Griffith University

Director

Contact details for Professor Andrew O'Neil 

Bio

Before joining Griffith University in January 2010, Andrew was Associate Professor and Director of the Flinders International Asia Pacific Institute at Flinders University. Prior to taking up an academic position in 2000, Andrew worked as a strategic analyst with Australia's Defence Intelligence Organisation as part of its North Asia and Global Issues branch. Between 2005 and 2007 he served on the Australian Foreign Minister's National Consultative Committee for International Security Issues, and in 2007 he was a Visiting Professor at Hiroshima University. In 2009 Andrew was appointed editor-in-chief of the Australian Journal of International Affairs. He is presently Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Project examining Australia's nuclear choices in the context of a rapidly evolving global nuclear marketplace, continuing weapons proliferation worldwide, and pressures resulting from climate change.  He is also one of ten Chief Investigators attached to the Australian Research Council's Centre of Excellence in Policing and Security.

Research Interests

• Regional security and geopolitics in Asia
  
• Nuclear weapons, proliferation and arms control
  
• International relations theory
  
• Australian foreign and defence policy
  

Current Research Projects 

The Future of Extended Nuclear Deterrence in Asia

Outside of NATO, only three countries (all of them located in Asia) can be said to be in receipt of credible nuclear security guarantees from the United States: Japan, South Korea, and Australia. This project investigates the contemporary and future dynamics of extended nuclear deterrence in Asia. The research aims to yield a detailed understanding of how the US nuclear umbrella operates in Asia in the broader context of shifting strategic dynamics in the region. Key questions are: What does the role of extended nuclear deterrence in Asia tell us about the role of extended nuclear deterrence in the international system? Is this role likely to change significantly in the years ahead? How does the nuclear dimension of extended deterrence interact with conventional deterrence and deterrence by denial (missile defence) initiatives in Asia?

Australia's Nuclear Choices

This research project examines how Australia can reconcile its commitments to non-proliferation and uranium export earnings in the context of an international non-proliferation regime under strain, an uncertain proliferation context and an expanding world uranium market. It is a collaborative project funded by the Australian Research Council between researchers from Griffith (O’Neil and Michael Clarke), the Australian National University (Stephan Fruhling), and the Lowy Institute for International Policy (Michael Wesley, Martine Letts, and Rory Medcalf).  O’Neil, Fruhling, and Clarke are presently co-writing a book manuscript with the working title: Australia, Nuclear Weapons and Non-Proliferation: Balancing Global and Regional Concerns in the 21st Century.

The Response of Middle Powers to China's Rise

Assessments of how international actors have responded to China’s rise have typically focused on rival great powers or on China’s Asian neighbours. In these cases, relative power and geographic proximity respectively have conditioned actors’ relationships with China. At the other end of the spectrum, China’s relationship with the developing world has largely been defined by power asymmetries and the appeal of the Chinese governance model to authoritarian regimes. Largely absent from this discussion is an understanding of how Western middle power democracies are responding to the rise of China. A collaborative project with James Manicom of the University of Toronto, the research focuses on how middle power democracies have reacted to China’s rise across the fields of political, economic and strategic engagement.

Recent Publications (2006 onwards)

Books

• Australia's Uranium Trade: the Domestic and Foreign Policy Challenges of a Contentious Export, Ashgate, 2011, 228pp. (co-edited with Michael Clarke and Stephan Fruhling).
  
• Nuclear Proliferation in Northeast Asia: The Quest for Security, Palgrave Macmillan, New York and Houndmills, 2007.

Refereed Journal Articles 

• "China's Rise and Middle Power Democracies:  Canada and Australia Compared", International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, forthcoming (co-authored with James Manicom).

• "Extended Nuclear Deterrence in East Asia: Redundant or Resurgent?", International Affairs, 87(6), 2011. pp. 1439-1457.

• "Conceptualising Future Threats to Australia's Security", Australian Journal of Political Science, 46(1), 2011, pp. 19-34.
  

• "Accommodation, Realignment, or Business as Usual?  Australia's Response to a Rising China",  The Pacific Review, 23(1), 2010, pp. 23-44, (co-authored with James Manicom).

• "Nuclear Weapons and Non-Proliferation: Is Restraint Sustainable?", Security Challenges, 5(4), 2009, pp. 39-57.

• "North Korea as a Nuclear Weapons State and the End of the Disarmament Paradigm", Global Change, Peace & Security, 21(3), 2009, pp. 377-387 (co-authored with Ben Habib).

• "Sino-Japanese Strategic Relations: Will Rivalry Lead to Confrontation?", Australian Journal of International Affairs, 63(2), 2009, pp. 213-232 (co-authored with James Manicom).

• "Australia's Engagement in the Nuclear Fuel Cycle: The Non-Proliferation Dimension", International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 29(4), 2008, pp. 454-469.

• "The Unhappy Marriage Between International Relations Theory and International Law", Global Change, Peace & Security, 20(2), 2008, pp. 201-215 (co-authored with David Cox).

• "Australia's Nuclear Horizon: Moving Beyond the Drumbeat of Risk Inflation", Australian Journal of Political Science, 42(4), 2007, pp. 563-578 (co-authored with Haydon Manning).

• "Does Australia Have a Coherent Counter-Terrorist Strategy?", The Journal of the Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers, 15(2), 2007, pp. 12-28.

• "Managing and Degrading Risk: Assessing Australia's Counter-Terrorist Strategy", Australian Journal of Political Science, 42(3), 2007, pp. 471-487.

