Student Profile

Mathew Davies, BSc MSc (London School of Economics)

Mathew studied International Relations and International History in his undergraduate degree and focused on European Integration in his Masters. His PhD thesis research focuses on the role that regional communities of states, with specific reference to ASEAN, the EU and the OAS have played in the attempt to spread human rights to new or potential members.

This work takes as its starting point the theoretical debate between two rival approaches, rational choice and constructivism, that has developed in relation to the analysis of the role that the EU has played in spreading human rights norms in Eastern Europe. This debate over the applicability of theory is limited, however, by its narrow empirical horizons. His PhD is, in part, an attempt to correct that shortcoming through an analysis of the way that ASEAN and the OAS have dealt with the same issue using differing approaches. As such, his work not only relates to our theoretical understanding of how rights are spread, but also to the practical analysis of the role, and success, of certain forms of institutions in today's complex international political context.

His research has taken him to Jakarta, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, New York and Washington DC.

On a wider level, his interests include the origins of human rights and how they relate to differing political communities, with specific reference to questions of international justice and the related debates over the moral significance of political borders. He has also tutored for two years as part of the Graduate Studies in International Affairs program in the Department.

Mat submitted his thesis in February 2009.

Email: mathew.davies@anu.edu.au