Australian Journal of International Affairs

@austjia

Flagship academic journal of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. Publisher: Taylor & Francis Editors-in-Chief: Profs.Joanne Wallis & Tim Legrand (Adelaide University) Website:

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Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 13d

🚨New online: this discussion piece by Akbari & True examines the normalisation of gender apartheid in Afghanistan & how this has intensified insecurity, crises, and instability in the region. ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing

ABSTRACT
Five years after the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan, gender apartheid has been consolidated into a comprehensive system of political, social, economic and legal control that extends beyond the restrictions imposed during Taliban rule between 1996 and
2001. This gender-based system is enforced because it serves critical political functions for Taliban rule, bolstering both internal cohesion and ideological legitimacy. Using the framework of gendered multilevel games, we examine how gender apartheid has become the organising logic of Taliban governance and assess the role of diplomacy and humanitarian engagement in sustaining or challenging this system. While the de facto authority has institutionalised gender apartheid, international responses have vacillated between condemnation, engagement and accommodation, contributing to the consolidation of this system. Diplomatic engagement with a de facto regime that systematically excludes women from public and political life presents myriad dilemmas. The normalisation of gender apartheid has deepened the humanitarian and economic crises, intensified insecurity, and negatively impacted the stability of the region.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 13d

🚨New online: this paper asks, how does ASEAN manage strategic competition and promote stability between opposing great powers? The authors propose it does so as a buffer institution, sustained by its diplomatic culture. ⬇️ #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
The geopolitical developments over the last decade in the Indo-Pacific have signalled increasing competition between China and the US, affecting regional security. For the smaller and weaker regional states, especially the members of ASEAN, the growing China-US rivalry is concerning due to the potential for conflict and the rearming of major powers' Southeast Asian military partners. This paper asks how ASEAN manages strategic
competition and promotes stability between opposing great powers? Drawing upon the English School of International Relations, we propose the concept of a buffer institution and apply it to understand ASEAN's role and position in the dynamic geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region. While the existing literature has defined territories separating two conflicting powers as buffers, our study modifies this definition, arguing that a buffer institution is a regional society of sovereign states that builds order amid contestation between two great powers. ASEAN'S potential as a buffer institution in the China-US competition is sustained by its diplomatic culture and experience in managing relations among great powers inclusively.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 13d

🚨Latest edition has dropped! Articles on Laws of War; Gender Equality & Climate Change; Regional Orgs & Voting Cohesion; Pacific Islands Sovereignty; Foreign Policy in 🇰🇷& 🇨🇳#AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky # www.tandfonline.com/toc/caji20/c...

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 24d

🚨In this excellent discussion paper, Sione Tekiteki queries conceptions of Pacific regionalism. Are there different conceptions about what Pacific regionalism is intended to achieve & what should regional institutional design do? ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky

ABSTRACT
Pacifc regionalism has historically coordinated sovereign diversity while projecting Pacific agency outward through international law and diplomacy. Contemporary geopolitical competition is once again recasting regionalism as a project of institutional integration, in which Pacific governments coordinate their own future conduct through regional security arrangements. This these
article argues that these reflect fundamentally different conceptions of Pacific regionalism. Rather than asking how far the Pacific should integrate, it suggests that the more important question is how Pacific states can coordinate the exercise of sovereignty in ways that maximise its collective value, preserve strategic flexibility and advance the interests of Pacific peoples.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 24d

🚨Can all middle powers enact a grand strategy beyond multilateralism? In this paper, comparing 🇦🇺 & 🇹🇷,Lavezzo argues that not all middle powers can, and that 🇦🇺&🇨🇳have taken different trajectories. ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky

ABSTRACT
The growing multipolarity urges middle powers to elaborate a grand strategy that balances their regional aspirations with the systemic constraints and enhance their capabilities by relying on the partnership with fellow powers. In this context, middle powers gradually moved away from multilateralism to face great power competition. Aiming to comprehend how middle powers can actually develop a grand strategy beyond multilateralism, and seeking to comprehend whether secondary states are capable of formulating a strategic posture, the paper expands Ramon Pacheco Pardo's framework to examine whether all middle powers possess the capacity to enact a grand strategy.
Reconstructing the Turkish and Australian posture in the great power competition, respectively the Euro-Russian rivalry for Ankara and United States (US)-China rivalry for Canberra, the paper compares the grand strategy developed by the two middle powers. Arguing that not all middle powers are capable of enacting a grand strategy, the paper contends that while Turkey has embraced a transactionalist grand strategy that aims to take advantage of the rivalry to enhance its status, on the other hand, Australia has followed a US-based minilateralism, accepting the constraints of its status and capacity to the Sino-American rivalry.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 24d

