MESF Conference 2024

The Middle East After the War on Gaza: Navigating the Impact of Regional Rivalries, the US Mid-East Policy, and the Future of Authoritarianism

October 7-8, 2024

The devastating war on Gaza has reverberated across the Middle East and the world. Beyond the immediate human toll and destruction, this conflict has highlighted the urgent need for sustainable solutions, legally-binding mechanisms towards a ceasefire, and meaningful dialogue. The conference aims to provide a platform for scholars and policymakers to engage in a profound exploration of the multifaceted challenges facing the Middle East. We seek to foster constructive conversations that contribute to a deeper understanding of the root causes for conflict, strategies for lasting peace, and the critical role of international cooperation.

The conference will tackle a diverse range of topics, including the socio-economic impact of the conflict, the humanitarian crisis, the role of regional and global powers, prospects for governance and democratization, and the complexities of cultural heritage and identity. We will also delve into the crucial role of media and information dissemination, the environmental and health implications of the conflict, and the intersectional impacts on women and marginalized groups. Through insightful discussions and collaborative engagement, we aim to chart a path forward that is grounded in compassion, justice, and the collective pursuit of lasting peace in Gaza and the broader Middle East.

Keynote Speaker

Shiri Krebs
Professor of Law and Director, Centre of Law as Protection, Deakin Law School

Algorithms, Avatars, and the Remaking of Warfare in Gaza and Beyond

Sarah Phillips
Professor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney

Knowledge production and transparency in a time of secrets

Conference Committee

Prof Shahram Akbarzadeh (Chair)
Ms Shadi Rouhshahbaz
Ms Afsaneh Seifinaji
Dr Andrew Thomas

Registration

Day 1: Monday, 7 October 2024
Day 2: Tuesday, 8 October 2024
Location: Burwood Corporate Centre (BCC)
221 Burwood Highway Burwood, VIC 3125

Pricing:
General Admission: $30 per day
Student Discount: $20 per day

For any questions, please contact mesf@deakin.edu.au

Keynotes

Advanced military digital technologies are reshaping warfare, including in the current violence in Gaza. These digital technologies, including AI-powered algorithms and drone sensors, inform military decision-makers in real time, adding relevant and time-sensitive information. At the same time, however, their outputs construct an imperfect representation of people and spaces, placing additional burdens on military decision-makers, and creating a persuasive virtual representation of the actual conditions on the ground. Based on interdisciplinary analysis of critical security studies, behavioural economics, and international law literature, as well as rich data from the current war in Gaza, this presentation identifies three types of challenges stemming from the mounting reliance on advanced technologies to inform military operations: technical challenges, relating to the scope, error rates, design, and capabilities of the selected technologies; cognitive challenges, relating to decision-making biases affecting human decision-makers; and human-technological challenges, relating to the human-machine interaction or interface. Together these human-technical limits suggest that new AI and drone warfare technologies serve to legitimise data-centred violence, disguising normative choices as inevitable, and erasing non-Western narratives and preferences. The presentation concludes by offering ways to unveil the effects of avatars on the application of the law of war, providing better protection for people, animals, and the environment during armed conflicts.

Shiri Krebs
Professor of Law and Director, Centre of Law as Protection, Deakin Law School

Dr Shiri Krebs is a Professor of Law at Deakin University and Director of the Centre for Law as Protection. She is the Co-Lead of the Law and Policy Theme at the Australian Cyber Security Cooperative Research Centre (CSCRC), the Chair of the ASIL Lieber Society on the Law of Armed Conflict, and an affiliate scholar at Stanford Center for International Law and Cooperation (CISAC). Additionally, in 2024-2025 Professor Krebs is a Visiting Legal Fellow at the Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and an Alexander von Humboldt Experienced Researcher at the University of Hamburg.

Information is powerful. As academics we know this, and it animates our professional lives. We uncover, collate, verify, and disseminate knowledge. And once we do, it is out of our hands. This presentation is an attempt to think through the afterlives of our work, particularly the clash between the impulse to transparency and the increasing authoritarianism of the spaces where we work.

Sarah Phillips

Professor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney

Sarah Phillips Professor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney, where she is an ARC Future Fellow. She is the author of three books, the latest of which, ‘When There Was No Aid: War and Peace in Somaliland’ (Cornell University Press, 2020) was awarded the Australian Political Science Association’s biennial Crisp Prize for the best political science monograph. Her research draws from years of in-depth fieldwork in Yemen, Somalia, Iraq, Kenya, and Jordan, and focuses on international intervention in the global South, knowledge production about conflict-affected states, authoritarianism, and non-state governance.

Panellists

Gendered narratives are political narratives that frequently frame decisions to go to war or broker peace. Such geopolitical narratives both enable the protection of women’s rights and violate them. Women’s rights, specifically, have been used as a rhetorical device by security policymakers to persuade people of the urgency and legitimacy of foreign intervention or withdrawal. In this paper, we explore how gendered, geopolitical narratives work to construct understandings of political reality and delimit foreign policy options and how counter-narratives contest them, transforming the available policy options. Drawing on narrative analysis frameworks, we examine the shifting narratives invoking “Afghan women” that facilitated the change in US policy on Afghanistan between 2018 and 2021 and the consequent return of the Taliban. In response to the US withdrawal, we investigate the counter-narratives of Afghan women that emphasise universal human rights, inclusive peace, and international recognition of the situation of ‘gender apartheid.’ We argue that counter-narratives supported by political strategies are an effective instrument for empowering marginalized women and legitimizing their activism that protests the continuation of war against women despite the end of military war.

Farkhondeh Akbari
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Monash University

Dr Farkhondeh Akbari is a postdoctoral research fellow at Monash University where she researches inclusive peace, diplomatic actors, feminist foreign policy and the women, peace, and security agenda. She has recently published papers focusing on the Taliban’s gender-apartheid regime in Afghanistan.

