Professor Roland Bleiker
Professor

Roland Bleiker

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 51068

Background

Roland is Professor of International Relations and Coordinator of the Visual Politics Research Program. His research explores how images and emotions shape political phenomena, including humanitarianism, security, peacebuilding, protest movements and the conflict in Korea. Books include Visual Global Politics (Routledge, 2018); Aesthetics and World Politics (Palgrave, 2009/2012); Divided Korea: Toward a Culture of Reconciliation (University of Minnesota Press, 2005/2008) and Popular Dissent, Human Agency and Global Politics (CUP, 2000).

Roland’s main current research project is an interdisciplinary ARC Linkage collaboration (2022-2026) on The Politics and Ethics of Visualising Humanitarian Crises. The project involves eight researchers and the World Press Photo Foundation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières.

Roland grew up in Zürich, Switzerland, where he was educated and worked as a lawyer. He studied international relations in Paris, Seoul, Toronto, Vancouver and Canberra. Roland also worked for two years in a Swiss diplomatic mission in the Korean DMZ and held visiting affiliations at Harvard, Cambridge, Humboldt, Tampere, Yonsei and Pusan National University as well as the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.

Further informatin can be found on Roland''s personal website:

For an in-person or zoom appointment book here: https://calendly.com/bleiker

Selection of Recent Publications

“Decolonising Affect" Cooperation and Conflict (2024)

“Un-Disciplining the International” Alternatives: Local, Global, Political (2023)

"Visualizing International Relations” Journal of Visual Political Communication, 10,(2023

"Visual Violence" Interview with Brad Evans, Los Angeles Review of Books, 3 Jan 2022.

Availability

Professor Roland Bleiker is:
Available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Government and politics of Asia and the Pacific Human Society International relations Language, Communication and Culture Political science

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto
  • Masters (Coursework), The University of British Columbia
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University

Research interests

  • International Relations: Visual Politics and Emotions

    Theories of International Relations. How images and emotions shape political phenomena, including security, diplomacy and humanitarian crises.

  • Peace and Conflict Studies

    Conflict resolution in societies divided by trauma. Transnational social movements and the conceptualisation of political change. Art and literature as sources of political transformation.

  • Politics and Security in Korea

    Security and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula, including policy-relevant debates.

Research impacts

Much of my work has revolved around combining theory and practice. I embark on conceptual inquires to rethink entrenched political dillemas. At the moment my main practice-oriented reserach is a four year collaborative project on The Politics and Ethics of Visualising Humanitarian Crises. Funded through an ARC Linkage Grant (2022-2025) this project aims to draw on the power of images to transform practices and policies of aid. In particular, the project develops – and tests - alternative visual strategies that depict humanitarian crises in ways that encourage compassion for victims without entrenching problematic stereotypes. We work with four prominent Partner Organisations that are at the forefront of humanitarian and photojournalistic work: The World Press Photo Foundation, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Australian Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières. The project team consists of myself and five other Chief Investigators: A/Prof Emma Hutchison, from the School of Political Science and International Studies; Prof Matthew Hornsey and Dr Cassandra Chapman from the UQ Business School, as well as A/Prof Sana Nakata from the University of Melbourne and Prof Bina D’Costa from the Australian National University. Involved as well are two Partner Investigators: Prof Fiona Terry, Head of Research at the ICRC, and Prof David Campbell, formerly Director of Communication at World Press Photo and now with The VII Foundation.

Search Professor Roland Bleiker’s works on UQ eSpace

192 works between 1993 and 2024
All (192) Journal Article (99) Book Chapter (77) Conference Publication (3) Book (8) Other Outputs (2) Edited Outputs (3)

61 - 80 of 192 works

2013

Book Chapter

Reconciliation

Bleiker, Roland and Hutchison, Emma (2013). Reconciliation. The Routledge handbook of peacebuilding. (pp. 81-90) edited by Roger Mac Ginty. Abington, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Reconciliation

2013

Book Chapter

Betrayed by Democracy: Verbatim Theater as Prefigurative Politics

Chou, Mark and Bleiker, Roland (2013). Betrayed by Democracy: Verbatim Theater as Prefigurative Politics. Doing Democracy: Activist Art and Cultural Politics. (pp. 231-256) edited by Nancy Sue Love and Mark Mattern. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press (SUNY).