• "Australia, Japan, and East Asia's Evolving Strategic Environment", Taiwanese Journal of Australian Studies, 7, 2006, pp. 81-107.

• "Professional Military Education in Australia: Has It All Gone Terribly Right?", Australian Defence Force Journal, 171, 2006, pp. 57-74 (co-authored with David Cox).

Book Chapters and entries in edited works

• “Nuclear Weapons and Power in the Twenty-First Century”, in Enrico Fels, Jan-Frederik Kremer, and Katharina Kronenberg (eds.), Power in the 21st Century: International Security and International Political Economy in a Changing World, Springer, forthcoming (co-authored with Stephan Fruhling).

• “Extended Deterrence, Nuclear Threat Reduction and Great Power Conflict in Asia: An Australian Perspective”, in Rory Medcalf and Fiona Cunningham (eds.), Lowy-NTI-JIIA Monograph on Extended Deterrence and Mutual Threat Reduction in Asia, forthcoming (co-authored with Stephan Fruhling).

•  “Australia’s Uranium Trade in Domestic and International Context”, in Michael Clarke, Stephan Fruhling, and Andrew O’Neil (eds.), Australia’s Uranium Trade: The Foreign and Domestic Policy Challenges of a Contentious Export, Ashgate, 2011, pp. 1-12.

• “Regional, Alliance, and Global Priorities of the Rudd-Gillard Governments”, in James Cotton and John Ravenhill, Middle Power Dreaming: Australia in World Affairs 2006-2010, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 2011, pp. 273-289.

• “Timor-Leste's Future(s)”, in Andrew Goldsmith and Vandra Harris (eds.), Security, Development, and Nation-Building in Timor-Leste: Cross-Sectoral Perspectives, Routledge, London, 2011 (co-authored with Vandra Harris), pp. 227-244.

• "Influence without Power: Commissions of Inquiry and the Australian Intelligence Community", in Stuart Fearson and Mark Phythian (eds.), Commissions of Inquiry and National Security: Comparative Approaches, Praeger, CA, 2011, pp. 13-28.

• "The Invasion of Iraq: The Marketplace of Ideas and its Limits", in Michael Heazle, Martin Griffiths, and Tom Conley (eds.), Foreign Policy Challenges in the Twenty-First Century, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, 2009, pp. 125-140.

• "Shifting Policy in a Nuclear World: Australia's Non-Proliferation Strategy Since 9/11", in Carl Ungerer (ed.), Australian Foreign Policy in an Age of Terror, UNSW Press, Sydney, 2008, pp. 74-100.

• "American Grand Strategy: The Quest for Permanent Primacy", in Brendan O'Connor and Martin Griffiths (eds.), The Rise of Anti-Americanism, Routledge, London and New York, 2006, pp. 140-154.

• 'Arms Race', 'Arms Trade', 'Disarmament', 'Pre-emptive Use of Force', 'Security', and 'Strategic Culture' in Martin Griffiths (ed.), Routledge Encyclopedia of International Relations and Global Politics, Routledge, New York, 2006.

Other Publications/Reports

• "Security Threats to Australia to 2025:  Issues, Probabilities, Intersections", Paper prepared for the Australian National Security College, May 2010.

• "Timor-Leste's Futures: 2010-2020", Report prepared for the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's Operations Support Centre, December 2009 (co-authored with Vandra Harris).
  

• “Australia’s Emerging Security Challenges in Northeast Asia: The Blind Alley of Multilateralism”, Panorama: Insights into Asian and European Affairs, 2, 2009, pp. 177-192.

• “Australia’s Nuclear Options: Past, Present and Future?”, in Australian Institute of International Affairs Policy Commentary—Nuclear Futures?—May 2010, pp. 47-58.

Recent Print Media Articles

• 'Neighbours Show How Australia Can Please Two Masters', Sydney Morning Herald, 10 January 2012, (with Ding Dou).  Available at: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/neighbours-show-how-australia-can-please-two-masters-20120105-1pmai.html
  
• 'IAEA Report Gives Israel Little Room for Manoeuvre', The Australian, 10 November 2011. Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/iaea-report-gives-israel-little-room-for-manoeuvre/story-e6frg6ux-1226190600853
• 'British Framework the Best Alternative', The Australian, 9 November 2011 (with Jason Sharman). Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/british-framework-best-alternative/story-e6frgcjx-1226189288330
• 'Fallout Goes Far Beyond the Material', The Australian, 17 March 2011. Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/fallout-goes-far-beyond-the-material/story-e6frg6ux-1226022730008
• 'Nuclear Power Plants Are Not Bomb Factories', The Australian, 18 September 2010. Available at: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/nuclear-power-plants-are-not-bomb-factories/story-e6frg6zo-1225925594625
• 'Rudd Deserves More Credit for Foreign Policy Wins', Courier-Mail, 9 July 2010.
• 'Leviathan Policy Blunder Unfolds in the Southern Ocean', The Australian, 25 February 2010 (with Michael Heazle). Available at:
  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/politics/opinion/leviathan-policy-blunder-unfolds-in-the-southern-ocean/story-e6frgd0x-1225834048645 
• 'Woo China Warily', The Globe and Mail (Toronto), 14 August 2009 (with James Manicom). Available at: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/woo-china-warily/article1251227/
• 'Seismic Shift', ABC Online (“Unleashed”), 26 May 2009. Available at: http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/stories/s2581180.htm

PhD Higher Degree Research Students (Principal Supervisor)

• Andrea Haefner
• Cathy Moloney
• Greta Nabbs-Keller
• Julie Rayner