menu Menu
6 articles filed in
Political Theory
Previous page Next page

If our underwhelming politicians don’t pass the test, perhaps its time to make them sit one

If our underwhelming politicians don’t pass the test, perhaps its time to make them sit one Originally published by The Conversation, February 16, 2012. [Meritocratic folly. But I still think there’s something in this call to a higher epistocratic standard for politicians in Australia and other countries like it. I am now wondering, too, if there […]

Continue reading


The End of War? Global Citizenship and Changes to Conflict

The End of War? Global Citizenship and Changes to Conflict Originally published December 11, 2011, by the Centre for Strategic Research and Analysis (online March 31, 2014). [In reading about global democracy and its prospects for peace I came to think about how societies have changed, in large part due to technologies relating to media, […]

Continue reading


Gaddafi and Libya – a case for just intervention?

Full militaristic intervention cannot be justified on the grounds that this is a ‘just war’. We are then left with the option to intervene militarily in a smaller way or not to intervene militarily at all.

Gaddafi and Libya – a case for just intervention? Originally published by openDemocracy, April 1, 2011. [This short essay was borne out of an urge to “speak out of” the expression of international democracy that I saw happening in how many people, around the world, were relating to Libyans and vice versa during their moment […]

Continue reading


Democratic Theory and Theoretical Physics

Democratic Theory and Theoretical Physics Originally published by the Taiwan Journal of Democracy, 6(2), 2010. Pp. 1-22. [This journal article was written in the end game of the doctoral thesis I was, at the time, writing whilst an intern at the International Labour Organization in Geneva and, later, at my doctoral alma mater the Queensland […]

Continue reading


Challenging Contemporary 'Democracy' and Identifying Problems

Challenging Contemporary ‘Democracy’ and Identifying Problems Written by Jean-Paul Gagnon and Nicholas Osbaldiston. Originally published by Social Alternatives, 30(3), 2011, Pp. 3-4. [This is the introductory article to the special issue that Nick invited me to join him in curating for Social Alternatives. Note how it takes us a good three paragraphs just to get […]

Continue reading


Nation-state or country-state: how do we discuss belonging in an age of fluidity?

The use of the term "nation-state" confuses current debate around countries, states and nations. We need new rhetorical structures to help us make sense of this age of uncertainty, where the mass movement of individuals has caused the erosion of the homogenous cores around which nation-states around the world were once built.

Nation-state or country-state: how do we discuss belonging in an age of fluidity? Originally published by openDemocracy, April 12, 2011. [I did not think this short essay would spark a debate, but it did. See Michael Gardiner’s counter-argument here. I wrote the essay in a worry over the homogenizing effect of “nationalism”, particularly so as […]

Continue reading



Previous page Next page

keyboard_arrow_up