🚨New online: have Taiwan and India developed the preconditions favourable for the development of an entente commerciale? Tkach and Banerjee argue "yes" and discuss its contours and nature. ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing

ABSTRACT
We argue that India and Taiwan have developed preconditions favourable for the development of an entente relationship.
Ententes necessitate a common threat from a state, economic integration, and a security relationship between the states. China serves as the mutual antagonist, and the countries established cooperative informal diplomatic frameworks to facilitate economic cross-investment. We utilise the states' cell phone production cooperation as the entente's economic expression.
Mutual benefits are evident in cell phone manufacturing: India's economy provides economies of scale and reduced labour costs, and Taiwan's advanced manufacturing capabilities enable precision manufacturing. These economic ties lay the foundation for broader cooperation. The nascent aspect of entente cooperation is national security policy. We contend that sustained economic collaboration fosters trust and institutional familiarity, enabling informal defense cooperation. We evaluate cooperative steps both states have taken in the defense arena, demonstrating how mutual antagonist China, economic ties, and budding security coordination are creating an entente.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· 24d

🚨New online: Kim and Shin analyse domestic public opinion about 🇨🇳amongst the publics of U.S allies in the Asia-Pacific region, finding increasing anti-🇨🇳 sentiment, and presenting the context for these dynamics. ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky

ABSTRACT
Drawing on the alliance and identity politics literature, we argue that as the U.S.-China tensions intensify, citizens of U.S. allies tend to hold more negative views against China. This is because the strategic competition between the two powers reinforces the perceptual foundation of shared identity, amplifying perceived threats to national security and economic interests as well as values shared between the U.S. and its allies. For the same reason, we further expect public views toward China and the U.S. to be conversely related among citizens of U.S. allies as the bilateral competition grows. We test our propositions in the Asia-Pacific region, where the U.S. has several allies and its tensions with China are most acute. By analyzing the Gallup World Poll (2006-2022) and Asian Barometer Survey (Wave 3-5), we show that as the U.S.-China tensions intensify, citizens of U.S. allies tend to exhibit less favorability toward China as well as contrasting attitudes toward the two powers. However, such patterns are less likely to appear among those living in non-allies. This study provides not only theoretical implications for the study of foreign public opinion but also important policy suggestions.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 14

🚨New online: "Why has China's overwhelming economic leverage over North Korea... failed to produce the market-oriented reforms Beijing has sought for three decades?" Marco Mari presents "The Paektu factor". ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #OpenAccess

ABSTRACT
Why has China's overwhelming economic leverage over North Korea—over 90 per cent of Pyongyang's foreign trade—failed to produce the market-oriented reforms Beijing has sought for three decades? This paper introduces the Paektu factor: the interaction effect produced when a personalist autocracy with an existential commitment to dynastic survival confronts a patron whose own strategic interests preclude the credible use of coercion. Two mechanisms carry most of the explanatory weight: China's inability to credibly threaten withdrawal from a regime whose collapse would damage its own security interests, and the Kim regime's narrow winning coalition, which makes resistance to structural opening a rational survival strategy. Tracing Beijing's Sunshine Policy with Chinese Characteristics across 1996-2025, the paper shows that while marketisation occurred from below and was partially institutionalised under Kim Jong-un's 'market Leninism', the regime consistently absorbed economic activity without permitting the structural opening that would have empowered alternative power centres. The COVID-19 border closure demonstrated the regime's willingness to endure near-autarky to preserve political control; the Russia pivot restored a dual-patron architecture that further diluted China's influence.
The Paektu factor represents a structural constraint on external influence that conventional models of economic statecraft systematically underestimate.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 14

🚨 New online: in this discussion piece, Madhav Joshi presents 5 shifts in international peace building practices which underlie recent increases in armed conflict and the slower implementation of peacebuilding processes.⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicSky

