Connor O’Brien
@connorpobrien.bsky.social
Politics PhD @Cambridge_Uni, alumn @UniMelb. International political economy, global environmental politics, and Australian FP. Like/share ≠ endorse
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
The AUKUS review poses a fundamental challenge to the U.S.-Australia relationship, and Australian foreign policy generally. Three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
If AUKUS Is Toast, What Should Australia Do Next?
Amid Elbridge Colby’s review of the submarine deal, three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
foreignpolicy.com
July 21, 2025 at 3:30 PM
The AUKUS review poses a fundamental challenge to the U.S.-Australia relationship, and Australian foreign policy generally. Three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
Great to publish this @foreignpolicy.com review essay on the future of Australian foreign policy
The AUKUS review poses a fundamental challenge to the U.S.-Australia relationship, and Australian foreign policy generally. Three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
If AUKUS Is Toast, What Should Australia Do Next?
Amid Elbridge Colby’s review of the submarine deal, three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
foreignpolicy.com
July 22, 2025 at 2:26 AM
Great to publish this @foreignpolicy.com review essay on the future of Australian foreign policy
Australia is far too small to shape the regional balance of power via military means, and its defence spending will remain a rounding error in comparison to the US and China
This is the inconvenient truth ignored by many pro-AUKUS commentators
www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
This is the inconvenient truth ignored by many pro-AUKUS commentators
www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
Australia should stop pretending to be a military hegemon
With its defence spending akin to a rounding error in comparison to China and the US, Australia must find other ways to exert power.
www.lowyinstitute.org
June 27, 2025 at 2:28 AM
Australia is far too small to shape the regional balance of power via military means, and its defence spending will remain a rounding error in comparison to the US and China
This is the inconvenient truth ignored by many pro-AUKUS commentators
www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
This is the inconvenient truth ignored by many pro-AUKUS commentators
www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
“Australia is particularly well placed to shape the medium- and long-term economic determinants of the regional distribution of power,” writes Connor O’Brien in The Interpreter.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
Australia should stop pretending to be a military hegemon
With its defence spending akin to a rounding error in comparison to China and the US, Australia must find other ways to exert power.
www.lowyinstitute.org
June 26, 2025 at 6:08 PM
“Australia is particularly well placed to shape the medium- and long-term economic determinants of the regional distribution of power,” writes Connor O’Brien in The Interpreter.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
As the debate about Australian defence commitments and AUKUS heats up, it’s worth questioning what all this spending is meant to be for
To boost regional ties, Australia should instead be prioritising decisive multilateral action on trade, sovereign debt, and climate finance
To boost regional ties, Australia should instead be prioritising decisive multilateral action on trade, sovereign debt, and climate finance
“Australia is particularly well placed to shape the medium- and long-term economic determinants of the regional distribution of power,” writes Connor O’Brien in The Interpreter.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
Australia should stop pretending to be a military hegemon
With its defence spending akin to a rounding error in comparison to China and the US, Australia must find other ways to exert power.
www.lowyinstitute.org
June 26, 2025 at 11:15 PM
As the debate about Australian defence commitments and AUKUS heats up, it’s worth questioning what all this spending is meant to be for
To boost regional ties, Australia should instead be prioritising decisive multilateral action on trade, sovereign debt, and climate finance
To boost regional ties, Australia should instead be prioritising decisive multilateral action on trade, sovereign debt, and climate finance
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
"After first emerging in the interwar years, offshore tax havens proliferated during the era of decolonization. Postcolonial self-determination prompted the flight of imperial capital to offshore jurisdictions, many of which were current or former British dependent territories."
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
June 10, 2025 at 6:35 PM
"After first emerging in the interwar years, offshore tax havens proliferated during the era of decolonization. Postcolonial self-determination prompted the flight of imperial capital to offshore jurisdictions, many of which were current or former British dependent territories."
