Mark Beeson is Professor of International Politics at the University of Western Australia. Before joining UWA at the beginning of 2015, he was Professor of International Relations at Murdoch University. Previously he taught at the universities of Griffith, Queensland, York (UK) and Birmingham, where he was also head of department. He is co-editor of Contemporary Politics, and the founding editor of Critical Studies of the Asia Pacific (Palgrave)
The BRICs: battered, regressive, incompetent, and corrupt?
Mar 17, 2016 22:36 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Theres an old joke about Brazil that suggests that its the country of the future and it always will be. For a while this looked to be an anachronistic, possibly racist stereotype that had been decisively overturned by...
Should academics be policy-relevant realists or cosmopolitan idealists?
Mar 09, 2016 22:36 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
One of Oscar Wildes more memorable and inspiring aphorisms claimed that a map of the world without utopia on it is not worth looking at. While many of us might agree with the sentiment, the theory let alone the practice ...
Mar 02, 2016 23:30 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
Is it time to think the unthinkable? Could Donald Trump actually become the next president of the United States? He already looks a certainty to become the Republican nominee something not many pundits were willing to...
Defence: more bucks for our bangs
Feb 26, 2016 05:10 am UTC| Insights & Views
To say the defence white paper was much anticipated would be an understatement. Was it worth the wait in the end? That rather depends on who you are and what your assessment of the risks Australia faces actually is. To...
Is political leadership today especially bad?
Feb 22, 2016 15:29 pm UTC| Insights & Views Politics
It didnt take long for the political honeymoon to end. Malcolm Turnbull may still be far more popular than the man he removed, but he is now being accused of Abbottesque failings. He cant sell difficult policy choices,...
Lessons from the Great Depression
Feb 11, 2016 07:50 am UTC| Insights & Views Economy
As the old joke has it, Ive predicted five of the last two financial crises. But this time Im not the only person getting alarmed about the current volatility in financial markets. Plenty of serious, congenitally bullish...
What China did and should learn from Japan
Jan 31, 2016 12:11 pm UTC| Insights & Views
China and Japan dont get on. This is a problem for them and for the rest of the world given their economic and strategic importance. It hasnt always been this way, though. Japan once acknowledged Chinas dominance via...
Leonardo da Vinci’s incredible studies of human anatomy still don’t get the recognition they deserve
South African telescope discovers a giant galaxy that’s 32 times bigger than Earth’s