Richard Devetak

Research Expertise

• International relations theory
• History of political thought
• History of international thought
• History of the states-system
• Humanitarianism and intervention

Richard Devetak is Professor of the History of International Thought and was Head of the School of Political Science and International Studies from 2013 to 2018. He has published on the history of international thought, contemporary theoretical debates in international relations, humanitarian intervention, the ‘war on terror’, and globalisation’s implications for justice and the state, as well as on foreign policy, refugees, and national identity in the Australian context. His major contribution has been in the area of international relations theory, more specifically in the exposition and analysis of Frankfurt School Critical Theory and post-structuralism, and in international intellectual history.

His most recent publication is a volume edited with Tim Dunne, Rise of the International: International Relations meets History (Oxford University Press, 2024). This volume brings together scholars of International Relations and History to capture the emergence and development of the thought, the relations, and the systems that we call international. He recently published a monograph titled Critical International Theory: An Intellectual History (Oxford University Press, 2018). His writings in these areas have been published in leading International Relations journals including International Affairs, Millennium and Review of International Studies. His current research interests include: the history of international thought and the history of the states-system in early modern Europe and beyond. He has held Visiting Fellowships at the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth (2003), the Department of Politics, Institutions and History at University of Bologna (2008), and at the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the European University Institute, Florence (2012).

From 2020-2023 he was part of the Review of International Studies editorial team, led by Dr Martin Coward (Manchester). He is also working on a large multi-million dollar collaborative project, led by Prof. Halvard Leira (NUPI) and funded by the Research Council of Norway, on A Conceptual History of International Relations.

He has also made a major contribution to two popular international relations textbooks. He is the lead editor of An Introduction to International Relations: fourth edition (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2022) with co-editor Daniel McCarthy; and co-editor with Jacqui True of Theories of International Relations: sixth edition (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022).