ABSTRACT
With 57 ongoing intrastate armed conflicts around the world, 2024 was one of the deadliest years. The end of the Cold War was followed by two relatively peaceful decades, as peace process settlements ended numerous armed conflicts. Since the early 2010s, the onset and persistence rates of armed conflict have been significantly higher than their termination rates, indicating a decline in peace agreements. This article examines five shifts in international peacebuilding practices driving this trend: a pivot in US foreign policy from peacebuilding to statebuilding, the decline in multilateral solutions to armed conflicts, an increase in
religious conflicts and a lack of culturally informed mediation support, a well-intended emphasis on inclusive peace processes that are practically difficult to implement, and a slower
implementation pace of the most recent peace agreements. The concluding section explores what could lie ahead for
peacebuilding and peace processes.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 14

🚨New online: Hur and Sur chart the evolution of China & Japan's strategic partnerships with ASEAN & discuss ASEAN's proactive role in maintaining its strategic independence. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #ASEAN

ABSTRACT
How have the strategic partnerships between China and Japan with
ASEAN transformed since the end of the Cold War, and what drives the divergence in their respective trajectories? This paper revisits the dominant account of great-power rivalry, contending that the evolution of these relationships is fundamentally influenced by changing perceptions held by both the major powers and by ASEAN itself, especially in relation to regional stability and economic priorities.
The study identifies two distinct
developmental paths. The China-ASEAN partnership reached a
'full partnership' status before subsequently shifting back to an
'economic partnership', as growing security tensions have eclipsed their strong economic linkages. In contrast, the Japan-ASEAN relationship has gradually progressed toward a 'full partnership, propelled by Japan's alignment of its 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' (FOIP) strategy with ASEAN's Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP). Ultimately, this paper highlights ASEAN'S proactive role in guiding its external relations. Rather than remaining simply a passive setting, ASEAN strategically employs its institutional mechanisms and guiding principles, such as ASEAN centrality, to influence its partnerships and safeguard its strategic independence. The findings highlight that an adequate understanding of ASEAN's own policy considerations is critical for any thorough analysis of East Asia's changing regional architecture.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 2

Teachers & readers interested in 🇦🇺foreign policy: please check out our new special virtual collection, which compiles the best recent scholarship published in the journal on Oz FP. Editorial intro and link full collection avail here: tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky

A picture of the opening words of the introduction of the virtual special collection, entitled "Teaching Australian foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific in an era of power diffusion: an introduction to a special collection," by Jack Butcher.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 2

🚨New online: Haddon and Killingsworth analyse the dehumanisation of Afghans by 🇦🇺special forces & how this resulted in non-compliance with the laws of war on the ground. #OpenAccess #InternationalLaw #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky ⬇️ tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

ABSTRACT
The Brereton Report, and the subsequent establishment of an Office of the Special Investigator (OSI) to review the findings of the Afghanistan Inquiry present an opportunity for international relations theory to interrogate a series of complex relationships between violence and justice as they relate to: (a) the gap between acknowledged benefits of adherence with the laws of war, and a failure of battlefield effectiveness of these laws; (b) the powerful influence of transnationally constituted discourse of Afghans and Afghanistan on the actions of Special Forces personal; and (c) the International Criminal Court (ICC) as a factor informing the decision to establish the OSl. Through application of the English School of International Relations, we demonstrate that while the Australian Government's behaviour has been conditioned by the laws of war, the embeddedness of their soldiers in alternative transnational discourses about Afghans (as a people) and Afghanistan (as a place) resulted in non-
compliance and a lack of effectiveness 'on the ground'. Drawing on evidence from existing studies, the news media, and the Brereton Report, we argue that Afghans were subject to racial dehumanisation by members of the Special Operations Task Group (SOTG), and this dehumanisation was an important factor in a series of interacting variables that led to the allegations in the report.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 2

🚨New online: Crandell and Stephenson examine the nexus between gender equality and climate action & argue that "Australia’s policy record on the gender-climate nexus at a domestic level is woefully inadequate." #OpenAccess #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing ⬇️ tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

