Postgraduate student profiles

Current PhD candidates

Aflah Al-Harrasi
The role of sociocultural dynamics in the rise and the fall of Oman's Imamate (1913–1959)

Brock Anderson
The rise of right-wing exclusive nationalism on social media in Aotearoa New Zealand

Morgan Edwards
And the Cradle Will Rock: The Genesis of and Continued Adherence to the ‘Full Funding Rule’ in New Zealand post-1984

Josh Gummer
An Interdisciplinary History of New Zealand’s Choices Regarding National and Regional Security following the Second World War 1945-1977

Mhd Hosam Hafez
The interactional political aspects of the Syrian crisis

Geoffrey Miller
New Zealand's relations with the Gulf since 9/11

Liam Schwarz
The compatibility of particular nationalisms with European Union membership and identity

Michael Swanson
The Opposition in New Zealand's Political System

Kulani Wijayabahu
Agency and Asymmetry: Belt Road Initiative and China's relations with Malaysia, Myanmar and Sri Lanka

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduates

2024

Sumaiya Al-Wahaibi
The new "state-society relations": the dynamics of gendered politics in Oman

Rachel Billington – Thesis is recognised by the Division of Humanities as being of exceptional quality
"Social media gave me my life." Recognition, adolescence, and political identity in the algorithmic era: Coming of age online in Aotearoa New Zealand

Danella Glass
Transnational network rivalry in a domestic environment: normative contestation over sexual and reproductive health in Uganda

Joshua James
"We're here, we're queer, we're fascist! Get used to it." Identity conflict in the homosexual radical right (with Gender Studies) 

Kina Kunz
Navigating the rise of China: An analysis of the foreign policy decision-making of Japan and South Korea 

Héloïse Vertadier
The global governance challenges of establishing human settlements on the moon

Dmitry Zavialov
Modes of argument in international relations: The role of whataboutisms and tu quoques

2023

Omotola Amusan
Neomercantilism as a geoeconomic strategy: China’s quest for national rejuvenation, 1978-2021

Elle Joy (Elena Dibrova)
You don't belong here: othering of LGBT+ people as part of hegemonic national identity in contemporary Russia

Onat Isik
Reconciling the present with the past? The interface of domestic and international factors in Putin's foreign policy 1999-2016

Hizkia Respatiadi
The pursuit of food self-sufficiency in Indonesia: Food-trade policy preferences during the administrations of Yudhoyono (2004-2014) and Widodo (2014-present)

Okan Tan
Turkey’s constitutional transformation in the twenty-first century

Jessica Valisa
Pro-Russian discourse of the Italian far-right online. A case study of the reception of strategic narratives 

Ryan Webb
Still prevailing in the post-Cold War era? The strategic application of Clausewitz's trinity of war to conflicts in Iraq and Syria and implications for the debate between the Clausewitzian Trinitarians and the anti-Clausewitzians 

2022

Carmen Fulco
Change Capacity and the Organised Islāmiyyūn: A comparative Case of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and al-Nahda's Organisational Dynamics in the Post-Uprisings Period (2011–2020)

Peter Grace
The Intel Intellectuals. How social scientists helped legitimise the Central Intelligence Agency. 1950–1953

William Marti
American foreign policy power in the post-cold war era: The experience of the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations

Phuong H Vu
Authoritarian audience costs, protests and signalling resolve

2020

Budi Annisa Sidi – Thesis recognised by the Division of Humanities as being of exceptional quality
Unity and diversity: National identity and multiculturalism in Indonesia 2020

László Szöllősi-Cira
Normative Foreign Policy – The Kiwi Way: To What Extent Has New Zealand Been Acting as Norm Entrepreneur in the Areas of Nuclear Free Policy and Promoting Free Trade? 2020

Paul Winter
Atomic reactions: How and why states respond to nuclear proliferation

2019

Arshad Ali
Uneasy Co-existence: Pakistan's National Security Approach and the Post-Cold War Security Environment

Can Cinar
Debt and default from a post-Keynesian perspective: a historical case study of the Argentine puzzle

2018

Olumuyiwa Amao
From Freetown to Kinshasa: Reassessing Nigeria and South Africa's Foreign Policy Behaviour and Conflict Intervention Roles in Africa

Carolijn van Noort
The Strategic Narratives of the BRICS: A Coherent Story?

2017

Chris Meikle
Ethical Norm Promotion in European Union Foreign Policy: Responding to the Arab Uprisings in the Southern Neighbourhood

Darryn Russell
Contemporary Rangatiratanga: Do Treaty settlements enable rangatira to exercise rangatiratanga?