Farkhondeh completed her PhD in diplomatic studies at the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Australian National University. Her thesis examined the required characteristics for non-state armed actors to engage meaningfully in diplomacy for the purpose of peace settlements and studied the cases of the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

This paper critically examines the diverse strategies employed by Kurdish political actors in Iran, with a particular emphasis on the past decade. The study utilizes both Netnography and qualitative interviews to investigate the political engagements of institutional and non-institutional actors among Kurds in Iran. Through the application of Hirschman’s Exit, Voice, and Loyalty (EVL) framework, complemented by the analysis of social media content, this paper explores how traditional and emergent political actions are formulated and executed. Interviews with Kurdish academics and activists residing outside Iran offer unique insights into the dynamics of resistance and negotiation. By situating current activism within its historical continuum, the paper identifies evolutionary shifts in tactical responses to oppression and highlights the adaptability of Kurdish strategies under fluctuating political conditions. This research contributes to the literature on political agency in stateless nations, underlining the complexities of advocating for rights and recognition in oppressive regimes.

Ziba Akbari
PhD Candidate, Deakin University

Ziba Akbari is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Deakin University. Her doctoral thesis examines the Kurds as a marginalized group, focusing on the complex dynamics of statelessness and human security in the Middle East. Her academic background includes a master’s degree in human security in Iraq, which provided her with analytical skills, qualitative research methods, and a comprehensive understanding of policy analysis. She has authored three publications and is currently engaged in a research project analysing the 2022 protests in Iran.

The tragically destructive war on Gaza once more shows that violent extremism cannot be defeated by military means alone, that terrorism is most effective when it succeeds in provoking a vengeful, brutal, response, and that security and justice are not a zero-sum game. Hamas triggered the war on Gaza with an outrageous attack. But if, and when, it is pushed from power, and the rebuilding of society and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip commences under Palestinian leadership, multiple forms of violent extremism will continue threaten to derail any peace process. All parties, local, regional and international, involved in peace-making, restoring security, and rebuilding Gaza will need to both recognise the destructive potential of violent extremist actors and the necessity of addressing the grievances, despair, alienation and structural inequities that fuel and enable extremist movements. The rise of new groups recruiting desperate youth, such as the Lion’s Den in Nablus, and settler violence on the West Bank, point to the resilient nature of violent extremism and the eco-system of hate, alienation, injustice, and dehumanising supremacist politics that enables it in all its forms. Peace efforts that sought to replace dehumanising denial, contempt and hate, with empathy, respect and equitable political reforms was for too long rejected as being not just a form of misplaced romanticism but as a threat to security. The destruction of Gaza has shown that the opposite is true. Seven million Jewish Israelis and seven million Palestinians will only find lasting security through a just peace.

Greg Barton
Professor of Global Islamic Politics, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Dr Greg Barton is Research Professor in Global Islamic Politics in the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI), Deakin University where, since 2015, he has led research on Islam and civil society, democratisation, and countering violent extremism. Greg has worked on violent extremism for more than two decades and has 35 years of experience researching Islam and social movements in Indonesia and broader Southeast Asia. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Graduate School of Strategic and Global Studies (SKSG), University of Indonesia, and a Senior Fellow with the UAE-based Hedayah Center in Abu Dhabi working on CVE.

This paper examines the diffusion of digital authoritarian practices from China to its junior partners in South and West Asia, Iran and Pakistan. We investigate how legal frameworks, online censorship, and urban surveillance have been adopted in these countries. An analytical framework identifies three diffusion mechanisms: emulation, learning, and cooperative interdependence. Our findings indicate that learning, both internally and externally driven, is the most significant mechanism for the spread of these practices. Both governments adapted their strategies from experiences with early 2010s protests, facilitated by China’s promotion of digital authoritarianism. Emulation, influenced by cultural and political alignment and China’s role as an authoritarian model, significantly shaped the adoption of internet restriction norms and surveillance infrastructures. Cooperative interdependence, through trade relationships and loans under China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), enabled the transfer of censorship and surveillance technologies. The paper concludes with broader implications of these findings.

Galib Bashirov
Associate Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Dr Galib Bashirov is an Associate Research fellow at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University, Australia. His research examines state-society relations and the impact of digital technologies on political processes in the Middle East and Central Asia. His previous works have been published in Review of International Political Economy, Democratization, and Economy & Society.

Shahram Akbarzadeh

Research Professor and Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Convenor, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF)

Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh is the Convenor of the Middle East Studies Forum (MESF) and Deputy Director (International) of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University (Australia). He co-leads the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany) project “Smart Digital Technologies and the Future of Democracy in the Muslim World” (2022-2025) with the ADI’s Ihsan Yilmaz. He held a prestigious ARC Future Fellowship (2013-2016) on the Role of Islam in Iran’s Foreign Policy-making and recently completed a Qatar Foundation project on Sectarianism in the Middle East. Professor Akbarzadeh has an extensive publication record and has contributed to the public debate on the political processes in the Middle East, regional rivalry and Islamic militancy. In 2023, he joined the Middle East Council on Global Affairs (Doha) as a Non-Resident Senior Fellow.

Ihsan Yilmaz
Research Professor and Chair, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Professor Ihsan Yilmaz is Research Professor and Chair at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia. He is also a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at Oxford University’s Regent College and the European Center for Populism Studies, Brussels. He co-leads the Gerda Henkel Foundation (Germany) project with Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh titled: “Smart Digital Technologies and the Future of Democracy in the Muslim World” (2022-2025). He also leads two ARC Discovery Projects: “Civilizationist Mobilization, Digital Technologies, and Social Cohesion: The Case of Turkish & Indian Diasporas in Australia” (2022-2025) and “Religious Populism, Emotions, and Political Mobilization: Civilizationism in Turkey, Indonesia, and Pakistan” (2023-2026).

