Interpretive International Relations: Narrative and Explanation (Ian Hall, Griffith University)
Seminar
Interpretivists hold that the social world is a world of meaning. They maintain that social behaviour is best explained in terms of the meanings that actions have for the people who perform them. Interpretivists try to access those meanings – and thereby explain behaviour – by examining agents’…
Piracy, Punishment, and Structural Hermeneutics (Matt Norton, University of Oregon)
Seminar
Hermeneutics is one of the wellsprings of interpretive methods in contemporary social science. The space between biblical interpretation and the interpretation of social life, though, opens wide opportunities and demands for creative developments and elaborations to make hermeneutics a compelling…
Signalling a Mushroom Cloud: Explaining the Effect of Nuclear Signals on Crisis Outcomes
Seminar
When does signaling with nuclear weapons help states achieve their political aims during international crises? Rather than exploring the coercive effect of the background threat of nuclear destruction, this paper develops a military signaling theory of nuclear coercion. The theory argues that…
Why do men support increasing women's representation in politics? Group membership and group attachment in Australia
Seminar
It has been widely found that women are more likely than men to support increasing the presence of women in politics. The general argument stipulates that it is in women’s interest that these policies be adopted and, as such, they are more likely than men to express support. However, this…
Appeasement as a Balancing Strategy
Seminar
Virtually all models of power shifts in international politics have assumed only two actors. In such settings, when expected shifts in power are sufficiently large, conflict becomes very difficult to avoid. This paper demonstrates how the addition of third parties can facilitate peaceful power…
Mapping China's Influence at the United Nations
Seminar
Research explains how powerful states exert influence when staffing the UN system, but how do emerging powers use international civil service contributions to influence multilateral institutions? We use the case of China to explore how emerging powers exerts influence. We focus on the 2010-2019…
Political Elites, Misinformation, and Mobilisation: Evidence from Brazil
Seminar
Misinformation is a growing concern among the public and political elites. Yet we still lack a good understanding of the political effects of misinformation. We argue that misinformation contains politically motivated content that sends unambiguous signals in favor or against a political group,…