Lena Tan

Biography

  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.  

Research Interest

Dr. Tan's 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.