Since the Stuxnet cyberattack in 2010, cyberspace has emerged as a new front of Iran-Israel strategic confrontation. Iran and Israel underwent a competition on cyber defensive and offensive capabilities, and their conflicts in cyberspace have been growing aggravated and turning white-hot. During the Gaza conflict, Iran and Israel further intensified their cyber offensive cooperation toward each other to damage civilian targets and interrupt military facilities. As cyberspace is an offensive-dominant arena, Iran and Israel can fulfill their goals of strategic confrontation in the real world through cyber means. Meanwhile, cyber conflict is unlikely to trigger a large-scale military retaliation and lacks international supervision, which is conducive to limiting their conflict intensity. Though Iran and Israel have partially achieved their strategic objectives through cyber operations, intensified cyber conflicts have boosted the escalation of their strategic confrontation, further deepened their security dilemma and antagonism, and increased the risk of deteriorating the regional cyber security situation. Within their competition in cyberspace, Iran and Israel strengthened cyber security cooperation with great powers outside the region, while Iran also cultivated its proxies’ cyber capabilities to promote their asymmetric advantages and change the regional balance of power to some extent. As Iran-Israel tensions escalate, it is increasingly hard for both sides to mitigate pressure on large-scale military confrontations through low-intensive cyber conflicts, and the trend of “hybrid warfare” combining cyber conflicts with the actual military confrontation between Iran and Israel is more and more obvious.

Yao Chen
PhD Candidate, Shanghai International Studies University, China

Yao Chen is a Ph.D. candidate in Middle Eastern Studies from Shanghai International Studies University, China. Her research concentrates on the cyber conflicts in the Middle East, the role of non-state armed groups in post-conflict security reconstruction, and non-traditional security problems. She has published several papers in Chinese Journals. She received the B. A. degree in Diplomacy from Beijing Foreign Studies University, China in 2018 and the M. A. degree in Middle Eastern Politics from the Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, China in 2021.

Despite receiving increasing attention from multilateral organisations, effective prevention, deterrence, and punitive polices for crimes against heritage sites have remained elusive. In no region are the consequences of these systemic shortcomings more widely felt than in MENA.

From the Taliban’s demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas and Ansar al-Dine’s targeting of mosques/mausolea in Mali, to Al-Qaeda’s transnational attacks on Sufi shrines and Da’esh’s cultural cleansing against Shi’as, Christians, and Yazidis, the region has seen immense losses to its treasured heritage. The same can be said for the looting of the Iraq National Museum (abetted by US forces), the aerial bombardment of Aleppo’s Old City (backed by Assad), and the airstrikes on Sana’a (led by Saudi Arabia).

Israel’s war on Gaza has resulted in the mass destruction of archaeological/religious heritage, with UNESCO confirming in April that over 43 sites had been damaged in a manner that contravened international law. Given this has doubled since the organisation’s first warnings in January, it appears that impunity towards crimes against heritage is ongoing.

This paper questions the international protection regime for heritage and its ability to safeguard sites from violence. It positions Israel’s impunity as a litmus test for heritage mechanisms in place at UNESCO, the UNSC, and the UNHRC. It argues that the UN needs to reconsider its approach to crimes against heritage, especially in the context of the ‘day after’ scenario in Gaza, which will have ongoing consequences for the treatment of heritage sites in MENA and the world at large.

Eleanor Childs
PhD Candidate, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Eleanor Childs is a third year PhD Candidate at the Alfred Deakin Institute. Her research focuses on the destruction of cultural heritage at the hands of Da’esh during the Syrian and Iraqi conflicts. Specifically, she is interested in the lack of gender recognition in international heritage norms and the ways in which gender neutrality in heritage discourse obscures the security concerns and rights violations experienced by women when their heritage is intentionally attacked. Eleanor’s background is in International Relations, and she has been researching and writing on the intricate political landscapes of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria since 2017.

In this paper, I will examine the transformation of war within the international system, focusing on Afghanistan in the post-2001 era. Factors such as the proliferation of non-state actors, the blurring of military and civilian domains, unconventional tactics, new technologies like drones and cyber warfare, the rise of regional powers, identity conflicts, terrorism, and proxy wars characterize the dynamics of wars in the twenty-first century. With a focus on Afghanistan, the paper, however, argues that politics and strategic understanding of war are key determinants of the dynamics and outcomes of war. The Afghan conflict highlights modern warfare’s complexities and the limitations of military power in winning a war without addressing its proxy dynamics. Proxy war strategies, notably supported by Pakistan and Iran, played a crucial role in sustaining the Taliban’s war against the US in Afghanistan, leading to the collapse of the Afghan state in 2021. In this paper, I argue that proxy war strategies prevailed over US-led counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency strategies in Afghanistan. Given this, proxy war remains a vital strategy in international politics, allowing states to achieve strategic objectives while avoiding the costs and risks of direct conflict.

Abbas Farasoo
Researcher, La Trobe University

Dr Abbas Farasoo is a researcher at La Trobe University and previously worked as a Lecturer in Political Science at the University of Melbourne, Australia. He holds a PhD from Deakin University, and his research has centered on diplomacy, proxy wars, state formation crises, and ethnic conflict in Afghanistan, South Asia, and the Middle East. He has published in numerous journals, including International Study Reviews, Millennium: Journal of International Studies, and Journal of Critical Realism. Additionally, Dr Farasoo has worked as a diplomat and policy analyst in Afghanistan and Australia for years.

As a powerful discursive trope, irony is used to interpret the recent Israeli-Palestinian ‘conflict’ since October 7, 2023. Hinging on various political discourses, the paper examines the workings of the political language with emphasis on irony tinged with hyperrealism, where the boundaries between what is real and imaginaire are forever blurred. The paper’s aims are threefold. First, it stresses the importance of language in understanding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how language is used to manufacture consent, especially in media discourses. Second, the paper argues that the use of irony surpasses the classic pragmatic interpretations, and it is rooted in cognitive processes. Third, the paper explains how the use of language in political media discourses aims to score ideological goals.

