Politics, security & international relations

Dr Tomoko Akami

(School of Culture, History & Language)

International Relations; Asian history; historical studies; government and politics of Asia and the Pacific; political theory and political philosophy

Associate Professor Simon Avenell

(School of Culture, History, and Language)

Modern Japanese history; civic activism, civil society, and state-society relations in contemporary Japan; political thought in contemporary Japan; environmental history and environmentalism in contemporary Japan; transnational aspects of contemporary Japanese history; Japan in East Asia.

Dr John Blaxland

(Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs)

East Asian territorial disputes; the Australian flag; intelligence and security; Australian military history and strategy; defence studies; international Relations, notably on South-east Asia (Thailand and Burma/Myanmar) and North America, (Canada and the United States.

Professor Leszek Buszynski

(National Security College)

Japanese security and China, the Korean Peninsula and the South China Sea.

Dr David Envall

(Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs)

Japanese political leadership, foreign policy and post-war security politics; Asia Pacific regional security architecture; Sino-Korean-Japan relations; Japan-India relations; Foreign policy analysis; domestic politics and foreign policy; political leadership and diplomacy; International relations; government and politics of Asia and the Pacific; studies of Asian Society; defence studies.

Dr Christopher Hobson

(Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs)

International political theory, ethics, democracy, liberalism, non-traditional security, human security, natural and technological disasters, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence.

Associate Professor Llewelyn Hughes

(Crawford School of Public Policy)

In his academic work Llewelyn is interested in how public policies affect, and are affected by, energy markets. He is currently investigating how and why energy policies are changing in response to the problem of climate change, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific region. A second project examines how exposure to extreme weather events affects beliefs in climate change. Llewelyn also has an interest in fossil fuels

Dr Amy King

(Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs)

China-Japan relations; Asia-Pacific security and international relations; the role of ideas in foreign policy; Cold War in Asia (particularly the 1950s and 1960s); the legacy of WWII and imperialism in Asia; trade, industrialization and economic development .

Professor Rory Medcalf

(National Security College)

Australian security, defence and foreign policy; the development of an integrated Australian national security policy and narrative, including in the context of post-COVID-19 recovery; Asian strategic dynamics, including an Indo-Pacific concept of the Asian strategic environment; maritime security; nuclear issues; strategic implications of the rise of China and India; Australia's relations with China, the United States, India and other major powers; foreign interference, influence and the protection of democratic institutions.

Dr Lauren Richardson

(Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs)

Lauren Richardson is a Lecturer in the Department of International Relations and Director of the ANU Japan Institute. From 2018-2020 she was Director of Studies and Lecturer in the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the ANU. Prior to that Dr Richardson taught Northeast Asian Relations at the University of Edinburgh. Her research focuses on the role of non-state actors in shaping diplomatic interactions in Northeast Asia, particularly Japan-Korea relations. Her publications have focused on the South Korean anti-nuclear movement; the role of Buddhists in Sino-Japanese rapprochement (with G A. Scott);Japan’s evolving defence posture; and the ascension of “comfort women” in South Korean memory of Japanese imperialism (forthcoming). She is currently completing a book manuscript provisionally entitled Reshaping Japan-Korea Relations: Transnational Advocacy Networks and the Politics of Redress.