
Overview
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
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Toronto
- Masters (Coursework), The University of British Columbia
- Doctor of Philosophy, Australian National University
Research interests
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International Relations: Visual Politics and Emotions
Theories of International Relations. How images and emotions shape political phenomena, including security, diplomacy and humanitarian crises.
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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.
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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.
Works
Search Professor Roland Bleiker’s works on UQ eSpace
2000
Edited Outputs
Alternatives: Social Transformation and Humane Governance
Alternatives: Social Transformation and Humane Governance. (2000). 25 (3)
2000
Journal Article
Editor's Introduction
Bleiker, Roland (2000). Editor's Introduction. Alternatives: Global, Local, Political, 25 (3), 269-284. doi: 10.1177/030437540002500301
2000
Journal Article
The changing space and speed of dissident politics
Bleiker, R. (2000). The changing space and speed of dissident politics. Social Alternatives, 19 (1), 9-15.
2000
Journal Article
'We don't need another hero': Women and the collapse of the Berlin wall
Bleiker, R. (2000). 'We don't need another hero': Women and the collapse of the Berlin wall. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 2 (1), 30-57. doi: 10.1080/146167400407000
2000
Journal Article
Stroll through the wall: Everyday poetics of cold war politics
Bleiker, R. (2000). Stroll through the wall: Everyday poetics of cold war politics. Alternatives: Social Transformation and Humane Governance, 25 (3), 391-408. doi: 10.1177/030437540002500313
2000
Book Chapter
The 'end of modernity'?
Bleiker, R. (2000). The 'end of modernity'?. Contending images of world politics. (pp. 227-241) edited by G. Fry and J. O'Hagan. Basingstoke, U.K.: Macmillan Press.
1999
Journal Article
The politics and ethics of relocated art
Bleiker, R. (1999). The politics and ethics of relocated art. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 53 (3), 311-326. doi: 10.1080/00049919993881
1999
Journal Article
Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory
Bleiker, R (1999). Pablo Neruda and the struggle for political memory. Third World Quarterly, 20 (6), 1129-1142. doi: 10.1080/01436599913325
1999
Journal Article
Korea and its futures: Unification and the unfinished war
Bleiker, R (1999). Korea and its futures: Unification and the unfinished war. Millennium-journal of International Studies, 28 (3), 771-774. doi: 10.1177/03058298990280030431
1999
Journal Article
'Give it the shade': Paul Celan and the politics of apolitical poetry
Bleiker, R (1999). 'Give it the shade': Paul Celan and the politics of apolitical poetry. Political Studies, 47 (4), 661-676. doi: 10.1111/1467-9248.00223
1999
Journal Article
Disarming strangers: Nuclear diplomacy with North Korea
Bleiker, R (1999). Disarming strangers: Nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. Millennium-journal of International Studies, 28 (3), 771-774. doi: 10.1177/03058298990280030431
1998
Journal Article
Retracing and redrawing the boundaries of events: Postmodern interferences with international theory
Bleiker, Roland (1998). Retracing and redrawing the boundaries of events: Postmodern interferences with international theory. Alternatives, 23 (4), 471-497. doi: 10.1177/030437549802300403
1997
Journal Article
Forget IR theory
Bleiker, R (1997). Forget IR theory. Alternatives-social Transformation And Humane Governance, 22 (1), 57-85. doi: 10.1177/030437549702200103
1994
Journal Article
The role and dynamics of nongovernmental actors in contemporary Korea
Bleiker, R., Bond, D. and Myung-Soo Lee, (1994). The role and dynamics of nongovernmental actors in contemporary Korea. Korean Studies, 18, 103-122.