Zouhir Gabsi
Senior Lecturer, Arabic and Islamic Studies, School of Humanity & Social Science Deakin University

Is it a sustainable strategy? In the recent past, it garnered Iran much success as exemplified by its articulation and practice by General Qassem Soleimani. It now has drawbacks. First, Iran is waging Forward Defense on too many fronts. It did so in the past and this was not easy to coordinate and control as part of an integrated strategy. Secondly, the axis of resistance includes groups, clients, and proxies that ‘do their own thing,’ as Hamas did on October 07, 2023. This was not orchestrated by the IRI, and the indications are Tehran was incensed, not least because an important pillar of the axis has been virtually destroyed. Third, it is costly and has occasioned significant debates within the Majlis about Iran’s ‘mini-Vietnams’ on behalf of ungrateful Arabs. Fourth, it is obvious that it does not deter the most powerful enemies, namely Israel and the U.S. Fifth, Iran controls neither the horizontal nor vertical escalatory processes.

Ahmed Hashim
Associate Professor of War Studies, Deakin University and Australian War College

Dr Ahmed S. Hashim is Associate Professor of War Studies at Deakin University and the Australian War College in Canberra. He is a specialist on the militaries of the Global South, particularly those of the Asian continent from the Middle East — with a focus on the Persian Gulf — to the Indo-Pacific region. He has also published extensively on insurgency and counterinsurgency. His most recent work is Iranian Ways of War: from Cyrus the Great to Qassem Soleimani (NY: Oxford University Press and London: Hurst and Company (December 2024).

This paper examines Afghanistan’s complex relationship with globalisation. It argues that common perceptions of Afghanistan as isolated and resistant to external influence are simplistic and overlook the country’s long history of interconnectedness. The paper first discusses Afghanistan’s historical experiences with Silk Road globalisation, highlighting its role as a hub of trade and religious and cultural exchange. It then explores how the formation of Afghanistan as a buffer state between British India and Tsarist Russia in the 19th century led to a rupture in these connections, resulting in decades of imposed isolation. Finally, the paper analyses Afghanistan’s experiences with globalisation in recent decades, characterised by both top-down, state-led modernisation efforts and bottom-up social changes resulting from increased global connectivity. It concludes by arguing that the tensions between these top-down and bottom-up forces have contributed to the political and social conflicts that have affected the country

Niamatullah Ibrahimi
Senior Lecturer, La Trobe University

Dr Niamatullah Ibrahimi is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations at La Trobe University. He teaches subjects on Middle East politics, international organisations, and security. His research interests include political violence, peacebuilding, post-conflict political orders, social movements and contentious politics, nationalism and ethnic politics, and human rights and transitional justice. Dr. Ibrahimi completed his PhD in 2018 at the Australian National University where his doctoral research examined the dynamics of contentious politics in the context of the post-2001 international intervention in Afghanistan. From 2018 to 2020, he worked as an Associate Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation at Deakin University. Previously, he worked for several leading think-tanks and international organisations, including the International Crisis Group and the Crisis States Research Centre of the London School of Economics.

The unfolding developments in the Middle East are reshaping the regional dynamics, giving rise to new geopolitical realities with significant implications for regional stability and power structures, which could fundamentally alter the balance of power in the region. USA has traditionally dominated the Middle East policies with unstinted support to Israel, balancing relations with Arab countries and preventing rise of Iran through a coalition of friendly Arab countries; however, October 7, 2024, have jolted the Western led security architecture in the region and three new realities have emerged in the shape of shattering of the status quo that had been built by Israel and US; resurgence of terrorism and a new cold war between US, China, Russia, and Iran. Israel’s right to self defence after October 7, 2024, has gradually diminished due to massacre unleashed in Gaza. Repeated appeals by UNGA and SCR on cessation of hostilities and protection of civilians, rulings by ICJ on worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza and Israeli defiance have jolted the post WW II international system. Iran’s tit for tat response to Israel, Hezbollah and Houthi’s new frontiers against Israel have exposed Israel’s myth of invincibility.

In the evolving strategic and security landscape of ME, a new security order involving all regional countries and great powers is needed to avoid great power competition. Like successful Iran-Saudi rapprochement, a collaborative efforts of US, China, Russia and regional Arab countries with support of Isreal can create a new security architecture ensring inclusivness for enduring stability.

Assoc. Prof. Waseem Ishaque
National University of Modern Languages (NUML) Pakistan

Dr. Waseem Ishaque is an Associate Professor at National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad. He is Senior Fellow of Taihe Institute Beijing and has completed D.3 Senior Fellowship (SFHEA) from Advance HE (UK). Before joining NUML, he has served at NDU Pakistan in the Department of Security Studies and International Relations. He is a graduate of NDU Pakistan and China and Command and Staff College Pakistan and Australia. He has served in UN Peace Missions in Bosnia and Darfur. He is a keen researcher on Transformation in ME, Asia -Pacific, BRI, CPEC. Dr. Ishaque has 3 international and 43 national publications and is a regular speaker at conferences.

The destruction of heritage in conflict has emerged as a key challenge to global security and the prospects of peace. In response, the international community has undertaken several large-scale heritage reconstruction projects on the assumption that they would foster development and promote cohesion. However, to date very little is understood about how local populations value their heritage, how they perceive its destruction, whether they view reconstruction as a priority, and the extent to which they support foreign efforts to rebuild. This article addresses this lacuna by focusing on the case study of Aleppo and documenting the results of an original public opinion survey of 1600 residents. The results hold several implications for heritage projects in Aleppo, namely that locals prefer that heritage reconstruction: not be privileged over security, development and peace; includes the rebuilding of their local religious sites as much as significant non-religious sites; transforms sites into more useful structures for the community; and they want domestic control and agency over the future of their heritage. The article concludes by noting that such findings hold important implications for heritage projects in other (post-)conflict contexts where mass heritage destruction has taken place.

Benjamin Isakhan
Professor, Deakin University

Dr Benjamin Isakhan is Professor of International Politics and Founding Director of Polis, a research network for Politics and International Relations research in the Alfred Deakin Institute at Deakin University, Australia. He is also Adjunct Senior Research Associate, Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa and Consulting Scholar at the Penn Cultural Heritage Centre, University of Pennsylvania, US.