Nilay Baycar Aydogan
Democratisation Progress in Turkey Under the Justice and Development Party 2002 to 2014

Del Carlini
The Politics of Military Adaptation: The Development of a Theoretical Framework to Explain Military Adaptation's Importance to Politics

Luca J Uberti – Thesis recognised by the Division of Humanities as being of exceptional quality
Good Governance, Corruption and Growth: A Political Economy of Post-Socialist Industrial Transformation in Albania and Kosovo, 1998–2015

Nutthathirataa Withitwinyuchon (Jib)
The Trials of Rivalry: Sino-Japanese Relations since the 1910s

Timothy Ferner
Trying to Make Government Accountable: The Case of Whistle-Blowing in the United States Department of Defense

Byron Richards
The Dollar-Wall Street Regime and New Zealand: The Political Implications of Financial Market Liberalisation for Macroeconomic Management in New Zealand, 1994 to 2011 (with Social Anthropology)

Eduardo Abou Ltaif
The Development of Consociational Politics in Lebanon 1825–2015

2016

Eduardo Wassim Aboultaif
The Development of Consociational Politics in Lebanon 1825–2015

Ashley Murchison
Aim for the heart? A study of New Zealand voters' responses to emotional appeals in televised political advertising

2015

Anthony Deos
Digital Diplomacy & Social Capital: Analysing Relational Components of Trust in US & Israeli Online Social Networks

Tadashi Iwami
Japan's Identity in International Society: Constructing Identity as a 'Peacebuilding State'

Laura Southgate
ASEAN and the Sovereignty Principle: Explaining the Dynamics of Resistance to Sovereignty Violation

Eran Zohar
How Rebellious Non-State-Actors acquire weapons

2014

Huseyn Aliyev
The Soviet Legacy and Post‐Communist Civil Society in the Caucasus

2013

Maria Pozza
The International Law and Policy of Outer Space: A New Perspective on Arms Control

Penelope Hayes
The Fifth Labour Government's Growth and Innovation Framework 1999–2006: A Critical Analysis and Evaluation

2012

Joe Burton
NATO after the Cold War: explaining the durability of the Atlantic Alliance in a new global context

Leon Goldsmith
The Politics of Sectarian Insecurity: Alawite 'Asabiyya and the Rise and Decline of the Asad Dynasty of Syria

Onur Oktem
Water Politics and Political Culture: Turkey's Compatibility with the European Union

Reuben Steff
Deterrence, global security and the long road to the deployment of the Bush administration's missile defence system

Mahama Tawat
Two Tales of Viking Diversity: A Comparative Study of the Immigrant Integration Policies of Denmark and Sweden, 1960–2006

Glen Hazelton
Regime Transition and Foreign Policy: The Case of Russia's Approach to Central Asia (1991–2008)

Master of Arts ( MA ) graduates

2022

Morgan Edwards
Have Neoliberal Conceptions of Fiscal and Monetary Policy Exacerbated Wealth and Income Inequality During the Neoliberal Era?

2020

Joshua Ferrer
The Effects of Proportional Representation on Election Lawmaking in Aotearoa New Zealand (with Law)

Joshua James
Understanding the 'Pink' vote in Aotearoa (with Gender Studies)

2019

Sarah Pfander
Can Criminal Justice Systems Harness Restorative Power?  The Impact of Legislative Mandate and Policy Design on the Implementation of Restorative Justice Practices

2018

Rebecca Logan
United In Diversity? Immigration and Opposition to European Integration

Sam McChesney
Eclipse of Courage: Technical Reason and the Limits of Self-Affirming Bravery

Ruby O'Connor
The Role of Ideological Conflict within the Australian Asylum Seeker Debate: A Critical Analysis

2017

John Bailey
The balance of vulnerability and the distribution of fear in East Asia

Joerg Bendt
The Post-Politics of the 2014 New Zealand General Election: A Symptomatic Discourse Analysis

Luke Gardener
The Economic Vote in New Zealand.  An analysis of how macroeconomic conditions and perceptions of the economy affect voter behaviour

2016

Stevie Jepson
Reclaiming utopia and the political imagination: Revisiting Firestone's dialectics of sex

Amee Parker
Democratic Theory and Democratic Education: A New Zealand Case Study

Matthew Stansfield
Justifying RAMSI: Geopolitical reasoning, security and New Zealand's involvement in the Solomon Islands conflict

2015

Ben Loughrey-Webb
The Welfare Reforms of the Fourth (1990-99) and Fifth (2008–14) National Governments: A Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Sandeep Singh
The Role of Identity in India's Expanding Naval Power

2014

Juana Diesing
Social Media: a solution to declining youth engagement in politics?

Amy Lewis
A fractured identity, a fractured democracy: the national facet of Ukraine's transition

Nicolas Pirsoul
The Mapuche Struggle for/of Recognition, Identity and Self-Determination in Chile

2013

David Cooper
Rating Equity in New Zealand's Local Government

2012

Christopher Ford (with History)
High on Aspiration, Low on Implementation: The development and implementation of the New Zealand Disability Strategy

Albert Green
Chipped Jade: Political problems of the Dunedin Town Belt 1900–2010

Josh Hercus
To Vote or Not to Vote: Students' Perceptions and Attitudes Towards National and Local Elections in New Zealand

Elizabeth Soal
The Global Financial Crisis and the Problem of Unemployment: A Regulationist Approach