Politics Postgraduate Students and their Thesis Topics

Framing terrorism in Southern Thailand

• Assoc.Prof. Susan Blackburn

Government control and judiciary in Malaysia

This study seeks to present a new understanding on judicial independence in Malaysia through an examination of the relationship between statist democracy and the rule of law. The three main objectives of the study are:

1. To study the impact of development policies on the rule of law
2. To examine the capacity of the legal system to uphold the rule of law
3. To evaluate the relationship between economic development and judicial independence in post-colonial Malaysia.
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Contrary to the widely held view among international development institutions that the rule of law is a necessary condition for economic development, initial evidence from the Malaysian case denies any positive correlation between the two. The study argues that excessive state intervention in the economy since the adoption of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971 led to the development of an alliance of interests between component parties of the ruling Barisan Nasional and some major business enterprises in the country. The result has been unprecedented rates of economic growth, and a government largely legitimised based on private sector performance.

However, during the same period Malaysia has witnessed several trends that impede the development of the rule of law in the country. These include a rising trend in 'money politics', corruption, abuse of power by the police force, manipulation of rules comprising the electoral system, judicial compliance in politically sensitive cases, excessive use of emergency laws against opposition elements, a weakening of the civil society and the instrumental use of law to facilitate the implementation of government policies. What are the reasons for the apparently negative relationship between rule of law and economic development in Malaysia, and, what are the necessary measures that need to be undertaken to strengthen judicial independence and the rule of law in the country?

• Dr Pete Lentini

Al Muhajiroun and the Palestinian Question

Research Summary: My research explores the ways in which the Islamic concept of jihad is utilized by modern Western Islamist organizations. The primary focus of my work is the United Kingdom-based organization al-Muhajiroun (The Emigrants). Investigating an Islamist organization which operates in the West also leads me to consider the historical emergence of the Islamist movement, the experiences of religious minorities in modern Western societies and the tensions between citizenship and religious duty.

By comparing al-Muhajiroun's ideological basis to that of other organizations which draw on the Salafi tradition such as HAMAS, al-Qaeda and moderate Islamist organizations/national movements, the research considers the various contemporary interpretations of jihad. Through the examination of case studies, such as the conflicts in Palestine and Iraq, the theoretical and popular development of jihad as one of the responses to international political developments will be illuminated.

• Dr Andy Butfoy
• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh

• Dr Michael Janover

• Dr Michael Janover

Women's role and experience in the Chittagong Hill Tracts Movement, Bangladesh

This is an empirical, qualitative study researching Indigenous women's role and experience in nationalist struggle in Bangladesh. Women's role and experience in such conflict situation are often interrelated issues and can not be comprehended separately. In operational terms, the study investigates women's agency and identity exacerbated in their participation and process of negotiation with the conflict and tries to understand their mobilization particularly in relation to the nationalist discourse which is often paradoxical. I hypothesize that despite paradoxes women managed to negotiate a space in nationalist politics through their activism and demonstrated agency in their survival strategies in the face of violence.

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn

• Dr Michael Janover
• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh

The Question of political philosophy in Nietzsche

• Dr Michael Janover
• Dr Paul Muldoon

Attention to opposites: Al Qaeda as the 'new terrorism' incarnate?

• Dr Pete Lentini

Minor details? A comparative study of minor parties in the Australian Senate

The thesis examines the role and influence of small political parties in the Senate and investigates their internal operation.

• Dr Nick Economou
• Dr Dennis Woodward

The hyphenated American: How Jewish and Cuban lobby groups in the US impact on its foreign policy

• Dr Pete Lentini

Terrorist use of intelligence: The IRA and Al Qu'eda Models

• Dr Pete Lentini

The transformative charisma phenomenon in Islamic radicalism and militancy: Charismatic leaders, neo-charismatic leaders, spiritual guides and the depersonalization of charisma

• Dr Pete Lentini

• Dr Nick Economou
• Associate Professor Sharon Pickering

Negotiating recognition and identity in West Papua post-1998

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Dr Paul Muldoon

• Dr Michael Janover
• Dr David Holmes

• Dr Pete Lentini

Speaking of terror

• Dr Michael Janover

Political agency of refugees: The case of the Burmese opposition movement-in-exile

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Dr Richard Devetak

• Dr Dennis Woodward(external)

Fighting for recognition: Globalisation, identity and violence in the Southern Philippines

• Dr Pete Lentini

Imperial, national or federal statehood and the case of the Soviet Union

• Dr Michael Janover
• Dr Pete Lentini

The impact of the nexus of education, hegemonic discourses of citizenship, employment and consumption upon the process of political identity construction in Muslim youth aged 18-29 in Melbourne, Australia

