Professor Alan Collins

Alan joined the Department in 1999 and is a Senior Lecturer in International Relations. Prior to this he was a British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he also completed his PhD.

Publications

  1. (2019). W(h)ither the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), w(h)ither constructivism: Fixity of norms and the ASEAN Way. International Relations, 1-20.
  2. (2019). From commitment to compliance: ASEAN's human rights regression?. The Pacific Review 32(3), 365-394.
  3. (2014). Escaping a Security Dilemma: anarchy, certainty and embedded norms. International Politics 51(5), 561-576.
  4. (2014). Bringing communities back: Security Communities and ASEAN’s plural turn. Cooperation and Conflict 49(2), 276-291.
  5. The Security Dilemmas of Southeast Asia. Macmillan.

See more...

Teaching

  • MS-X210 MS-X210 City University, Hong Kong

    This module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • MS-X220 MS-X220 United International College

  • MS-X221 MS-X221 United International College

  • MS-X222 MS-X222 United International College

  • MS-X223 MS-X223 United International College

  • PO-118 War and Peace in the Nuclear Age

    In this module you will examine the history of the international system from the end of the Second World War to the present day. It will provide an examination of the origins of the Cold War, how the two superpowers managed their relationship during the Cold War and an analysis of some of the key features of the post-Cold War world. We begin by assessing the rise of the USA and USSR and the emergence of deterrence. The failure of the US policy of containment in Vietnam and the emergence of tripolarity and detente in the 1970s then follows. By the beginning of the 1980s the superpowers relations had worsened and it was the time of the Second Cold War. Yet within ten years the Cold War that had dominated international relations since 1945 would be over. Why did it end, and who won will be questions for you to answer. The module will then examine the challenges facing the international system in the aftermath of the Cold War. Challenges ranging from failed states and military intervention to the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia, and we conclude by asking, in the post 9/11 era, are we facing a clash of civilisations?

  • PO-248 International Security

    This module provides students with an examination of international security. The module starts with a discussion of strategic studies as a discipline. It discusses traditional (military) security studies looking at traditional concerns surrounding military power and the use of force. Following the evolution in security studies and in understandings of security the module `broaden¿ and `deepens¿ its scope. The module looks at sectors beyond security such as society, the economy, and the environment. It also deepens the account of security by looking at actors below the states, such as groups and the single individual (human security). Finally, the module analyses alternative approaches to security such as critical, feminist, and post-modern approaches to security.

  • PO-3317 Dissertation

    The Politics and International Relations dissertation is a free-standing, 40-credit module for Politics and International Relations students only, which runs across both semesters of Level Three. Candidates conduct research upon a subject of their choice, devised in consultation with a member of staff teaching on the Politics and International Relations degree. The topic must fall within staff research and teaching interests.

  • PO-3319 Researching Politics 1

    Researching Politics (RP) provides students with the skills that underlie the process of conducting and communicating cutting-edge research in Politics and International Relations. RP works by creating topic groups, each comprised of 8-10 students. Each group will follow a bespoke course set out by their topic tutor, guiding them through the literature in a substantive research area. Students are invited to select a list of preferred options in the first teaching week of the term. This list is then used to assign students to topics and group sessions run from the second week of teaching onwards. Alongside the topic-specific teaching, there is a general lecture series focusing on discovering, analysing and presenting complex information. The lecture series also focuses on dealing with the ups and downs of working as part of a team.

  • PO-3320 Researching Politics 2

    Researching Politics 2 (RP2) is the follow-on module from RP1 and it acts as the culmination for the subject knowledge and transferable skills developed in that module. RP2 puts the creative emphasis in the hands of the students, with the module convenor and topic tutors giving guidance and feedback to facilitate the realisation of research conceived, developed, executed and presented by students. In this way, it tries to approximate the worlds of further study and work into which students will be progressing following the completion of their degree schemes. It is a module where all of the summative assessments are comprised of group work, although individual marks can be varied depending on each student¿s performance. Students are also required to submit an individual self-assessment, detailing what they have learned about their own strengths and weaknesses on the basis of the sustained group work. In RP2, you will extend and deepen the research undertaken in RP1 and continue to meet regularly in order to share ideas, opinions and sources in your groups. These meetings will include several where the topic tutor provides guidance and feedback as well as those where the meetings are student-led.