Betrayed by Democracy: Verbatim Theater as Prefigurative Politics

2013

Book Chapter

Between consensus and deconstruction A feminist reading of dialogue

Leet, Martin and Bleiker, Roland (2013). Between consensus and deconstruction A feminist reading of dialogue. Dialogue, politics and gender. (pp. 120-145) edited by Jude Browne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9781139855938.006

Between consensus and deconstruction A feminist reading of dialogue

2012

Journal Article

The politics of illegalised migration

Bleiker, Roland (2012). The politics of illegalised migration. Australian Journal of Political Science, 47 (2), 311-316. doi: 10.1080/10361146.2012.677395

The politics of illegalised migration

2012

Journal Article

Review of Defacing power: The aesthetics of insecurity in global politics by Brent J. Steele

Bleiker, Roland (2012). Review of Defacing power: The aesthetics of insecurity in global politics by Brent J. Steele. Perspectives On Politics, 10 (2), 552-553. doi: 10.1017/S1537592712000412

Review of Defacing power: The aesthetics of insecurity in global politics by Brent J. Steele

2012

Book Chapter

Conclusion - everyday struggles for a hybrid peace

Bleiker, Roland (2012). Conclusion - everyday struggles for a hybrid peace. Hybrid forms of peace: From everyday agency to post- liberalism. (pp. 293-309) edited by Oliver P. Richmond and Audra Mitchell. Hampshire, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

Conclusion - everyday struggles for a hybrid peace

2012

Book Chapter

Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion

Hutchison, Emma and Bleiker, Roland (2012). Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion. Gender, agency and political violence. (pp. 151-168) edited by Linda Åhall and Laura J. Shepherd. Houndmills, United Kingdom: Palgrave Macmillan.

Ungendering the links between emotions and violence: towards a political appreciation of empathy and compassion

2012

Book Chapter

Postmodernism

Bleiker, Roland (2012). Postmodernism. An introduction to international relations. (pp. 91-102) edited by Richard Devetak, Anthony Burke and Jim George. Port Melbourne Vic., Australia: Cambridge University Press.

Postmodernism

2011

Book Chapter

Korean sources of conflict resolution: An inquiry into the concept of Han

Bleiker, Roland and Young-ju, Hoang (2011). Korean sources of conflict resolution: An inquiry into the concept of Han. Mediating across difference: Oceanic and Asian approaches to conflict resolution. (pp. 248-269) edited by Roland Bleiker and Moragn Brigg. Honolulu, HI, United States: University of Hawai'i Press.

Korean sources of conflict resolution: An inquiry into the concept of Han

2011

Book Chapter

Introduction

Brigg, Morgan and Bleiker, Roland (2011). Introduction. Mediating across difference: Oceanic and Asian approaches to conflict resolution. (pp. 1-15) edited by Morgan Brigg and Roland Bleiker. Honolulu, HI, U.S.A.: University of Hawaii Press.

Introduction

2011

Book Chapter

Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa: Pluralist photography and local empowerment

Bleiker, Roland and Kay, Amy (2011). Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa: Pluralist photography and local empowerment. The culture of AIDS in Africa: Hope and healing in music and the arts. (pp. 404-426) edited by Gregory Barz and Judah Cohen. New York, NY, U.S.A.: Oxford University Press.

Representing HIV/AIDS in Africa: Pluralist photography and local empowerment

2011

Book Chapter

Post-colonial conflict resolution

Brigg, Morgan and Bleiker, Roland (2011). Post-colonial conflict resolution. Mediating across difference: Oceanic and Asian approaches to conflict resolution. (pp. 19-37) edited by Morgan Brigg and Roland Bleiker. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press. doi: 10.21313/hawaii/9780824834593.003.0002

Post-colonial conflict resolution

2010

Journal Article

Dramatizing war: George Packer and the democratic potential of verbatim theater

Chou, Mark and Bleiker, Roland (2010). Dramatizing war: George Packer and the democratic potential of verbatim theater. New Political Science, 32 (4), 561-574. doi: 10.1080/07393148.2010.520441