$ABSTRACT Fragmented climate governance undermines both gender equality and climate action. Yet, despite growing international expectations for gender-responsive climate action, many states' substantive attempts to address the gender-climate nexus in foreign policy is unmatched in domestic policy. Why do states adopt markedly different approaches to the same global issue across foreign and domestic policy? This paper aims to explore gender and climate change policy divergence in a key, under-studied context: Australia. Employing a comparative content analysis of six federal policies spanning both domestic and foreign policy domains, the paper sets forth an original conceptual framework drawing off feminist institutionalism, norm translation theory, and strategic narrative theory to explain how institutional conditions "sift" international norms into divergent policy outcomes. Drawing on metaphor and conceptualised as the "Janus Sieve" ", this two-faced approach to the gender-climate nexus offers a transferable framework for tracing how international norms are refracted through institutional filters and transformed into policy outputs. Findings demonstrate that whilst projecting an image of gender-responsive climate policy internationally, underpinned by Australia's robust gender credentials, Australia's policy record on the gender-climate nexus at a domestic level is woefully inadequate. These trends may have broader resonance with other contexts globally grappling with such domestic-foreign policy dissonance.$

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jul 2

🚨New online: Susan Hutchinson analyses the experiences of Afghan women seeking refuge in 🇦🇺 & finds gaps in 🇦🇺's moral and legal responsibilities towards Afghan women. #OpenAccess #InternationalRelations #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... ⬇️

ABSTRACT
This paper examines the Department of Home Affairs' implementation of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda through the experiences of Afghan women seeking refuge in Australia. Drawing on practitioner reflections and case studies from advocacy work supporting hundreds of high-risk Afghan women, it critically analyses the extent to which visa policies and processes address the intersecting vulnerabilities of displaced women. The paper situates this analysis within the broader feminist frameworks, highlighting how security institutions operationalise WPS commitments. Quantitative data and
qualitative cases reveal systemic shortcomings in Australia's humanitarian, family reunion, community sponsorship, and skilled refugee labour pathways, including delays, restrictive eligibility criteria, and inadequate prioritisation of high-risk women including widows, young women, and human rights defenders.
These gaps contravene Australia's obligations under CEDAW
General Recommendation 30 and undermine the stated goals of the National Action Plan on WPS. The paper argues that addressing these institutional failings requires gender-sensitive reforms to visa processing, recommitment to allocations of Woman at Risk visas, recognition of intersectional vulnerabilities, and removal of structural barriers to resettlement. In doing so, it contributes to scholarship on displacement within the WPS agenda and underscores Australia's moral and legal
responsibilities towards Afghan women after two decades of international intervention.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! "Beyond recognition: the adaptive association model and postcolonial sovereignty from the Cook Islands and Niue to New Caledonia", by Muhamet Brajshori. ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
This article presents the Adaptive Association Model (AAM) to explain how non-sovereign polities in free association can establish international legal personality and diplomatic agency in the absence of full statehood or United Nations membership. Utilising the Cook Islands and Niue as case studies, it delineates four mechanisms (selective engagement, contextual
sovereignty,
institutional pragmatism, and systemic adaptability) through which functional sovereignty manifests. The article places the AAM within three domains of international relations scholarship: non-standard sovereignty, small states and partial independence,
and
performative approaches to statehood. It contends that free association, when it involves authentic transfers of sovereign competencies and facilitates independent institutional participation,
represents a sustainable and legitimate form of post-colonial self-determination rather than a temporary deviation. The New Caledonian case exemplifies a negative comparator, underscoring the model's limitations in the absence of its structural conditions. In general, the article goes beyond binary ideas of sovereignty and adds to discussions about graduated and functional sovereignty.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! A discussion paper by Ghulam Shabbir, "The United States between deterrence and disengagement: strategic ambiguity in the Middle East". ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
This discussion examines the evolving posture of the United States in the Middle East, focusing on the tension between deterrence and disengagement that increasingly defines its strategic ambiguity. It builds on the recent scholarly work and the policymaking discourse to posit that the current American policy is based on having a complicated combination of forward military presence, a periodically coercive approach, diplomatic signalling, and constantly proclaiming strategic retrenchment. This ambiguity is no longer evident as an intensely tailored doctrine, as in the context of deep Iran-Israel confrontation, maritime insecurity, and proxy warfare over the region, but rather as a structural provision of US strength. According to the latest studies of Gulf politics, force posture in CENTCOM, and the post-2025 Iran-Israel crisis, the United States has been deeply entrenched in regional security despite the seeming lesser influence on regional outcomes as compared to previous times. Strategic ambiguity might carry the short-term cost of maintaining flexibility, though it is prone to miscalculation by enemies and unilateralism by allies. Rather than stabilising the Middle East, the uneasy coexistence of deterrence and disengagement risks producing a more volatile regional order in which the United States is neither fully present nor meaningfully absent.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! "Trusted allies or friends with benefits? Instrumental ambivalence in Filipinos’ public appraisal of China", by Rogelio Panao and Ranjit Rye. ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
This paper examines how citizens in asymmetric relationships evaluate powerful states that simultaneously present economic opportunities and strategic risks. Focusing on the Philippines, we distinguish between perceptions of dependability, understood as expectations of consistent behaviour, and trust, defined as beliefs about long-term intentions under uncertainty. Drawing on seven waves of nationally representative survey conducted between early 2023 and mid-2024, we argue that these evaluations are anchored in domestic foreign policy performance, which serves as a key interpretive lens in the absence of direct access to diplomatic processes or foreign intentions. Our findings reveal a pattern of instrumental ambivalence. Higher satisfaction with government performance is associated with lower perceptions of China's dependability but higher levels of trust in its long-term trajectory. This divergence reflects attribution to domestic competence alongside greater willingness to engage under perceived state capacity, highlighting the multidimensional nature of public attitudes under asymmetry.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! "Navigating the twin risks in alliance dilemma: South Korea's foreign policy during US-DPRK nuclear crises", by Kimberly Peh, Soul Park, and Seung Joon Paik. @soulpark.bsky.social ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
How do weaker states in an asymmetric alliance simultaneously manage the risks of entrapment and abandonment? Research on alliance management largely focuses on how stronger states manage entrapment while weaker states address abandonment.
Such arguments reflect the military imbalance and the relative dependence between asymmetric allies. However, weaker allies can fear both entrapment and abandonment simultaneously when the former threatens their interests and security. To understand how they navigate the competing risks within the alliance, we argue that weaker allies would cautiously act as conflict managers by coordinating with allies while advancing peaceful alternatives, garnering support from the international community, and offering inducements to the adversary to incentivize negotiations. We demonstrate our argument by analyzing South Korea's behaviours throughout three crises involving the US and North Korea in the post-Cold War era.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! "Voting cohesion in the UNGA: do do regional organisations enhance member states’ unity beyond regional affinities?" by Thijs Stegeman. ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations

ABSTRACT
While voting cohesion within regional organisations (ROs) has been the subject of many papers, particularly regarding ASEAN and the EU, studies frequently overlook the broader regional context.
However, to understand if foreign policy coordination is successful, it is important to know if voting cohesion within the region is already high due to common regional affinities and interests, or if it is indeed due to successful foreign policy coordination. This paper aims to answer this question by comparing voting cohesion of six ROs, ASEAN, CARICOM, EU, AL, Mercosur, and SAARC to each other as well as their cohesion when including regional non-member states. In doing so, it finds that the gap between voting cohesion of the AL and the EU and their respective regions is widest, while it is negligible concerning the CARICOM and Mercosur. It also brings forth further evidence for successful coordination in the EU and the AL in the face of divisive issues and enlargement and shows how cohesion within ASEAN at first increased compared to its region, but the gap has tightened in the last decades, regardless of its institutionalisation of foreign policy in 2007.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! Yue Wu, "Unravelling the role of foreign aid in Chinese diplomacy under the Xi administration". ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations

ABSTRACT
Foreign aid is a vital tool for Chinese diplomacy. Since President Xi Jinping took office, the Chinese government has changed its diplomatic paradigm. Nevertheless, existing studies have not thoroughly explored how foreign aid's role in Chinese diplomacy has evolved during Xi's presidency. This paper uses neoclassical realism in international relations theory to analyse and clarify these shifts. It finds that since 2013, China has used foreign aid to bolster the Belt and Road Initiative, promote a transformation toward international development cooperation, and align with the Global Development Initiative, responding to systemic stimuli and perceived threats. These results highlight the interrelated and evolving relationship between foreign aid and Chinese diplomacy in the Xi era, with foreign aid adjusting to meet the changing needs and goals of Chinese diplomacy. These findings indicate that adopting a dynamic perspective-integrating systemic and state-level variables—is necessary for a comprehensive analysis of Chinese diplomacy and foreign aid. In brief, this paper deepens understanding of the evolving role of foreign aid in Chinese diplomacy during President Xi's era, rather than treating it as a static diplomatic tool, and fills a gap in existing research on the Xi administration's foreign aid in this regard.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Jun 4

