Alex Burns | Monash University

Alex Burns

Monash University, School of Social Sciences, Graduate Student

Monash University, School of Social Sciences, Graduate Student |

I am a part-time PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, Monash University. I passed my Pre-Submission Seminar / Final Review milestone on 14th November 2018. My submission date is 22nd September 2019. I have a h-index of 8 and over 430 citations (Google Scholar).
Supervisors: Luke Howie, Zareh Ghazarian, and Pete Lentini
Phone: 0467387241

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Papers

Australia’s Strategic Culture: Constraints and Opportunities in Security Policymaking

Contemporary Security Policy, Jul 31, 2014

This article draws on fourth generation strategic culture debates to show the gap between the rhe... more This article draws on fourth generation strategic culture debates to show the gap between the rhetoric of Australian defence and the more modest reality. Our analysis shows that these limits derive from tensions between national strategic culture and organizational strategic subcultures. There are serious debates in the nation regarding the preferred course of the Australian military and security policy. This article frames these debates by examining the 'keepers' of Australia's national strategic culture, the existence of several competing strategic subcultures, and the importance of norm entrepreneurs in changing defence and national security thinking. Strategic subcultures foster compartmentalization, constraints, and bureaucratic silos that narrow national conceptions of security threats and opportunities, and impinge on the formation of coherent foreign and defence policy in relation to the Asia-Pacific region. This analysis shows that a distinct national strategic culture and organizational strategic subcultures endure beyond individual governments, placing potential limits on Australia's interface with other Asia-Pacific strategic cultures in the future.

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Australia's Potential Internet Futures

Australia’s Federal Government announced the National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2009. NBN’s curr... more Australia’s Federal Government announced the National Broadband Network (NBN) in 2009. NBN’s current roll-out is scheduled for completion in 2021, with market forecasts estimating optical fibre overtaking DSL broadband connections in about 2015. This paper provides a timely contribution to more critical and expansive analysis of potential Australian internet futures. First, ‘schools of thought’ and current technological frames (Web 2.0, ‘the cloud’) for the internet and its possible futures are outlined, which provide perspectives on the emergence of the NBN. We then outline five generic images of the future which, as predetermined images, enable quick ‘incasting’ of alternative futures for a technology topic or related object of research: promised future, social/speculative bubble(s), unfolding disruption/chaos, unintended consequences, and co-existence/‘cooption’. High-level application of the ‘schools’ and generic images to the NBN and Australia’s potential internet futures, suggests policymakers and strategists currently consider too few perspectives.

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Doubting the Global War on Terror

Soon after Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the Bush Administration described i... more Soon after Al Qaeda's terrorist attacks on 11 September 2001, the Bush Administration described its new grand strategy: the "Global War on Terror". This article examines the 'two-track' process that US neoconservatives and 'echo chamber' media used, to promote the GWOT grand strategy. It re-examines why many experts and institutions expressed doubt about specific claims the Bush Administration made to support the 2003 Iraq War. Historical counterfactuals suggest that the Bush Administration's Global War on Terror could have evolved very differently . . . or not occurred at all.

'Catastrophic Failure' Theories and Disaster Journalism: Evaluating Media Explanations of the Black Saturday Bushfires

In recent decades, academic researchers of natural disasters and emergency management have develo... more In recent decades, academic researchers of natural disasters and emergency management have developed a canonical literature on ‘catastrophe failure’ theories such as disaster responses from US emergency management services (Drabek, 2010; Quarantelli, 1998) and the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant (Perrow, 1999). This article examines six influential theories from this field in an attempt to explore why Victoria’s disaster and emergency management response systems failed during Australia’s Black Saturday bushfires. How well, if at all, are these theories understood by journalists, disaster and emergency management planners, and policy-makers? In examining the Country Fire Authority’s response to the fires, as well as the media’s reportage of them, we use the 2009 Black Saturday bushfires as a theory-testing case study of failures in emergency management, preparation and planning. We conclude that journalists can learn important lessons from academics’ specialist knowledge about disaster and emergency management responses.

Boom and Bust In Australian Screen Policy: 10BA, the Film Finance Corporation, and Hollywood's 'Race to the Bottom'

Media International Australia, incorporating …, Jan 1, 2010

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Oblique Strategies for Ambient Journalism

M/C Journal, Jan 1, 2010

Alfred Hermida recently posited &#x27;ambient journalism&#x27; as a new framework for par... more Alfred Hermida recently posited &#x27;ambient journalism&#x27; as a new framework for para-and professional journalists, who use social networks like Twitter for story sources, and as a news delivery platform. Beginning with this framework, this article explores the following questions: How ...

Twitter Free Iran: An Evaluation of Twitter's Role In Public Diplomacy and Information Operations In Iran's 2009 Election Crisis

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Journalists As Investigators and 'Quality Media' Reputation

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Select Issues With New Media Theories of Citizen Journalism

M/C Journal, Jan 1, 2008

Paul Carlile and Clayton M. Christensen&#x27;s model offers one framework with which to evalu... more Paul Carlile and Clayton M. Christensen&#x27;s model offers one framework with which to evaluate new media theories on CJ. This framework is used below to highlight select issues and gaps in CJ&#x27;s current frameworks and theories. Carlile &amp; Christensen suggest that robust theory-...