1993
Journal Article
Neorealist Claims in Light of Ancient Chinese Philosophy: The Cultural Dimension of International Theory
Bleiker, Roland (1993). Neorealist Claims in Light of Ancient Chinese Philosophy: The Cultural Dimension of International Theory. Millennium - Journal of International Studies, 22 (3), 401-421. doi: 10.1177/03058298930220030801
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Professor Roland Bleiker is:
- Available for supervision
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Available projects
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
The Political Power of Cinema: Historical Trauma and Transitional Justice in East and Southeast Asia
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
Picturing climate migration: critiquing the visual discourse
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Karen McNamara
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Doctor Philosophy
Visualising Sri Lanka's Humanitarian Crises
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
Picturing climate migration: critiquing the visual discourse
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Karen McNamara
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Doctor Philosophy
Feeling Nation-States: Emotions and Belonging in the Making of Postcolonial Nation-States
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber
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Doctor Philosophy
Climate Change and Security in France
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
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Doctor Philosophy
Intractable Conflict and Self-Sacrifice in Interpersonal Mediation
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
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Master Philosophy
Self-Sacrifice and Intractable Conflict
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
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Doctor Philosophy
Climate Change and Security in France
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
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Doctor Philosophy
Climate Change and Security in France
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
Completed supervision
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Photographic Resistance: Protest, the News, and the Viewer
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sebastian Kaempf
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Emotions and Political Violence: An (Auto-)ethnographic Account of the People's War in Nepal
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
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2022
Doctor Philosophy
Visualising India¿s Nuclear Tests: How Images Shape National Identity
Principal Advisor
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2020
Doctor Philosophy
Ontological Security and Migration: Beyond Securitisation and Identity Politics
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Matt McDonald
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Mediation in international conflicts: the impartial, empowering and pressing mediator
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Andrew Phillips
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Liberal Militarisation: Visualising the Military Body as a Form of Governance
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Sebastian Kaempf
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2017
Doctor Philosophy
The Use of the Death Penalty for Drug Offences in Southeast Asia: Sovereignty, Deterrence, Retribution and Proportionality
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Melissa Curley
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Theatre for Peacebuilding: the role of arts in conflict transformation in South Asia
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
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2013
Doctor Philosophy
Conspiracy Theory and American Foreign Policy
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Martin Weber
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2008
Doctor Philosophy
From Dualism to Wholeness: Understanding Religion and Politics in the West
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Richard Devetak, Associate Professor Jacinta O'Hagan
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2008
Doctor Philosophy
Trauma, Emotion, and the Construction of Community in World Politics
Principal Advisor
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
THE CONSTRUCTION OF WHITENESS IN AUSTRALIA: DISCOURSES OF IMMIGRATION AND NATIONAL IDENTITY FROM THE WHITE AUSTRALIA POLICY TO MULTICULTRALISM
Principal Advisor
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2007
Doctor Philosophy
Between Movements of Crisis and Movements of Affluence: An analysis of the campaign against the Jabiluka uranium mine, 1997-2000.
Principal Advisor
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2005
Doctor Philosophy
ASKING AFTER SELVES: KNOWLEDGE AND SETTLER-INDIGENOUS CONFLICT RESOLUTION
Principal Advisor
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2003
Doctor Philosophy
Transformative peacebuilding in post-conflict reconstruction: The case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Principal Advisor
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Resurgent Histories of Afghanistan: Political Encounters with Modernity
Associate Advisor
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Local ownership, NGOs, and peacebuilding in Africa: A study of conflict-affected zones in Ghana
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Morgan Brigg
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Affective Resistance: Feeling through everyday Palestinian struggle
Associate Advisor
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2019
Doctor Philosophy
Politics of Children's Rights: Development and Deprivation in Pakistan
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Heloise Weber
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Civil Society and Governance in Vietnam's One Party System
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Melissa Curley
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2014
Doctor Philosophy
Representation, recognition and respect: foreign policy and the Iran-US relationship
Associate Advisor
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2005
Doctor Philosophy
LEGITIMISING REJECTION: INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE LAW IN SOUTHEAST ASIA
Associate Advisor
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2003
Doctor Philosophy
JAPAN-AUSTRALIA - THE MAKINGS OF A SECURITY COMMUNITY
Associate Advisor
Media
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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