🚨New online! Chris Deacon, "Remembering otherwise: Japanese and South Korean counter-memories of colonial history and the transformation of the history problem". #OpenAccess ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
Contested memory of the history of Japanese imperialism has frequently been identified as a crucial theme of East Asian international politics. National collective memories, and the identities they constitute, are posed as conflicting in their narratives of this history and its political implications, causing diplomatic clashes. In making these arguments,
however,
International Relations scholarship often assumes the existence of a singular collective memory within each state. While allowing for a causal explanation of the East Asian 'history problem' at the inter-state level, this tendency misses the more complex, contested terrain of memory politics within each state and implies a fixity to their strained relations. In contrast, this article considers counter-memories of colonial history that contest mainstream constructions within East Asian states and theorises their potential to transform the history problem. Focusing on Japan-South Korea relations, it draws on observational fieldwork and textual analysis of activist museums, political protests and popular literature in both countries to analyse alternative historical narratives concerning wartime forced labour and the
'comfort women', their contestation of the mainstream, and their potential to transform the status quo of bilateral relations. In doing so, the article opens avenues to theorising alternative future pathways for East Asian international politics.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· May 1

🚨New online: "Teaching Australian Foreign Policy in the Indo-Pacific in an era of power diffusion: an introduction to a special collection", by Jack Butcher. The special collection is also edited by Jack Butcher. #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... ⬇️

Features a screenshot of the opening paragraph of the editorial

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Apr 17

🚨The latest download metrics have dropped! We are greatly encouraged by the impressive growth in readership. The editorial team sends thanks to our board members, reviewers, authors, @tandfresearch.bsky.social, and of course, our readers. #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing

Graphic showing the last 4 sets of download metrics for Q1, which are 40,243 downloads in Q1 of 2023; 49,934 in Q1 of 2025; 79,555 for Q1 of 2025; and 140,622 for Q1 of 2026.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Apr 17

🚨New online: a discussion paper by Joshi and Sullivan provide data to show that the international community has gradually disengaged with issues relating to Afghan women's rights. #OpenAccess ⬇️ #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda has provided a gendered governance framework for conflict prevention and international peacebuilding for the last twenty-five years. Under the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, women and girls face 'gender apartheid, including bans on education and employment, exclusion from public spaces, and widespread gender-based violence. This discussion presents data on the international community's interactions with the Taliban collected across three phases from February 2020 to October 2025. The data covers a range of peace processes and governance issues, highlighting how the international community gradually eased out of issues related to Afghan women and their rights, which has been a normative commitment of the international community. While the WPS norms currently face global challenges, research shows that gender-inclusive policies increasingly improve governance, peace, and stability. Recommitting to the WPS agenda in Afghanistan offers the best chance to improve governance, peace, and stability, while also allowing the international community to prioritise Afghan women's rights in its
engagement with the Taliban.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Apr 17

🚨New online! Jaknanihan analyses Southeast Asia's "distinct approach to geoeconomics" in "Why is economic interdependence not weaponised? Security constraints on geoeconomic coercion in Southeast Asia". #AcademicSky #AcademicPublishing #InternationalRelations www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

ABSTRACT
The rise of geoeconomics has turned international trade into an arena of interstate competition. This study analyses why Southeast Asian countries have refrained from weaponising their economic policies against other countries despite rising geoeconomic tensions globally. Drawing on the concept of comprehensive security, it argues that Southeast Asia's integration into the global economy has significantly elevated security costs and weakened institutional capacity of the state in weaponising their economic policies. This transformation makes economic coercion runs counter to the comprehensive yet inward-looking understanding of security in the region, where maintaining open and stable economic ties plays a crucial role in ensuring the survival of ruling regimes. The potential disruption to established economic ties risks undermining the economic performance that has become the primary source of political legitimacy and support from political coalitions of the ruling leaders, which is maintained through clientelistic relations with political and business elites. This study contributes by analysing the complex interplay between regional economic integration and changing domestic political configuration that shape Southeast Asia's distinct approach to geoeconomics.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Mar 27

🚨New online! Yong Sub Choi argues that 🇯🇵strategic agency is still constrained by and embedded in 🇺🇸regional primacy. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #AcademicPublishing #AcademicSky #InternationalRelations #ForeignPolicy #Japan ⬇️