After ten years of civil war in Yemen, the country is now de facto divided between a theocratic Shia Houthi state in the North and a South Yemen state marked by political instability. Since 2015, attempts at conflict settlement and peace negotiations with the Houthi through the United Nations have been ineffective.
This paper argues that the exercise of international norms of conflict settlement has not been appropriate to engage in peace negotiations with current rivalries in the Middle East. I argue that a unilateral approach, based on the sole exercise of international norms of conflict settlement, cannot ensure lasting peace or the full implementation of agreements unless domestic norms are equally exercised. In other words, this paper argues that an interplay between international and domestic norms is required to ensure that agreements are fully implemented and are long-lasting.
A review of the settlement of the 1934 Saudi-Yemen territorial conflict provides insights into an alternative approach to engaging with the Houthi. The settlement of the 1934 territorial conflict between the theocratic North Yemen Imamate and the Al-Saud monarchical regime resulted from an interplay between the exercise of domestic tribal norms and international norms of conflict settlement. This interplay established long-lasting stability between the two states. Due to the dependency of the ruling regime on the tribes-state relations in Yemen, the review of this case provides insight into the role that domestic tribal norms could play in engaging with the Houthi theocratic regime and fostering conflict settlement.

Dr Eric Jeunot
Teaching Fellow, Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka

Eric is an International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies scholar. His interests and research look at the interplay between domestic tribal norms and international norms in the settlement processes of interstate territorial conflicts. Eric researches the role that tribal governance and customs of Arab societies play in such processes. His geographical areas of research are Yemen, the Arabian Peninsula, and the Horn of Africa. Eric’s particular expertise is Arab tribal norms in historical and contemporary Yemen’s international relations.
Eric’s academic interests follow a decade of humanitarian experience with Médecins Sans Frontières working in Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen.

Since the 2013 military coup, Egypt’s authoritarian regime has extensively utilized social media and digital technologies for citizen control, surveillance, and prosecution of opposition leaders, activists, human rights defenders, and journalists. The government has acquired various programs and technologies from Western companies to enhance its surveillance capabilities. Additionally, it has enacted legislation enabling security forces to increase surveillance and prosecute individuals for online activities. This paper shows how the regime has mobilized state and non-state actors in the digital sphere to spread propaganda, conspiracy theories, and fake news, while harassing independent journalists and social media activists.

Ali Mamouri
Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Dr Ali Mamouri is a scholar and journalist in the fields of philosophy and theology. He serves as a Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University. Dr Mamouri has previously held positions as a lecturer at the University of Sydney (2014 – 2015), the University of Tehran (2008 – 2011), and Al-Mustansiriyah University (2009 – 2011). From 2020 to 2022, he served as a strategic communication advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, contributing to regional dialogue efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia within Iraq. Dr Mamouri also served as the editor of Iraq Pulse at Al-Monitor from 2016 to 2023, where he covered Iraq’s political development during this crucial time. His work focuses on themes such as political Islam, secularism and religiosity, religious minorities, and interfaith dialogue. His writings and analyses have been featured in publications including Al-Monitor, The Conversation, the Washington Institute, BBC Persian, and Al-Jazeera, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, among others.

Shahram Akbarzadeh
Research Professor and Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Convenor, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF)

Ihsan Yilmaz
Research Professor and Chair, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

William Maley
Emeritus Professor of Diplomacy, The Australian National University

William Maley is Emeritus Professor of Diplomacy at The Australian National University, where he was Professor of Diplomacy from 2003-2021. He is also a lawyer, a Member of the Order of Australia, a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and a Fellow of the Australian Institute of International Affairs. In November 2003, he received the AUSTCARE Paul Cullen Humanitarian Award for services to refugees. He is author of Rescuing Afghanistan (London: Hurst & Co., 2006), What is a Refugee? (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), Transition in Afghanistan: Hope, Despair and the Limits of Statebuilding (New York: Routledge, 2018), The Afghanistan Wars (London: Red Globe/Macmillan, 2021), and Diplomacy, Communication, and Peace: Selected Essays (New York: Routledge, 2021). In addition he co-authored Afghanistan: Politics and Economics in a Globalising State (New York: Routledge, 2020) (with Niamatullah Ibrahimi); and The Decline and Fall of Republican Afghanistan (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023) (with Ahmad Shuja Jamal), and edited Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban (New York: New York University Press, 1998).

The ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran has exceeded the battlefield, creating a broad range of digital war through various tactics and practices and forming narratives and propaganda. This paper examines the digital war that has intensified between Israel and Iran following the Gaza conflict. By analyzing the whole digital war machine developed by both sides, the study explores how mass media and social media are utilized as tools of warfare to influence domestic and international audiences. Through a comparative analysis of Israeli and Iranian digital conflict, including news reports, social media campaigns, and official statements, the paper investigates the themes, tactics, and effectiveness of their respective media strategies. The findings highlight the role of digital space in shaping the ongoing conflict between the two countries, reinforcing political agendas, and sustaining the ideological battle between the two countries. This study contributes to understanding modern information warfare and the complexities of media influence in international conflicts.

Ali Mamouri
Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Shahram Akbarzadeh
Research Professor and Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Convenor, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF)

Ihsan Yilmaz
Research Professor and Chair, Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalization, Deakin University

In 1992 Olivier Roy defined the “failure of political Islam” as failure in the transition from Islamist insurgency to political government. Islamist movements can come to power, but, when they do, the parameters of politics will ineluctably supersede Islamist ideology as a guide to government. Islamism is thus “condemned to serving as a mere cover for the political logic that eludes it.”

Roy was drawing on his experiences in Afghanistan and considered the Iranian revolution as paradigmatic. After the Arab Spring, Roy’s thesis seemed to remain valid, the author remarking in 2014 that political Islam is “doomed to fail as soon as it takes power, as the examples of Tunisia and Egypt demonstrate all too well … the exercise of power marks the failure not only of the Islamist ideology but of the very idea that religion offers a program for governing.”