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
June 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
June 5, 2025 at 7:17 PM
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offshoring-the-planet/
t.co
June 8, 2025 at 12:31 PM
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offshoring-the-planet/
t.co
June 8, 2025 at 12:31 PM
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
June 6, 2025 at 9:47 AM
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
🚨CRIA is soliciting special issue proposals that contribute to scholarly debate and which examine pertinent and topical theoretical, empirical and methodological questions ⬇️
Deadline: 11 June
Deadline: 11 June
May 7, 2025 at 11:28 AM
🚨CRIA is soliciting special issue proposals that contribute to scholarly debate and which examine pertinent and topical theoretical, empirical and methodological questions ⬇️
Deadline: 11 June
Deadline: 11 June
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
On 28 May, CRIA is running an ECR workshop on 'The Global Politics of the Green Transition'! Abstract submissions close on 7 April.
March 11, 2025 at 4:05 PM
On 28 May, CRIA is running an ECR workshop on 'The Global Politics of the Green Transition'! Abstract submissions close on 7 April.
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
"Whatever the economy is, its reality does not exist independent of our ability to account for it."
NEW: An adapted excerpt from The Real Economy by
Jonathan Levy, out now from Princeton University Press.
NEW: An adapted excerpt from The Real Economy by
Jonathan Levy, out now from Princeton University Press.
The Real Economy | Phenomenal World
No discipline in the humanities or social sciences today has a convincing theory of the economy. Long preoccupied with honing methods, the core of the discipline of economics has abandoned investigati...
www.phenomenalworld.org
March 11, 2025 at 9:58 PM
"Whatever the economy is, its reality does not exist independent of our ability to account for it."
NEW: An adapted excerpt from The Real Economy by
Jonathan Levy, out now from Princeton University Press.
NEW: An adapted excerpt from The Real Economy by
Jonathan Levy, out now from Princeton University Press.
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
CRIA is hosting a roundtable on 'Concept Formation and Historical IR' (SA30) to kickoff our presence at the 2025 Chicago International Studies Association conference @isanet.bsky.social. Come along to The Barbershop (Blackstone Hotel) from 8:15am for a great discussion!
March 2, 2025 at 12:55 PM
CRIA is hosting a roundtable on 'Concept Formation and Historical IR' (SA30) to kickoff our presence at the 2025 Chicago International Studies Association conference @isanet.bsky.social. Come along to The Barbershop (Blackstone Hotel) from 8:15am for a great discussion!
Excited to be joining @alktaif.bsky.social as co-editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social
CRIA welcomes submissions on international affairs topics from across the social sciences!
CRIA welcomes submissions on international affairs topics from across the social sciences!
January 4, 2025 at 6:48 AM
Excited to be joining @alktaif.bsky.social as co-editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social
CRIA welcomes submissions on international affairs topics from across the social sciences!
CRIA welcomes submissions on international affairs topics from across the social sciences!
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
My new essay with @akentikelenis.bsky.social on green technology transfers in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/tec...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/tec...
Transfer and Transition | Benjamin Bradlow & Alexandros Kentikelenis
Technology transfer is a necessity for a just global green transformation
www.phenomenalworld.org
December 19, 2024 at 5:23 PM
My new essay with @akentikelenis.bsky.social on green technology transfers in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social.
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/tec...
www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/tec...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Our Emeritus Professor Anne Phillips has a joint review of the recent books on (in)equality by Paul Sagar, Darrin M McMahon, @brankomilan.bsky.social sky.social and @laywilliams.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/eprint/S9TIH...
December 16, 2024 at 7:13 PM
Our Emeritus Professor Anne Phillips has a joint review of the recent books on (in)equality by Paul Sagar, Darrin M McMahon, @brankomilan.bsky.social sky.social and @laywilliams.bsky.social www.tandfonline.com/eprint/S9TIH...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
If the suspense was killing you, never fear! The episode with @rowenasquires.bsky.social is now available!
We discuss the depiction of outer space colonialism in children's animation — from WALL-E, to Treasure Planet, to Disney's ex-Nazi rocket scientist
open.substack.com/pub/alinautr...
We discuss the depiction of outer space colonialism in children's animation — from WALL-E, to Treasure Planet, to Disney's ex-Nazi rocket scientist
open.substack.com/pub/alinautr...
December 16, 2024 at 10:59 AM
If the suspense was killing you, never fear! The episode with @rowenasquires.bsky.social is now available!
