Stephanie Lawson is Professor of Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University, Sydney, Senior Research Associate, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg and Honorary Professor with the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia project at the Australian National University. She has previously held teaching and research positions at the University of New England, the Australian National University, the University of East Anglia, and the University of Birmingham. She is a past president of the Australian Political Studies Association and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. She is also the current President of the Pacific Islands Political Studies Association. Her publications span the fields of comparative and international politics, normative theory, and Asia-Pacific studies on issues ranging from nationalism and ethnic politics to the theorization of democracy and human rights in cross-cultural settings. She has written extensively on politics in the Southwest Pacific more generally and is currentlyworking on a project on regional politics in Oceania funded by the Australian Research Council.