Dr Andrew Thomas

Melbourne-based international relations academic at Deakin University.
Middle East studies and Critical non-Western IR theory.

New 📚 out now

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

Excited to announce my new book "Iran and the West: A Non-Western Approach to Foreign Policy" will be released on 2 April 2024! Hardcopy pre-orders are available now through the link, E-Book coming soon. https://t.co/FuwD9eCCgL

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

I joined some experts in giving my thoughts on the impacts of the Iran war on the region. @MESF_Deakin

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

The US, Israel and Iran war will shift alliances and create insecurity for years to come. @Dr_Ulrichsen @ScottLucas_EA @athomas_ir @jessicagenauer @Deakin @AucklandUni @UNSW https://t.co/QjsWTG17sZ

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

Is this an admission that the US was dragged unwillingly into strikes?

[Acyn @Acyn]

Rubio: There was absolutely an imminent threat and it was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believe that they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us and we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

Iran is not just attacking Gulf States to retaliate against the US, it is also trying to draw its neighbours into the chaos of 'a war of choice' imposed upon the region.
https://t.co/r2kggeKbVH

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

Whatever happens from now, Khamenei will not be missed by Iranians.
https://t.co/5bDdqKOl9j

[Robert A. Pape @ProfessorPape]

Three historical lessons about bombing campaigns and regime change:

[Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump]

Remember that I predicted a long time ago that President Obama will attack Iran because of his inability to negotiate properly-not skilled!

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

My thoughts on the Trump Peace Plan and why the optimism is premature

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

There is a great deal of optimism surrounding Donald Trump's 20-point peace plan. But there truth is we've been here before. @athomas_ir @Deakin https://t.co/Zoj3R5GBhA

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

The IDF demolished a unit of the Palestinian National Seed Bank in Hebron, destroying equipment, research and crops that supported hundreds of farmers working to preserve heirloom seeds central to Palestinian farming heritage
https://t.co/YoXy9FyRJ4

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

IDF officers and soldiers tell Haaretz they were ordered to fire at unarmed crowds near food distribution sites in Gaza, even when no threat was present https://t.co/CuTtHDFKBo

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

New piece on the perils of regime change in Iran

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

Israel has made clear its desire for regime change in Iran. But if the supreme leader is toppled, the next government would not likely be any friendlier to the West writes @athomas_ir (@Deakin).

https://t.co/gqioOHKlNN

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

Several nations are contemplating recognising a Palestinian state to revamp the two-state solution. However, major obstacles remain. @athomas_ir @Deakin https://t.co/D8Rtbg7WWp

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

New article in the conversation today

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

Several nations are contemplating recognising a Palestinian state to revamp the two-state solution. However, major obstacles remain. @athomas_ir @Deakin https://t.co/D8Rtbg7WWp

[Dr Andrew Thomas @athomas_ir]

The project of bringing non-Western IR aproaches to the centre of analysis in the field is an important one. My book Iran and the West attempts to do this in the context of foreign policy and identity. https://t.co/7f99z3q4yO

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

"International relations scholars have long noted the absence of non-Western theories in "mainstream" IR scholarship (Puchala 1997, 1998; Tickner and Blaney 2012; Acharya and Buzan 2017, 2019) and the disproportionate influence of European history in informing concepts and theories thought to be universally useful (Chakrabarty 2008; Tickner and Waver 2009; Hobson
2012). In an effort to move beyond starkly dichotomizing debates, Amitav Acharya's 2014 presidential address to the International Studies Association (ISA) called for a "global IR" research agenda-that is, a positive and inclusive research agenda that embraces a multiplicity of "voices, experiences, knowledge claims and contributions" not only from the West, but from states as well as societies throughout the world (Acharya 2014, 647). Since then, global IR has made important progress, particularly in surfacing and highlighting cases where understandings and lived experiences of international relations do not match the assumptions reflected in mainstream IR. But it has done less to move beyond what Cynthia Enloe (2021) refers to as the
"confusing, complex, dynamic, gritty, nuanced realities of the little picture" in ways that produce insights applying to more than one locale or region.
In this regard, CAS may serve as a powerful ally in taking the next step to go beyond merely saying the world is diverse and complex. With its commitment to posing substantive questions that involve an open-ended search to identify and explain similarities and differences across regions, CAS offers an opportunity to generate novel insights that are at least partially portable across regions or within a given population of cases. ...

The Promise of Comparative Area Studies for the Study of Human Rights
Eileen Doherty-Sil

in Advancing Comparative Area Studies:
Analytical Heterogeneity and….. edited by Ariel I. Ahram, Patrick Köllner, Rudra Sil

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

Enough is enough. Israel is committing war crimes | Opinion | Former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert https://t.co/aSRO6INkAs

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

Israel recently committed the largest child massacre in its history. The numbers are not reported in the Israeli media, and if they are – it's always minimized | Opinion | Hanin Majadli

https://t.co/yPPh9rwMBm

[Assal Rad @AssalRad]

Where is this headline in Western media?

[Jon Lovett @jonlovett]

This statement is shameful, @JGreenblattADL.

If someone commits a crime, we charge them with a crime. We don't capriciously revoke first amendment rights. We don't revoke immigration status as punishment for protests we hate.

This doesn't make Jewish Americans safer. A culture and legal order that protects freedom against state abuse is what keeps all of us safe.

Couldn't be more disgusted. Nobody should give the ADL another dime, and nobody should pretend this is an organization that speaks for American Jews. I'm out.

[Sarah Schwartz @Sarah__Schwartz]

Proud to be one of 500+ Jews to sign this full page newspaper ad in SMH / the Age calling on Australia to reject calls for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. 1/4

[Haaretz.com @haaretzcom]

It is nonsensical, and hypocritical, to arrest or accuse Palestinians of promoting the ideology of "From the river to the sea," while in Israel, school maps don't show the Green Line and the government is advancing full annexation / @dahliasc
https://t.co/oaIfYGfACC

[The Conversation - Australia + New Zealand @ConversationEDU]

The Sykes-Picot agreement is one of many colonial projects that we are still feeling the ripples of today. @athomas_ir @Deakin https://t.co/EJF8EHYfAm