The Law, Governance and Development Masters specialisation offered by the ANU College of Law considers the role of law in a development context. It examines international and national legal perspectives on issues of governance and development and includes a focus on current case studies in the Asia Pacific region.   This specialisation is available at the Graduate Diploma and Masters level, and to both law and non-law graduates. 

The Master of Applied Anthropology & Participatory Development provides students an understanding of the principal ways in which critical social inquiry and participatory processes can be applied to the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development activities and is designed for those who have developed an interest in the application of anthropology's critical methods and styles to social issues in development.

The Master of Diplomatic Studies focuses on the theory and practice of modern diplomacy, and is ideal for those whose professional role might involve a solid understanding of transnational diplomacy, and its contemporary challenges, whether this be with a civil service department, multilateral body, international corporation or non-government organization.

There are a range of research opportunities with the law, governance and development initiative as we seek to expand the research being undertaken into law and development related fields. Interested students are currently undertaking research through a Doctor of Philosophy or Master of Philosophy with either the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific or the ANU College of Law or a Doctor of Juridical Science with the ANU College of Law.

Moeen Cheema

Moeen's thesis aims to present a contextualized history of the law in postcolonial Pakistan and situate the judicial review jurisprudence of the superior courts, in particular their recent activism and consequential populism, in the contexts of the historical developments of constitutional politics, evolution of state structures and broader social transformations.  It will show how in each epoch of the post-colonial state’s history the superior courts positioned themselves within the state and vis a vis the demands that different segments of the society placed upon the state and its institutions. It will bring forth evidence demonstrating that the courts did not define their role in accordance with certain abstract theories of constitutionalism, rule of law and separation of powers that had been deeply imbricated in the post-colonial state’s self-justifications. Rather, these courts re-situated themselves from time to time and re-fashioned their role in accordance with the perceived demands of fundamental shifts in constitutional politics, state structure and state-society dialectics. In the process, these courts re-cast the theoretical conceptualizations of constitutionalism, rule of law, and separation of powers to better reflect their evolving role and jurisprudence. This thesis will thus present a case-study of how the superior courts in Pakistan have articulated the theoretical frameworks legitimizing their role in accordance with the contexts of state and society. A deeper understanding of these phenomena – i.e. the evolution of judicial role in response to shifts in socio-political context, and the re-crafting of theoretical frameworks to justify it – will enable us to meaningfully scrutinize the courts’ recent jurisprudence and evaluate the judiciary’s new role in Pakistan’s governance scheme. As such, it will be argued that the courts’ role is deeply political in terms of defining the nature and relevant powers of state institutions and the imperatives for their actions. 

Moeen is working with Peter Cane and Leighton McDonald.

Joe Foukona

In 2008, Joe came over to Canberra on State Society and Governance in Melanesia Pacific Visitor Program and this inspired him to apply for a doctoral scholarship through AusAID’s Australian Leadership Award. He currently holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws from University of the South Pacific (USP), and a further Master of Laws from Victoria University (Wellington), Joe is also an experienced teacher, lecturing at USP’s Emalus Campus in Port Vila since 2004.

Joe’s research focus matches closely his keen personal interest in finding solutions to the seemingly intractable problem of the alignment in Melanesia between customary land tenure systems on one hand and state legislation, land administration and commercial demands on the other. He has been very active as a facilitator of land awareness programs in his own home community on Malaita, Solomon Islands, and working with the Solomon Islands Law Reform Commission on low and high water mark legislation. Joe now plans to look in some detail at the history of land reform programs in three Melanesian countries: Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Why have these programs been so unsuccessful, both in the colonial era and since independence in all three countries? Might we reach a better understanding of the terms for success by better understanding these histories of failure?

Joe is working with Chris Ballard, Daniel Fitzpatrick and Rebecca Monson.

Academic supervisors and their research interests

Staff are available to supervise research in the following areas:

• Access to justice and legal empowerment of the poor
• State fragility and armed conflicts
• International law
• Environmental law, climate change and natural disasters
• Rule of law reform

Access to justice and legal empowerment of the poor

• Rebecca Monson: Customary law, women's rights to land
• Sinclair Dinnen: Community policing and justice mechanisms
• Asmi Wood: Indigenous peoples and the law
• Tom Faunce: Access to medicine

State fragility

• Veronica Taylor: Development assistance
• Sinclair Dinnen: Community policing; local justice
• John Braithwaite: Peacebuilding; responsive regulation and restorative justice
• Gordon Peake: Law and justice development; monitoring and evaluation
• William Maley: Rule of law 

 International law

• Don Rothwell: Law of the sea, international law and use of armed force

Environmental law, climate change and natural disasters

• Matthew Zagor: Environmental law and policy
• Rebecca Monson: Human rights and vulnerability to natural disaster, property rights after disaster

Rule of law

• Veronica Taylor: Professional standards in law and development
• William Maley: Rule of law reform; migration and human rights law.
• Kath Hall: Corruption and corporate governance
• Mark Nolan: Jury reform in Japan, comparative law (Asia, especially Thailand), legal and social psychological theories of justice and human rights
• George Barker: Law and economics