BA(Smith) MSc(Lond) PhD(Mass, Amherst)
Dr Tan is senior lecturer in International Relations and her research interests include identity, IR theory, constructivism, postcolonialism, the construction and constitution of the Global South in IR/ir, twentieth century decolonization, and Indonesian security and foreign policy.
Her research emphasizes and foregrounds general questions such as this: how would we understand, explain and describe international relations if we account for the co-constitutive relations between North and South in the construction of the material and social structures of the international system? This involves re-examining some of the key concepts and theories of International Relations as well as the evolution of the international system through taking the South and the non-hegemonic core seriously, and incorporating the insights from such research for a fuller and richer understanding of world politics.
She is the author of Metropolitan Identities and Twentieth Century Decolonization (NY: Palgrave Macmillan 2015), which challenges the focus on the role of positive norms in these processes, and casts a different light on one of the most important transformations for international politics of the last century.
She is happy to hear from postgraduate students with interests in the above areas, US foreign policy or more generally, international relations.
Teaching
- POLS 218 Interventions, Peacekeeping and the Global South
- POLS 325 International Relations: Theories and Concepts
- POLS 541 International Relatons and the Global South
Contact details
Room 4N9, 4th floor, Arts (Burns) Building
Tel +64 3 479 8661
Email lena.tan@otago.ac.nz
Research day – Friday
Publications
Tan, L. (2015). Metropolitan identities and twentieth-century decolonization. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 213p.
Tan, L. (2022). Being 'Muslim, modern and democratic": Indonesian foreign policy under Yudhoyono and the coloniality of the international order. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 24(1), 1-22.
Tan, L. (2020). Whose democracy? Governing Indonesia in a globalized world. In I. Rossi (Ed.), Challenges of globalization and prospects for an inter-civilizational world order. (pp. 655-671). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-44058-9_35
Tan, L. (2017). Postcolonialism and international relations. In Oxford bibliographies: Political science. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0214
Tan, L. (2015). Rethinking the role of ideas and norms in twentieth century decolonization: Constructing metropolitan British identities and responding to Indian nationalism (1929-1935). International Relations, 29(2), 177-197. doi: 10.1177/0047117814526607
Tan, L. (2015). Metropolitan identities and twentieth-century decolonization. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, 213p.
Authored Book - Research
Tan, L. (2022). Being 'Muslim, modern and democratic": Indonesian foreign policy under Yudhoyono and the coloniality of the international order. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 24(1), 1-22.
Journal - Research Article
Tan, L. (2020). Whose democracy? Governing Indonesia in a globalized world. In I. Rossi (Ed.), Challenges of globalization and prospects for an inter-civilizational world order. (pp. 655-671). Cham, Switzerland: Springer. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-44058-9_35
Chapter in Book - Research
Tan, L. (2017). Postcolonialism and international relations. In Oxford bibliographies: Political science. Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0214
Chapter in Book - Research
Tan, L. (2015). Rethinking the role of ideas and norms in twentieth century decolonization: Constructing metropolitan British identities and responding to Indian nationalism (1929-1935). International Relations, 29(2), 177-197. doi: 10.1177/0047117814526607
Journal - Research Article
Tan, L. (2013). Towards a new international relations? Imperialism, Eurocentralism and difference [Book Review Essay]. borderlands, 12(1). Retrieved from http://www.borderlands.net.au/vol12no1_2013/tan_newIR.htm
Journal - Research Article
Tan, L. (2014). Protecting Africa from the Chinese: U.S. media print coverage of Sino-African relations, 2002-2012. Asian Journal of Humanities & Social Studies, 2(2), 273-282.
Journal - Research Article
Tan, L. (2012). Indonesian national security during the Suharto New Order (1965-1998): The role of narratives of peoplehood and the construction of danger. New Zealand Journal of Asian Studies, 14(1), 49-70.
Journal - Research Article
Tan, L. (2006). From incorporation to disengagement: East Timor and Indonesian identities, 1975-1999. In D. Rothbart & K. V. Korostelina (Eds.), Identity, morality, and threat: Studies in violent conflict. (pp. 177-209). Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Chapter in Book - Research
Wiarda, H. J., & Tan, L. (Eds.). (2005). Comparative politics: Critical concepts in political science (Vol. III): The politics of Asia. Abingdon, UK: Routledge, 428p.
Edited Book - Research
Tan, L. (2019, March). Negotiating race, imperialism and modernity: Sino-Indonesian relations in the Twentieth century. Verbal presentation at the International Studies Association (ISA) Conference: Power of Rules and Rules of Power, Toronto, Canada.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tan, L. (2018, April). The international relations of Asia: Eurocentric currents, proposed solutions, and postcolonial insights. Verbal presentation at the International Studies Association (ISA) Conference: Power of Rules and Rules of Power, San Francisco, California.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tan, L. (2010, June-July). Indonesia: From resolute anti-colonialism to 'civilising' the East Timorese. Verbal presentation at the 4th Oceanic Conference on International Studies (OCIS), Auckland, New Zealand.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tan, L. (2009, July). Narrating Indonesian identity and the construction of internal security threats during Suharto's new order. Verbal presentation at the International Studies Association and the Brazilian International Relations Association (ISA-ABRI) Joint International Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tan, L. (2008, March). State-making, nation-making and security in less developed countries: Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. Verbal presentation at the 49th International Studies Association Convention, San Francisco, CA.
Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs
Tan, L. (2007). Disengaging from territory: Identity, the politics of contestation and domestic political structures: India & Britain (1929-1935), and Indonesia & East Timor (1975-1999) (PhD). University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA. 275p.
Awarded Doctoral Degree
