Political Science and International Relations research students
See current research students within the Political Science and International Relations Programme.
Students are listed alphabetically under their respective programmes and degrees.
International Relations PhD candidates
Claire Fitzpatrick
Thesis title
TBA
Supervisors
Kate Schick and Michael Daubs (Media Studies)
Eric Jeunot
Thesis title
'Challenging Putnam's Two Level Game Theory under Leadership of Statist Tribesmen'
Supervisors
Ge Lai
Thesis title
‘Distribution of Value Chains: Structure and Institutions of Regional Economic Integration in East Asia’
Supervisors
Xiaoming Huang and Ben Thirkell-White
Ge Lai received her MA in economics in 2014, from University of International Business and Economics (Beijing). Her thesis is that market driven industrial and productional forces are driving regionalism in East Asia. These productional networks from East Asia are global as well as regional. The structure of the East Asian economy explains the weakness of regionalism.
Qualifications
BA (CCNU, Wuhan), MA (UIBE, Beijing)
Areas of interest
East Asia as a region of international political economy; global value chains; production network; the structure of regional economy.
Jieruo Li
Thesis title
'Political Orientations, Geopolitics and Development Trajectory: Explaining Changes in Japan–China Relations in the 1990s'
Supervisors
Leonardo Milani
Thesis title
'Nuclear Deterrence under Cybernetic Asymmetry'
Supervisors
Lifang (Elaine) Peng
Thesis title
'Creation, Preservation, and Change of Social Institutions: China from 1949 to 2000'
Supervisors
Xiaoming Huang and Xavier Marquez
Hongtao (Thomas) Song
Thesis title
'An Empirical Study on How an Upper-middle-income Country Became Developed: 1900–2014'
Supervisors
Ben Thirkell-White and Giacomo Chiozza
Dylan Stent
Thesis title
'Competing Notions of Nationalism in South Korea and How This Tempers Security Policy toward North Korea'
Supervisors
Van Jackson and Stephen Epstein (Asian Studies)
Political Science PhD candidates
Ronny Basista
Thesis title
'Simplification of the Party System in Indonesia toward Governance Effectiveness: Challenges and Limitations'
Supervisors
Christine Bogle
Thesis title
'Transitions to Democracy in Four Asia–Pacific Monarchies at the Turn of the 21st Century'
Supervisors
Christine is exploring the transition process and consolidation outlook of four monarchies (Tonga, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal) that have been engaged in democratisation processes in the second half of the twentieth century and into the current century.
Christine is a former diplomat with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and has served in a number of overseas countries.
Sam Crawley
Thesis title
'Public Will and the Political Response to Climate Change in Developed, Liberal Democracies'
Supervisors
Hilde Coffe and Ralph Chapman (Environmental Science)
Qualifications
BIT (Otago Polytechnic), GDipArts, BA Hons (VUW)
Areas of interest
Public opinion, political behaviour, environmental politics, climate change politics, political representation
Sam Crawley’s thesis examines the relationship between public will and the political response to climate change in developed, liberal democracies. In many countries, including those that have inadequate climate change policy, the public broadly supports robust action on climate change. However, a closer examination of public opinion shows that many who support action rank climate change as a low priority issue, with issues such as the economy typically ranked higher. The thesis, then, investigates the nature of public will, and the extent to which it is a factor in the political response to climate change in different countries, comparing its influence to other factors such as that of economic elites.
Jie Huang
Thesis title
‘Electoral Participation of Chinese New Zealanders’
Supervisors
Qualifications
BA (Fujian Normal University, China), MA (Xiamen University, China)
Areas of interest
Electoral behaviour, public opinion, overseas Chinese study
Jie Huang’s has a special interest in the process of immigrants’ political integration. His research probes the electoral participation levels and patterns of Chinese New Zealanders, as well as various factors that influence them to pursue political engagement in the receiving country.
Pavithra Jayawardena
Thesis title
'Citizenship and Belonging of Sri Lankan Diaspora in New Zealand’
Supervisors
Kate McMillan and Ayca Arkilic
Qualifications
BA Hons, MA (University of Colombo, Sri Lanka)
Areas of interest
Migration, citizenship, diaspora studies
The concept of citizenship has traditionally been seen from the state’s point of view. In this research, Pavithra intends to look at citizenship through the lens of diasporic communities, while negotiating their sense of belonging with their home countries.
Prior to commencing the PhD, Pavithra was a lecturer in International Relations in the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Kaitlin Martin-Feek
Thesis title
'Sport as a "Terrain of Resistance": Counternarratives of National Identity within the New Zealand All Blacks'
Supervisor
Samuele Tonello
Thesis title
'A Contestatory Provost to Defend Freedom as “Non-domination”: Democracy, Republicanism, and the Power to Contest'.
Supervisor
Xavier Marquez and Jack Vowles
Dr Dongfang (Linda) Wang
Thesis title
'The Third Wave: "Service" Governance in China Urban Shequ’
Supervisors
Xiaoming Huang and Jason Young
Dr Wang’s PhD project focuses on urban governance in China. She looks at urban community reform from the perspective of interactions between state and society. Her thesis hypothesises that grassroots governance is not only in terms of democratic development, but also is an interaction between state and social forces, and an interactive process of public service delivery. Her thesis attempts to explore how the state governs the society, and what is the new governance logic and mechanism in the urban community of China.
Qualifications
MA, PhD (Renmin University of Beijing)
Areas of interest
Comparative politics, local governance, Chinese politics and government.
International Relations Master of Arts students
Aidan Doyle
Thesis title
'How Can Europe Respond to Russian Information Aggression? A Strategic Narrative Approach'
Supervisor
Political Science Master of Arts students
Adam Osborne-Smith
Thesis title
'The Dream of the Dragon: A Content Analysis of Xi Jinping's "China Dream"'
Supervisor
Kate Smith
Thesis title
'New Zealand's Greatest Prime Ministers: A Comparative Study of Primeministerial Performance'.