We discuss the depiction of outer space colonialism in children's animation — from WALL-E, to Treasure Planet, to Disney's ex-Nazi rocket scientist
open.substack.com/pub/alinautr...
We discuss the depiction of outer space colonialism in children's animation — from WALL-E, to Treasure Planet, to Disney's ex-Nazi rocket scientist
open.substack.com/pub/alinautr...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Scary stuff by @laurielaybourn.bsky.social and @jamesgyke.bsky.social on the climate-inflation doom loop:
As climate disruption kicks off, prices go up, central bankers hike and angry voters derail democratic systems, setting the stage for more disruption.
theconversation.com/a-doom-loop-...
A ‘doom loop’ of climate change and geopolitical instability is beginning
Climate change is driving inflation and instability, which harms climate action. But it’s not too late to escape the doom loop.
theconversation.com
December 11, 2024 at 10:14 AM
Scary stuff by @laurielaybourn.bsky.social and @jamesgyke.bsky.social on the climate-inflation doom loop:
As climate disruption kicks off, prices go up, central bankers hike and angry voters derail democratic systems, setting the stage for more disruption.
theconversation.com/a-doom-loop-...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Check out my latest with @beaubaumann.bsky.social at @lpeblog.bsky.social: Legislative institutions and procedures will either work for or against the broader progressive agenda. It's time for LPE scholars to give more attention to fixing Congress.
lpeproject.org/blog/what-do...
lpeproject.org/blog/what-do...
What Does LPE Have to Say About Congress?
In recent years, the LPE movement has generated compelling positions on the limits of the courts and the promise of the administrative state. Yet it is striking how little it has had to say about…
lpeproject.org
December 9, 2024 at 12:33 PM
Check out my latest with @beaubaumann.bsky.social at @lpeblog.bsky.social: Legislative institutions and procedures will either work for or against the broader progressive agenda. It's time for LPE scholars to give more attention to fixing Congress.
lpeproject.org/blog/what-do...
lpeproject.org/blog/what-do...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
This is an absolutely insane story - a must read!
Annals of UK higher education. This is an extraordinary story.
Cambridge University urged to apologise over jailing of thousands of ‘evil’ women without evidence or trial
A 1561 charter granted powers to imprison young working-class women found walking with undergraduates after dark
www.theguardian.com
December 7, 2024 at 6:36 PM
This is an absolutely insane story - a must read!
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
I don't think climate policy folks have really wrestled w. how to deal with the IMMENSE concentration of wealth in the global economy. It creates a vicious feedback among "liberal" democracies. Gov’ts are beholden to firms that "support" their economies – in an increasingly volatile fashion. 1/2
December 6, 2024 at 2:25 PM
I don't think climate policy folks have really wrestled w. how to deal with the IMMENSE concentration of wealth in the global economy. It creates a vicious feedback among "liberal" democracies. Gov’ts are beholden to firms that "support" their economies – in an increasingly volatile fashion. 1/2
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Excited to share my new paper “Governing on par with states” published #openaccess in RIS @risjnl.bsky.social. I examine how private actors have shifted from entities to be regulated to being viewed as necessary part of solutions to global problems. 1/5 ⬇️
doi.org/10.1017/S026...
doi.org/10.1017/S026...
November 27, 2024 at 12:41 PM
Excited to share my new paper “Governing on par with states” published #openaccess in RIS @risjnl.bsky.social. I examine how private actors have shifted from entities to be regulated to being viewed as necessary part of solutions to global problems. 1/5 ⬇️
doi.org/10.1017/S026...
doi.org/10.1017/S026...
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
Prospects for #climatefinance at #COP29 do not look good. Deadlock can provide an opportunity for issue linkage. It’s time to get creative and think outside the #UNFCCC box. Developing countries have options. They should swing for the fences. 🧵
November 21, 2024 at 2:41 PM
Prospects for #climatefinance at #COP29 do not look good. Deadlock can provide an opportunity for issue linkage. It’s time to get creative and think outside the #UNFCCC box. Developing countries have options. They should swing for the fences. 🧵