I propose a different perspective on the failure or success of political Islam today, by considering the conditions catalysed in Israel by Hamas, in the months following its attack of October 7, 2023. I suggest the non-failure of Hamas’ political Islam is evident in the divisions between state and society that have developed in the polity of Israel. While struggling to achieve a military victory and bring its hostage citizens home, Israel’s government has become internally divided, and also divided against its citizenry. Predominance over Hamas’ political Islam will require the restoration of political authority and social cohesion within Israel, that Hamas seems to have successfully challenged.

Benedict Moleta
PhD Candidate, The Australian National University

Benedict Moleta is a PhD candidate in international relations at the Australian National University, researching Australian foreign policy and the work of Coral Bell. His MA thesis (2020, University of Sydney) was on relations between the European Union and Palestine and focussed on the position and prospects of Hamas. He has written several pieces on the Israel-Hamas war for the Australian Institute of International Affairs’ “Australian Outlook,” including on the prospects for post-war government in Israel and Gaza. Benedict’s BA was in German and European Studies (2001, University of Western Australia), with interests from Lessing to Lenin. He enjoys learning languages.

Borders and heritage two fundamental devices for designating group identities. Here, borders indicate processes of asserting sovereignty, territorial demarcation and spatial differentiation created through various forms of human and collective practices. Comparably, heritage refers to the process of collective (re)imaginings and uses of the past in the present. It underpins group identities and their associations and claims over territories. As such, it is also an important justification for bordering processes. This paper will draw on various examples from within West Asia to explore and illustrate the mutual relationship between borders and heritage. Referring to these examples, the paper will reflect on the various kinds of heritage-border relationships and their implications for the parties involved on the ground.

Ali Mozaffari
Senior Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Dr Ali Mozaffari is a Senior Fellow with the Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University, Australia. His current research interests include geopolitics of the past as well as culture and the built environment with a specific focus on West Asia. His publications include Heritage Movements in Asia: Cultural Heritage Activism, Politics, and Identity (edited volume with Tod Jones, Berghahn 2020), and Development, architecture and the formation of heritage in late-twentieth century Iran: A vital past (Manchester University Press 2020). Dr Mozaffari is the founding co-editor of Berghahn’s series Explorations in Heritage Studies and co-founder of the Heritage and Transnationalism Network (HTN) with the Association of Critical Heritage Studies.

The 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” protests have led to an escalation in state-sponsored disinformation campaigns in Iran. This study investigates how the Iranian regime, facing a mounting legitimacy crisis, has employed a “Big Lie” strategy to undermine influential dissidents and prevent the formation of an effective opposition. The strategy primarily targets three groups: celebrities, domestic political dissidents, and notable exiled opponents. Through an analysis of state-owned media content and tweets, this paper uncovers a systematic pattern of character assassination against dissidents. The regime aims to instil a sense of public hopelessness about alternatives to the Islamic Republic. By examining the Big Lie in the context of online platforms, this research sheds light on mechanisms of control in modern despotism within the digital age.

Amin Naeni, PhD Candidate

Shahram Akbarzadeh

Research Professor and Deputy Director (International), Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

Convenor, Middle East Studies Forum (MESF)

With the ongoing Palestine-Israel conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the world is witnessing global solidarity with Gaza indicating that the ethics of care is extending to broader spaces. However, Israel continues to demonstrate a severe lack of compassion towards Palestinians as indicated by the flagrant violation of human rights and growing catastrophic death tolls in Gaza. This paper is focused on empathy as a crucial component of positive peace and explains that although empathy can lead to mutual understanding and cooperation, developing empathy towards an adversary can be disruptive, particularly during a conflict. Lack of empathy serves as a defensive mechanism to protect Israelis’ (in-group) psychological well-being and their righteousness; therefore, empathising with the Palestinians (out-group) can be considered an admission to the guilt and portrays Israelis as occupiers. Moreover, whilst acknowledging the traumas experienced by Jews during the Holocaust, this paper argues that politicising the memory of this genocide has taken the form of competitive victimhood, leaving little room for empathy which is a necessary condition for peaceful conflict resolution. Conversion of the sense of victimhood to sympathy requires Israeli Jews to contextualise their past traumas in the right historical and political frame, re-examine their relationships with Palestinians, and reinterpret their narrow religious, ethnic and nationalistic views.

Maliheh Rezaei
Teaching Associate, Monash University

Dr Maliheh Rezaei is a teaching associate in Peace Education at Monash University and Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia. She specialises in critical approaches to peace education, and academic freedom specifically in higher education contexts.

The Middle East faces complex challenges such as gender discrimination, climate hazards, wars, civil conflicts, economic decline, and immigration crises. Traditional linear political analysis often fails to address these interconnected issues effectively. The failures of the international community in Palestine, Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan further demonstrate the inadequacies of these conventional methods. This paper argues that participatory foresight and futures thinking offer a more effective analysis framework for the future of the Middle East. By engaging diverse stakeholders, including governments and foreign policy experts, in collaborative scenario planning, foresight explores multiple futures and identifies hidden opportunities and risks that have gone missed. Participatory foresight promotes a holistic and adaptive method for envisioning potential futures, enhancing the legitimacy and relevance of outcomes, and improving readiness for various scenarios. Recent events, like the war in Gaza and the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, underscore the necessity of foresight. These movements highlight the need to address underlying causes and future implications proactively. Already valuable in urban planning and regional development, foresight methods can be transformative in the Middle East as has been used by the UAE. By empowering diverse voices and fostering a shared vision, participatory foresight and futures thinking can help the region achieve a sustainable, equitable, and resilient future. Integrating these approaches into policy design is crucial for effectively addressing the Middle East’s challenges.

