myths in Chinese Nativist Fiction. The project investigates the creation, reception and significance of competing national myths in Chinese nativist fiction. It explores the paradox that nativist writers, on the one hand, are committed to the abstract idea of a single Chinese nation, while, on the other hand, they aspire to create distinctive local cultural identities. Why do regional literatures compete in identifying with the cultural ....From Local Stories to National Identity: Competing National Myths in Chinese Nativist Fiction. The project investigates the creation, reception and significance of competing national myths in Chinese nativist fiction. It explores the paradox that nativist writers, on the one hand, are committed to the abstract idea of a single Chinese nation, while, on the other hand, they aspire to create distinctive local cultural identities. Why do regional literatures compete in identifying with the cultural centre? How do different local tales represent the regional and the national? By answering these questions, this project will expand Chinese regional studies into the literary sphere and contribute to the theoretical understanding of Chinese cultural nationalism.Read moreRead less
Contact zones: activism, art and media in Italy, 1994-2006. This project will generate knowledge about recent activism, social change and contemporary art practices in Italy; it will add to Australia's international reputation as a centre of research on contemporary Italy; it will assist in facilitating cultural relations between Australia and Italy as already established in cultural and scientific bilateral agreements.
Women's NGOs, the United Nations and expanding civil society: a feminist critique, with reference to four UN member countries. Feminist non-governmental organisations have placed women's human rights concerns on the international agenda, but they are also increasingly expected to tailor themselves both to international bureaucracy and a domestic political role by becoming primary providers of what has become known as "social capital". Human rights remain important for women, but new strategies ....Women's NGOs, the United Nations and expanding civil society: a feminist critique, with reference to four UN member countries. Feminist non-governmental organisations have placed women's human rights concerns on the international agenda, but they are also increasingly expected to tailor themselves both to international bureaucracy and a domestic political role by becoming primary providers of what has become known as "social capital". Human rights remain important for women, but new strategies are needed to ensure government accountability for transforming the rhetoric of women's rights into reality. This project will examine these issues as faced by feminist NGOs in Australia, France, Pakistan and Haïti, to identify issues in common and suggest strategies for furthering the international feminist human rights project.Read moreRead less
The Cultivation of Middle-Class Taste: Reading, Tourism and Education Choices in Urban China. In urban China, high-income professionals and consumers have enormous influence on the development of élite education, travel, and cultural pursuits, but also on the stability of the Party-State. Their choices will materially affect Australian economic strategy, and will impact the socio-political character of the entire region. This project works to support Australian understanding of the tastes, aspir ....The Cultivation of Middle-Class Taste: Reading, Tourism and Education Choices in Urban China. In urban China, high-income professionals and consumers have enormous influence on the development of élite education, travel, and cultural pursuits, but also on the stability of the Party-State. Their choices will materially affect Australian economic strategy, and will impact the socio-political character of the entire region. This project works to support Australian understanding of the tastes, aspirations and national priorities of this new formation: the Chinese middle class. The approach and outcomes of the research will enhance Australia's global position in innovative, relevant Asian scholarship, support good economic strategy, and provide an accurate socio-cultural lens through which to engage with Chinese and regional futures.Read moreRead less