• Dr Pete Lentini
• Dr Anita Harris

• Dr Dennis Woodward

The implications of precarious employment for individuals and society

• Prof. Carla Lipsig-Mumme
• Prof. Jim Walter

• Dr Pete Lentini
• Assoc. Prof Shahram Akbarzadeh

• Dr Dennis Woodward

Diversity, conflict and interpretation: Questioning value pluralism

• Dr M. Janover
• Dr Paul Muldoon

Hopes and aspirations of Australian Muslim women (Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh/Prof. Gary Bouma)

• Assoc. Prof Shahram Akbarzadeh
• Prof. Gary Bouma

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Dr Penny Graham

Understanding the logic of terrorist violence: A case study of Islamist terror in Southeast Asia

• Dr Andy Butfoy
• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh

Confronting Chechnya: Comparing Yeltsin and Putin

• Dr Pete Lentini
• Assoc. Prof Shahram Akbarzadeh

The politics of Kurdish nationalism in Turkey

After almost a century of socio-economic and political marginalisation in Turkey, Kurdish national identity and the national movement entered the mainstream political arena during the late 1990s. Due to the effects and pressures of 'Europeanization', the Turkish state has had to re-evaluate and subsequently alter its policies regarding the existence and cultural and political rights of its Kurdish minority. For the first time in the Kemalist Republic's history, pro-Kurdish political parties have been allowed to participate in federal politics. This research project will examine the two most popular political parties for Kurds during the 1990s; HADEP and the Islamist organisation Refah Party. The way in which these groups represent Kurdish national identity, and the challenges they pose to the Kemalist-Turkish Republic, will be analysed.

• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh
• Dr Michael Janover

Australian contemporary security and defense policy (under examination)

Private armies, public wars: A case study of the use of private security contractors against the 'war on terror'

• Dr Pete Lentini

The human rights of Muslim women in Iran: Resolutions at the global-local nexus

• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh
• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn

• Associate Professor Brian Costar

• Dr Peter Lentini
• Associate Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh

• Dr Dennis Woodward
• Dr Graeme Hodge
• Prof Michael Skully

• Dr Pete Lentini

• Dr Andy Butfoy

A pumpkin at midnight: Australian conceptions of foreign policy and the neo-liberal model

• Dr Pete Lentini

• Dr Hyam Gold

Australian Vietnam veterans: Self help and political action

• Prof Brian Costar

• Dr Dennis Woodward

• Dr Andy Butfoy

• Dr Dennis Woodward

Great power cooperative management of regional conflict: A new theoretical approach (Dr Andy Butfoy/Dr Richard Devetak) (PhD)

• Dr Andy Butfoy
• Dr Richard Devetak

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn

• Dr Paul James

• Dr Paul James

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Dr Paul James

Governing in a bicameral system: Victoria 1982-1992

• Associate Professor Brian Costar

• Prof David Goldsworthy

• Dr Paul James

• Dr Dennis Woodward

• Dr Dennis Woodward
• Dr Pak Lee (external)

PhD

• Dr Dennis Woodward

• Dr Andy Butfoy

• Assoc Prof Brian Costar
• Prof. Jim Walter

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn

• Dr Andy Butfoy

• Dr Ray Nichols

The living of the real: Hegelian Marxism and the re-inventing of the emancipatory imagination

• Dr Michael Janover
• Prof. Andrew Milner

A platform worth fighting for: A study of Federal Labor governments and their success in pursuing and implementing the Federal platform from 1901-1949

• Dr Dennis Woodward

• Dr Michael Janover

The globalisation(s) of organized labour: 1860-2003

• Prof. Paul James
• Dr Richard Devetak

• Dr Andy Butfoy

Heirs of eternal liberalism: The third way from Australia to Britain

• Dr Nick Economou
• Prof. Carl Bridge

• Asoc Prof Brian Costar

• Prof Alastair Davidson

• Dr Pete Lentini

The historical legacies of Malaysia-Singapore relations

• Dr Paul James
• Dr Andy Butfoy

• Dr Paul James

Questioning politics: Heidegger and the understanding of the political

• Dr Michael Janover

• Dr Chris Reus-Smit

• Dr Dennis Woodward
• Prof. Paul James

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Prof David Goldsworthy

• Prof. David Goldsworthy

Public power in a global age: A critical analysis of liberal governance

• Dr Andy Butfoy
• Dr Robyn Eckersley

Serving young Islamic Indonesian women: The development of gender discourse in Nasyiatul Aisyiyah 1965-2005 (Associate Professor Susan Blackburn/Dr Anita Harris) (PhD) 2006

• Associate Professor Susan Blackburn
• Dr Anita Harris

Citizenship and territoriality: A historical examination of attempts to detach citizenship from territorial political structures (Dr Andy Butfoy/)(PhD ) 2006

• Dr Andy Butfoy
• Dr Chris Reus-Smit

• Dr Andy Butfoy

For those who can climb? A critique of the instrumental rationalisation of mass education and its relationship to democratic citizenship

• Dr Paul James

• Dr Paul James

• Dr Paul James
• Dr Michael Janover