  • PO-M35 Approaches to International Relations

    The module explores a variety of approaches to the study of internation relations. It focuses on key issues which have become central to the sunject, notably the changing states system and the emergence of major non state actors, economic globalisation and security studies. It also examines key theoretical approaches, notably realism, liberalism and Marxism; Neo-realism and neo-Liberalism; and reflectivist critiques of rationalism, including constructivism, critical theory, post-structuralism and feminism.

  • PO-M40 Southeast Asian Security

    At the beginning of a new century the Asia-Pacific is beset with uncertainties. They range from `old¿ problems left remaining from the Cold War, such as the division of Korea and China, to `new¿ problems that have arisen in the post-Cold War era. In either case, these problems give rise to the perception that the Asia-Pacific has many `hotspots¿ that make conflict in the 21st Century a distinct probability. This module will focus on the security matters, broadly defined, of the region. In particular we will examine the internal threats to security that plague the ¿weak¿ states of the region as well as the inter-state rivalries that exist over Korea and Taiwan. The region is not bereft of ways of lessening tensions and thus appreciating the norms of behaviour that underpin the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the region¿s multilateral security forum (the ASEAN Regional Forum - ARF) are also necessary in our quest to assess the likelihood of conflict. With this knowledge at your finger tips you will become well-versed in one of the most dynamic regions in today¿s political world.

  • PO-M60 Critical Security Studies: Issues and Approaches in Contemporary Security

    This MA module will offer students an opportunity to explore a multiplicity of new approaches to the study of international security, and analyse a number of pressing issue-areas within this subject area. The module allows students to engage theoretical debates over the meaning and definition of the concept of security itself and various theoretical approaches to the study of security. The module starts with a traditional understanding of security as `military security,¿ by looking at strategic studies. The module then explores the debate regarding the broadening and deepening of security. The first theoretical part of the module also includes: the Copenhagen School, the Welsh School of Critical Security Studies, post-structuralist approaches and feminist approaches. In the second part, the module will use these theoretical lenses to debate prominent security issues increasingly seen to form part of the broadened security agenda, such as the environment, migration, identity, gender and human security.

  • PO-PX00 University of the Philippines, Diliman

    This module is delivered at the University of the Philippines, Diliman for those students who participate in an Extended MA Programme in either Politics or Development and Human Rights.

  • PO-PX10 The Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M (Semester of Study Abroad)

    This module is delivered at The Bush School of Government and Public Service for those students who participate in an Extended MA Programme in either International Relations or Public Policy.

  • PO-PX20 University of Oklahoma (Semester of Study Abroad)

    This module is delivered at The University of Oklahoma for those students who participate in an Extended MA Programme in International Security and Development.

  • PO-X240 PO-X240 United International College (UIC)

    This module is delivered at United International College, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • PO-X241 PO-X241 United International College (UIC)

    This module is delivered at United International College, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • PO-X242 PO-X242 United International College (UIC)

    This module is delivered at United International College, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • PO-X243 PO-X243 United International College (UIC)

    This module is delivered at United International College, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • POX210 POX210 City University, Hong Kong

    This module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who partipate in an Exchange Programme

  • POX211 POX211 City University, Hong Kong

    This Module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who participate in an Exchange Programme.

  • POX212 POX212 City University, Hong Kong

    This Module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who participate in an Exchange Programme.

  • POX213 POX213 City University, Hong Kong

    This Module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who participate in an Exchange Programme.

  • POX214 City University, Hong Kong

    This Module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who participate in an Exchange Programme.

  • POX215 City University, Hong Kong

    This Module is delivered at City University Hong Kong, for those students who participate in an Exchange Programme.

Supervision

  • Dealing with the Darknet: Crypto-Drug markets and the Global Drug Prohibition Regime, 2011-2018 (current)

    Student name:
    PhD
    Other supervisor: Prof Alan Collins
    Other supervisor: Prof David Bewley-Taylor

  • Russia and the Ukraine Crisis: An analysis of trade expectations theory (current)

    Student name:
    PhD
    Other supervisor: Mr Robert Bideleux
    Other supervisor: Prof Alan Collins

  • A human security perspective on energy security: An analysis of impacts of energy decarbonisation on former coal mining communities in the United Kingdom«br /»«br /» (current)

    Student name:
    PhD
    Other supervisor: Prof Alan Collins
    Other supervisor: Dr Emel Akcali

  • 'Collapse in southeast Asia: A Bureaucratic Politics Analysis of Gerald Ford''''s Foreign Policy.' (awarded 2017)

    Student name:
    MA
    Other supervisor: Dr Luca Trenta
    Other supervisor: Prof Alan Collins

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