Shadi Rouhshahbaz
Associate Research Fellow, Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University

PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne

Shadi Rouhshahbaz (she/her) is an Associate Research Fellow at The Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI). She is a PhD student at the University of Melbourne and holds a Double- Joint Master’s degree in International Development – Migration and Mediation from the Ca Foscari University of Venice and Paul Valery University, Montpellier 3. Shadi has previously worked with UN Women HQ, UNICEF and the Agency for Peacebuilding and the United Network of Young Peacebuilders. Her research focuses on the intersections of foresight studies, youth, gender, peace and security, the Middle East and multilateral institutions. Shadi is committed to conducting research that influences policy by bridging the gaps between the lived experience of individuals and the required developments of systems and academia. Rooted in her personal experiences of being a young female leader who contributed to shaping many intersectional spaces, Shadi is fascinated by the experience of young women and creating sustainability for future generations.

This article presents a comparative analysis of the US-China rivalry in the Middle East, focusing on their soft power strategies. Soft power is increasingly seen as a victor in the ongoing geopolitical competition between the two rivals, each employing distinct strategies to court regional partners, shaping perceptions and relationships in the region. While the US has historically dominated, China’s multifaceted engagement has positioned it as a formidable contender, expanding beyond resource acquisition to diplomacy, investment, security cooperation, and cultural outreach. Drawing on public opinion surveys from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the findings highlight a clear preference for China over the US. China’s multifaceted engagement has garnered widespread approval, with a majority of respondents viewing China favourably across various domains. In contrast, the US faces diminishing favourability, particularly regarding its role in regional conflicts and as a reliable partner. This trend reflects a broader transition towards a multipolar regional order, challenging traditional US dominance. Moreover, the surveys also underscore the agency of regional countries in shaping this evolving regional order, with implications for regional stability and cooperation.

Arif Saba
Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University

Dr Arif Saba holds a PhD in International Relations from Deakin University and is an Associate Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. His research interests, more broadly, include rising powers, international order, international norms, and norm contestation in International Relations. His research has been published in academic journals, including International Peacekeeping and International Politics.

The legacy of the Holocaust – constituting the core element of Israel’s national identity – has played a major role in mapping out the Jewish state’s functioning in the international arena since it was established in 1948. Recognizing Israelis’ traumatic experience of the Holocaust, the international community has since viewed the WWII mass murder of Jews as a worldwide point of reference and comparison for crimes against humanity. Major powers, such as U.S., have even gone beyond such benchmarking and have often supported Israel’s aggressive policies toward Palestinians in light of the Holocaust memory. Yet, Israel’s military actions in Gaza since 07 October 2023, particularly regarding civilian casualties, have been criticized internationally. To name but a few examples, U.S. has unprecedentedly mulled sanctions against some Israeli army units, the International Criminal Court prosecutor has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli PM Netanyahu, and some members of the European Parliament have referred to Israel as a “genocidal apartheid regime.” Israel’s Gaza invasion seems to have posed considerable challenges to Holocaust legacies of Israel’s national identity.

This study seeks to explain how Israel’s latest invasion of Gaza has undermined Israel’s national identity, which often draws on the Holocaust as a foundational event for the state’s existence and security. Using role theory, I argue that the Israeli military campaign, Operation Swords of Iron, undermines the legacies of the Holocaust in Israel’s national identity by raising ethical and legal concerns, damaging Israel’s international reputation, distorting historical narratives, and creating divisions within the Jewish community.

Mohsen Solhdoost
Assistant Professor of International Relations, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University

Dr Mohsen Solhdoost is an Assistant Professor of International Relations in the Department of International Studies, Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. Prior to joining XJTLU, Mohsen was teaching International Relations courses at the University of Queensland and the Australian Catholic University. Mohsen’s main program of research includes foreign policy analysis and diplomacy. In his work he focuses on complex security issues such as states’ interactions with non-state actors and examines issues around identity politics. His research has been published in leading journals such as Global Policy Journal (GPJ), Journal of the Indian Ocean Region (JIOR), and Journal of Asian and African Studies (JAAS).

This paper does two things. First, it aims to better understand how Syrians understand the law in the aftermath of mass violence and revolutionary events. These events began in the public consciousness in 2011 with the revolution and subsequent Syrian civil war, but really Syrians’ relationship to violence and the law extended well before into the half-century reign of the al-Assad regime and will, no doubt, proceed in various ways, regardless where they are now located, for many generations to come. The second aspect of the paper conjoins the experiences of Syrians with ideas, dialogue, documents and stories from my own Jewish family who escaped Nazi violence and oppression in Europe. In doing this I hope to bring “above the horizon of history” many “unknown unknowns” as a way to better understand how violence and the law interrelate across geographies and time.

Marika Sosnowski
Research Fellow, University of Melbourne

Marika Sosnowski is an Australian-qualified lawyer, a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Melbourne Law School and a Research Associate at the German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in Hamburg. Her works sits at the intersection of socio-political-legal anthropology. Her primary research interests are in the fields of critical security studies (mainly ceasefires), local/rebel governance and legal systems (particularly issues around citizenship and belonging) with a geographical focus on Syria.

Members of the Global South often engage in ‘norm entrepreneurship’ – efforts to mould the normative framework of global politics – as the status quo of power relations rarely serves their interests. However, we rarely explore contexts in which the Global South seeks to reinforce international principles and frameworks in the event of what they see as a moral abdication from members of the Global North. One such example is South Africa’s charge under the genocide convention against Israel for its war on Gaza submitted to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). This paper explores this case with the hope to better understand attempts at the reconstruction of human rights norms in conflict, and the potential legacy of these efforts “after Gaza.”

Andrew Thomas
Lecturer in Middle East Studies, Deakin University

Dr Andrew Thomas is a lecturer in International Relations and Middle East studies at Deakin university. He coordinates the Middle East Studies Program at Deakin University.

War provides the archetypal opportunity to demonstrate honour: the trope of the honourable battle hero traverses societies and histories. Nonetheless, alternative avenues for honour expression, such as via sporting or literary excellence, are hardly new either.

