Research
My primary research interest is in Critical Security Studies with thematic expertise in violent conflicts, international trade, and foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific. More specifically, I focus on the often invisible albeit powerful factors/mechanisms that are vital to understanding these issues such as affect and ethnoreligious nationalism (in violent conflicts), insecurity and anxiety (in international trade), and populism and securitisation (in foreign policy).
My research projects on ethnoreligious otherings and violent conflicts and the (in)security politics of international trade (funded by the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, respectively) led to the publication of my two books, Ethnoreligious Otherings and Passionate Conflicts (Oxford University Press 2022) and Small Powers and Trading Security (Palgrave/Springer 2016 and 2018). My work probing these nontraditional dimensions of international security has also appeared in journals such as the International Studies Quarterly, International Affairs, Political Science, International Politics, Critical Studies on Security, and International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, among others.
Currently, I am working on a research project, entitled, 'Decolonising Peacebuilding through the Affective Peace Framework', that is being funded by the Leverhulme Trust. In collaboration with Hiroshima University (IDEC), I am exploring the potential utility and function of affect-based approaches towards decolonising traditional peacebuilding programmes and inititatives in Southeast Asia's conflict-affected communities.
List of my publications
Click on each publication type, below, to see the list of my publications in that category.
In the sub-lists of my publications, the update date for each publication is the date on which the publication was added to or updated on this website, and not the publication date.