Aborigines: A ‘Genuinely Benevolent’ Genocide?
Seminar
Is genocide confined to totalitarian despots? Or can good colonists and decent democrats commit the crime? Historian Sir Keith Hancock once wrote that Australian democratic state has been ‘genuinely benevolent’, shedding but an ‘economical tear’ about Aboriginal dispossession. We need to discuss…
How East Asians View a Rising China
Seminar
China’s regional and global rise has had profound economic, political and security implications. In particular, Beijing has both taken new, robust initiatives in the international economy and stepped-up its activities in maritime East Asia. From the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to…
Equilibrium Veto Players: Veto Institutions, Cabinet Formation and Institutional Change
Seminar
The paper explores the conditions under which institutional veto players such as upper houses can be influential in parliamentary and semi-presidential systems without being subject to substantial reform pressures themselves. We argue that institutions with equal absolute veto power differ…
Sparing Civilians
Seminar
In this talk, I will be running over the central themes of my book, Sparing Civilians (OUP 2015). I'll start by introducing the norm that protects civilians in war, and then explain how recent military practice, as well as trends in contemporary just war theory, have put the protection of…
Design Weaknesses in American Presidential Elections
Seminar
The 2016 presidential election will be held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November and until then most attention will focus on the two nominees. But there are more enduring issues. The electoral system's poor designs compromise the results. One problem is a lack of uniformity. There are…
The Good Hegemon: How the United States Helps People to Hold the Multilateral Development Banks to Account
Seminar
In 1994 the World Bank created a precedent under international law, opening itself up to being held to account by people negatively affected by the projects it finances in developing countries. It was the first time that a universal international organisation (IO) recognised that it had a non-…
An Analytical Theory of Just Market Exchange
Seminar
The problem of moral sensibility as a source for political preference is widely discussed. This paper presents a parametric model for comparing differences in a particularly salient moral conception: the importance of disparity or inequality in bargaining position as a source of…