B Arts (Hons, Politics) Flinders Univ, M Arts (Political Science) Flinders Univ,
PhD (Political Science) Australian National Univ
Contact details for Dr Bruce Buchan
Biography
Bruce Buchan is a political theorist with an interest in the historical articulation of key concepts in Western history in the Early Modern period (c.1500-1800CE). His research is at the cutting edge of a lively field of international scholarship on the relationships between European empire-building, colonialism and the development of Western political thought. Bruce’s work explores significant historical shifts in meaning of key concepts in Western political thought (such as warfare, government, civilization, and society) highlighting problems in their re-current usage in contemporary thought and practice. This approach culminated in the publication of a monograph entitled, The Empire of Political Thought: Indigenous Australians and the Language of Colonial Government (London: Pickering and Chatto, 2008). This book was motivated by the aim to explore the traditions of Western political thought as a source of insight into the framing of political problems in Australia’s early colonization. A key theme of his research on the history of Western political thought and empire is the focus on placing Australia’s early colonization in a global context that emphasizes the significance of the conceptual language used in the extension of Britain’s Empire. This work has identified the crucial role played by perceptions of Indigenous government and warfare in the deployment of ideas of civilization and savagery in the dispossession of the Indigenous inhabitants. Bruce’s contributions to international research is reflected in the range and scope of his publications on the development of Western (especially British) political thought including studies of warfare in the Scottish Enlightenment, the development of European international relations theory, early European perceptions of Asia, the decline of the ‘body politic’ metaphor in sixteenth and seventeenth century European thought, arguments for penal and police reform in eighteenth century Britain, and the use of ideas of trade and commerce in early American and Australian colonisation.