Dramatizing war: George Packer and the democratic potential of verbatim theater

2010

Journal Article

Negotiating with Nuclear North Korea / Negocier avec la Coree du Nord? Question nucleaire et relations intercoreennes

Bleiker, Roland (2010). Negotiating with Nuclear North Korea / Negocier avec la Coree du Nord? Question nucleaire et relations intercoreennes. Critique Internationale, 49 (4), 21-36. doi: 10.3917/crii.049.0021

Negotiating with Nuclear North Korea / Negocier avec la Coree du Nord? Question nucleaire et relations intercoreennes

2010

Journal Article

Introduction: Forum on autoethnography and International Relations II

Bleiker, Roland and Brigg, Morgan (2010). Introduction: Forum on autoethnography and International Relations II. Review of International Studies, 36 (4) doi: 10.1017/S0260210510001178

Introduction: Forum on autoethnography and International Relations II

2010

Journal Article

Introduction to the RIS Forum on autoethnography and International Relations

Bleiker, Roland and Brigg, Morgan (2010). Introduction to the RIS Forum on autoethnography and International Relations. Review of International Studies, 36 (3), 777-778. doi: 10.1017/S0260210510000677

Introduction to the RIS Forum on autoethnography and International Relations

2010

Journal Article

Ko Un and the poetics of postcolonial identity

Roland Bleiker and David Hundt (2010). Ko Un and the poetics of postcolonial identity. Global Society, 24 (3), 331-349. doi: 10.1080/13600826.2010.485557

Ko Un and the poetics of postcolonial identity

2010

Journal Article

Autoethnographic international relations: Exploring the self as a source of knowledge

Brigg, Morgan and Bleiker, Roland (2010). Autoethnographic international relations: Exploring the self as a source of knowledge. Review of International Studies, 36 (3), 779-798. doi: 10.1017/S0260210510000689

Autoethnographic international relations: Exploring the self as a source of knowledge

2010

Book Chapter

Towards a sustainable diplomacy in divided Korea

Bleiker, Roland (2010). Towards a sustainable diplomacy in divided Korea. Sustainable Diplomacies. (pp. 235-255) edited by Costas M. Constantinou and James Der Derian. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9780230297159_12

Towards a sustainable diplomacy in divided Korea

2010

Book Chapter

Nietzsche's style: On language, knowledge and power in international relations

Bleiker, Roland and Chou, Mark (2010). Nietzsche's style: On language, knowledge and power in international relations. International relations theory and philosophy: Interpretive dialogues. (pp. 8-19) edited by Cerwyn Moore and Chris Farrands. London, U.K. ; New York, U.S.A: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9780203865903

Nietzsche's style: On language, knowledge and power in international relations

Current funding

  • 2022 - 2026
    Visualising humanitarian crises: transforming images and aid policy
    ARC Linkage Projects
    Open grant
  • 2021 - 2028
    Developing UQ as a central hub for nurturing the next generation of Korean Studies education, research and regional cooperation for Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia
    The Academy of Korean Studies
    Open grant

Past funding

  • 2011 - 2014
    How Images Shape Responses to Humanitarian Crises
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2011
    UQ Travel Awards Category 1 - Dr James Brassett
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2011
    UQ Travel Awards Category 1 - Prof Iver B Neumann
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2010
    UQ Travel Awards Category 1, David Campbell
    UQ Travel Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2006 - 2007
    Mediating Across Difference: Asian and Oceanic Approaches to Security and Conflict
    The Japan Foundation, Sydney
    Open grant
  • 2005
    Towards an Aesthetics of Peace at at Time of War: Alternative Understandings and Responses to Global Terrorism
    University of Queensland Research Development Grants Scheme
    Open grant
  • 2001 - 2002
    From Confrontation to Cooperation in Korea: The Role of Identity in the Formation of Security Policy
    United States Institute of Peace
    Open grant
  • 1999
    Rethinking security and ethics in divided nations.
    UQ New Staff Research Start-Up Fund
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Roland Bleiker is:
Available for supervision

Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.

Available projects

Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor Roland Bleiker directly for media enquiries about:

  • Anti-globalisation critique
  • International relations and security
  • Korea - peace and security
  • New social movements
  • Peace and conflict issues
  • Peace and conflict studies
  • Peace and security in Korea

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