ABSTRACT
This article examines the validity of characterising contemporary
Japanese foreign policy as ‘proactive’ by analysing Tokyo’s
recalibration towards North Korea following the 2018 US – North
Korea Singapore Summit. While recent scholarship often
highlights Japan’s increased diplomatic activism and institutional
centralisation under Shinzo Abe as evidence of foreign policy
‘proactivity’, this study argues that Japan’s foreign policy remains
fundamentally constrained by its security dependence on the
United States. By process-tracing Japan’s abrupt abandonment of
its long-standing ‘abduction-first’ precondition in response to
Washington’s diplomatic pivot, the article demonstrates how
visible activism can be driven by a structural need to preserve
alliance cohesion and avoid marginalisation. The findings suggest
that the proactive – reactive dichotomy is an epistemological
barrier that obscures the alliance-embedded character of Japan’s
strategic agency. The study contends that Japan’s regional
initiatives remain pre-committed to a ‘rules-based order’ whose credibility is tied to US regional primacy.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Mar 16

🚨New online! Also destined for our upcoming special edition on Australian Diplomacy Today - Cameron Hill's discussion paper on 🇦🇺 aid capability. #OpenAccess ⬇️ #AcademicPublishing #InternationalRelations #InternationalPolitics #Aid www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....

ABSTRACT
Australia’s development cooperation program presents one of its
most practical foreign policy tools for responding to ongoing
global disruption and engaging with regional partners on joint
problem-solving over the long-term. However, despite the
Albanese government asking more of the development program
than at any time in its recent history, it has pursued relatively
modest improvements to DFAT’s aid capability. As a result, this
capability remains diminished. Pursuing ‘development with depth’
will require a more systematic and sustained approach. Pending
an independent assessment, I suggest several measures to boost
Australia’s development capability. These measures encompass
strengthening aid effectiveness and oversight arrangements,
boosting the role of DFAT’s locally-engaged development staff,
working more closely with both established and emerging donor
partners, and maintaining domestic support through enhanced
public and parliamentary engagement in Australia.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Mar 16

🚨We are working on a themed edition on "Australian Diplomacy Today". Here is a discussion piece slated for that special edition, by Jane Hardy. #AcademicPublishing #InternationalRelations #Diplomacy www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... ⬇️

ABSTRACT
Words matter. Messages with consistency, clarity and purpose can be powerful tools to shape positions, policies and political agendas. Diplomatic messaging has always been an essential tool of statecraft. Hundreds of official statements are publicly released by Australian leaders and ministers each year. Crafted by diplomats and their colleagues in defence, economic and other relevant portfolios, these statements can be ‘quiet achievers’ to shape perceptions globally, even if not garnering much media attention at the time.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Mar 16

🚨New online! Pan & Song discuss the "limitations of assumed natural partnership between middle powers" in "Symmetric concern and asymmetric attention: strategic convergence & divergence in Australia-Korea relationships". #OpenAccess #AcademicPublishing ⬇️ www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

ABSTRACT
This article examines the Australia–Korea relationship through the lens of asymmetric attention, revealing how two middle powers navigate similar external pressures while demonstrating divergent priorities. Despite sharing structural vulnerabilities—security dependence on the United States and economic interdependence with China—Australia and Korea exhibit markedly different approaches to their bilateral engagement. Empirical evidence reveals that Australia views Korea as integral to its broader Indo-Pacific strategy and middle power coalition-building, while Korea remains primarily focused on peninsula security concerns, viewing the relationship in more functional terms, positioning Australia’s strategic foci as secondary priorities. This asymmetry manifests across multiple dimensions—media coverage, government statements, academic research, and diplomatic engagement—and reflects fundamentally different conceptions of key concepts like the Indo-Pacific, middle power identity, and regional stability. The theoretical framework developed here explains why middle powers facing similar systemic pressures may still develop mismatched expectations and priorities in their bilateral relations. This research contributes to both asymmetry studies and middle power discourse by demonstrating how attention serves as a strategic asset in international relations and highlighting the limitations of assumed natural partnerships between middle powers in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific.

Australian Journal of International Affairs@austjia· Mar 16

🚨New online! Boucher and Gunaydin, "Opening the black box of international human rights enforceability through the study of migrant rights". #OpenAccess #AcademicPublishing #InternationalLaw #InternationalRelations #HumanRights www.tandfonline.com/doi/epdf/10....