Since the department's establishment in 1978, research by faculty members and PhD students has featured in-depth analysis of politics in Asian and Pacific countries. More specific topics include democratization, electoral politics, policy making and implementation, local politics, social and political movements, non-government organizations, agrarian politics, ethnic politics, and conflict and conflict resolution. We emphasize the contemporary world but endeavor to put our research in a historical context. Our studies contribute to debates and theories in the literature on comparative politics, area studies and public policy. Most of our faculty are political scientists while some are social scientists from closely related disciplines.
All faculty often take inter-disciplinary approaches and work with colleagues in other disciplines.
Department members regularly collaborate in research, conferences, and publications with academics elsewhere in the school, the ANU, and other universities and institutions in Australia and around the world. Department members regularly contribute opinions and advice to governments, non-government organizations, the media, and international groups and agencies. The department's teaching concentrates primarily on training PhD students. Our PhD students come from Asia, the Pacific Islands, Europe, North America, as well as Australia, nearly all with scholarships. Graduates include scholars, government officials, business people, and political activists in Australia, Asia, the Pacific, Europe, and North America.