Like other modern societies and states, honour expressions in Iran and by the Islamic Republic take contested and shifting forms. This paper investigates how the Islamic Republic expressed honour in the context of Israel’s 2023-24 onslaught on Gaza, and whether there is any pattern or shift in its honour expression that can be meaningfully connected with Israel’s actions. For example, has a securitization agenda gained traction in the wake of the Damascus embassy attack, and/or has Israel’s reputational damage led the Islamic Republic to emphasize ideational forms of honour expression? These questions are worth considering in the context of regional dynamics as well as Iran-US relations and the possibility of a second Trump presidency: both nations’ honour expressions shifted towards military forms during the 45th president’s term.

This study is underpinned by Richard Lebow’s conception of state motives as dynamic, mixed and comparable to ideal-type spirit, appetite and reason motives alongside fear emotions. Spirit motives, which Lebow suggests are prominent in world politics, lead actors to seek esteem through honour, which is obtained via honour expressions. The existing literature links spirit motives to US and Russian among other states’ actions; this paper contemplates Iranian actions. Methodologically, such investigation demands the analysis of key actors’ behaviour and justifications, dominant societal discourses and domestic commentaries.

Janice Webster
Independent Researcher

Dr Janice Webster holds an MA in Iranian Studies (2017) and a PhD in Contemporary Iranian Studies (2024) from the Faculty of World Studies, University of Tehran. She was recognized as her faculty’s top international student by the University of Tehran during the coursework stage of her MA and received a PhD scholarship from the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology. Janice has coauthored articles with FWS faculty members in English and Persian.

This paper examines Qatar’s role as a mediator in the aftermath of the devastating war on Gaza and its impact on the nation’s regional and global relationships. Drawing upon Qatar’s history of diplomatic engagement, the paper will offer analysis of how it has responded to the United States’ request for mediation while navigating the complex geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. The paper argues that Qatar’s efforts to broker a ceasefire have come at a significant cost, straining its relations with regional powers and testing its alliances with global actors. By exploring the challenges faced by Qatar in its pursuit of a peaceful resolution, this paper highlights the limitations of mediation efforts in the absence of a comprehensive framework for a lasting settlement and special interest politics in the United States. The paper highlights that without addressing the underlying causes of the conflict and engaging in substantive discussions on a final settlement, any brokered ceasefire remains susceptible to future upending. Through a critical examination of Qatar’s diplomatic endeavours, this paper contributes to the understanding of the intricate and complex interplay between regional politics, global alliances, and the prospects for postwar scenario in the aftermath of the war on Gaza.

Steven Wright
Associate Professor, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Hamad bin Khalifa University

Dr. Steven Wright is an Associate Professor of International Relations and an Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. He previously served as an Associate Dean and the Head of the Department of International Affairs at Qatar University. His area of research expertise relates to three main areas: US foreign policy toward the Gulf region, Energy Geopolitics, and the International Relations and Political Economy of the Arab Gulf states. He has also held research fellowships at the London School of Economics, Exeter University, and the University of Durham. He obtained his PhD in International Relations from the University of Durham.

Australia’s exclusion from global consensus in recognising Palestine undermines its position as a defender of human rights and its ability to contribute meaningfully to resolving one of the world’s most protracted and painful conflicts. This paper offers a critical examination of the complicity and historical amnesia of the Global North in the context of Israel’s imperialistic invasion and violence against Palestinians. By dissecting the role of Western governments and institutions such as the ICC, NATO and the United Nations, this paper employs decoloniality framework to explore how these entities have not only supported but actively facilitated the systemic oppression and occupation of Palestinian territories. Through a comprehensive review of socio-political, and historical frameworks, this study aims to illuminate the colonial power structure that the Global North has perpetuated and also benefits from Israel’s imperialism, ultimately contributing to the continuous marginalization and suffering of the Palestinian people. From awarding Israel’s Elbit Systems with the $917 million contract in Australian taxpayer funds; to granting the contract with the British government-backed BP Oil and BEA Systems (manufacturer of Israel’s F-35 fighter jets), this paper delves into the historical amnesia prevalent in the Global North, which conveniently overlooks colonial histories and Israel’s imperialistic ambition, adding more impediment to the Palestinian pathway to freedom. It then calls for a reevaluation of historical narratives and the recognition of Palestine in Australia, to join a significant global consensus in reinforcing international efforts to pressure Israel into restoring justice and a lasting peace in the Middle East. Such recognition is not only a fulfilment of Australia’s commitment to a two-state solution but also a necessary step in addressing the longstanding issues of colonization and dehumanization against the Palestinian people. In conclusion, this paper seeks to galvanise support and outline actionable steps for Australia to take this bold and principled stand for an honest engagement of the Global North to foster a more inclusive and just global society.

Aisya M. Zaharin
PhD researcher

Aisya A. Zaharin is a PhD researcher who focuses on navigating Asian values and media responsibility from a decolonial approach. Her research covers various fields such as political science, history, decolonization, LGBTQI+ and Islam, with a special focus on improving social inequality and promoting cultural relativism. As an intersectional feminist, Aisya understands how social identities can create overlapping inequalities and discrimination. She works to amplify the voices of those who experience intersecting discrimination and integrates these with her own lived experiences. Aisya comes to the academic-activist from her lived experience as a progressive Muslim and as a trans woman of colour, she refuses to allow her identity to be used as a pretext for the continued carnage in Israel’s pinkwashing propaganda. For her, It’s absurd to think that queer and trans liberation should come from a campaign of bombings on defenceless civilians by the apartheid ethno-religious state of Israel, which predates October 7th and has continued for more than 75 years. Having been raised in a British post-colonised nation herself, she recognises the same dehumanising terminology to characterise any resistance group as savages and pengganas (terrorists) to maintain their colonial authority. She believes that decolonization is an ongoing process and that the LGBTQIA people in Gaza are equally in danger of dying from Israeli bombings (read: genocide) if they haven’t unalived already.

MESF Conference 2024

October 7-8, 2024

Keynote Speaker

Shiri KrebsProfessor of Law and Director, Centre of Law as Protection, Deakin Law School

Sarah PhillipsProfessor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney

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Shiri Krebs
Professor of Law and Director, Centre of Law as Protection, Deakin Law School

Sarah Phillips
Professor of Global Conflict and Development at the University of Sydney