Environment and Governance

Current project

The UNSW Environment and Governance Research Group has a common focus on improving law, public policy and international cooperation in protecting ecosystems and managing the impact of human-induced environmental change.

Environment & Governance Research Group

We are seeking candidates to work on projects in the following areas:
 

Climate Change and Security

Projects might focus on one or a combination of: the evolving role of the UN Security Council; emerging patterns of environmental insecurity; regional governance and initiatives; Antarctica and the southern ocean; the transformation of defence forces and national security policy; or various approaches to environmental security theory. 

Global Environmental Politics and Governance

Projects might focus on the operations of global environmental politics, law and governance in one of a combination of: climate change; water; fisheries and the marine environment; mining, forestry and other extractive industries; corporate environmental practices and development; biodiversity; planet politics.

Environmental Political and International Theory

Projects might focus on one or a combination of the following areas in environmental political and international theory: planet politics; the Anthropocene; ecological democracy; the green state; post-human politics; climate and environmental ethics; post- and decolonial ecological thought; indigeneity and the environment.

Examples of Current Projects

Reframing Defence Policy: the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) and the Contest of Ideas
add

Andrew Blyth

Supervisor(s) - Professor Tom Frame
 

Description: The function of think tanks remains largely unexplored despite them occupying a unique place on the Australian political landscape for more than eight decades. With some 60 thinks tanks currently attempting to shape government policy, scholars have yet to define the essential features of a think tank, to demarcate their particular roles and functions or to devise effective means for measuring their performance. As think-tanks and their sponsors have devoted more resources to shaping policy and influencing decision-making, there has been much more speculation about their effectiveness and efficiency. Put simply, there is no standard model or consistent approach to evaluating and assessing the performance of think tanks. As the market place of ideas becomes more densely populated with many more scholarly-political-media players, think tanks are facing much more competition in the struggle to be heard and heeded. The growing complexity of both public and private policy development and the emergence of new forms of advocacy and lobbying warrants a closer look at think tanks and their future. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a government-funded enterprise established as an independent source of information and ideas on Australia's defence and strategic needs, is an example of a think tank under pressure.