Heather Rae, BA (Hons), PhD (Monash)
Fellow and Deputy Director of Graduate Studies in International Affairs, Department of International Relations

Tel: +61 2 6125 2169
Fax: +61 2 6125 8010
Email: heather.rae@anu.edu.au
Location: Room 2.17, Hedley Bull Centre

Biographical Statement

Heather Rae is a Fellow in the Department of International Relations and Deputy Director of Studies of the GSIA Program. She is author of State Identities and the Homogenisation of Peoples (Cambridge University Press, 2002) which traces the relationship between state-building, the targeting of minorities for expulsion or extermination, and the development of the modern system of sovereign states. Her areas of research interest include international relations theory; and the historical sociology of the states system with particular reference to the social construction of interstate boundaries. She maintains an interest in state and nation-building and the movement of peoples, which is reflected in her teaching. Her current research investigates the shifting frontiers of liberalism both historically and in the contemporary period, with the latter leading to a focus on the actions taken by liberal states in the name of protecting liberal democracy and fighting terrorism.

Research Interests

Theories of international relations; the historical sociology of the sovereign state and of the states system; nationalism, identity politics and the treatment of minorities and non-citizens; human rights and liberalism in global politics.

Key Publications

• State Identities and the Homogenisation of Peoples, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Career Highlights

Awarded the Molly Holman Medal for best PhD awarded in 1999 in the Faculty of Arts, Monash University (2000).