Darren J Lim
Biographic Data
| ID | 4012471 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Darren J Lim |
| GIVEN NAMES | Darren J |
| FAMILY NAME | Lim |
| SIGNATURE | LIM D J |
| AFFILIATIONS | Australian National University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-1565-8510 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 188 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 21 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2013 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
The Role of Technology Standards in Strategic Hedging
This article argues that technology standards provide Southeast Asian states with a distinct mechanism for hedging amid intensifying US–China technological rivalry. Traditional hedging strategies emphasizing economic engagement without political alignment are increasingly constrained by the weaponization of technological interdependence, politicizing previously neutral technology decisions. We develop a framework showing how active participation …
Strategically (in)secure and economically (in)vulnerable: Australia, New Zealand, and their relations with China
This article considers the extent to which the expectations embedded in Allan Gyngell's assessment–that Australia is strategically vulnerable but economically secure and New Zealand is economically vulnerable but strategically secure–are borne out in the strategic posture adopted by the two countries in managing their bilateral relationship with China in recent years. We argue that Gyngell's assessment is not obsolete, but that the policy differe…
China and Hegemony: An Exchange – The Authors Reply
Peer-reviewed
Allan Gyngell's podcasting contribution to Australian foreign policy
This article analyses Allan Gyngell's contribution to Australian foreign policy through his podcast, 'Australia in the World'. We outline two mechanisms. First, we explore how the unique features of the podcast medium as a form of communication channelled Allan's approach – in both form and substance – to Australian foreign policy thought. Second, we show how Allan leveraged the podcast to help pry open a political culture where bureaucrats seldo…
Between market and state: The evolution of Australia’s economic statecraft
For nearly four decades, Australia’s domestic and international economic policies were anchored by the promotion of open, transparent, and rules-based market exchange. This was considered the best way to increase both Australia’s prosperity and its security, and that belief guided Canberra’s approach to economic statecraft. However, emerging concerns about the vulnerabilities arising from economic interdependence, and the increasingly blurry line…
China and the Logic of Illiberal Hegemony
We develop a theoretical logic and character of a Chinese model of international order. We begin by considering general problems of power transition and hegemonic order-building, with reference to the American experience with liberal hegemony. China will, like all powerful states, seek an order that protects its interests. But unlike its predecessors, China faces an existing order containing elements that threaten its domestic political and econo…
Market adjustments to import sanctions: Lessons from Chinese restrictions on Australian trade, 2020–21
Under what conditions do high levels of export concentration in a single market generate vulnerability to coercive economic power? This paper investigates that question by examining the experiences of Australian export-oriented industries that lost access to the Chinese market during a sanctions episode beginning in May 2020. Despite China being a dominant and highly valuable export market for many affected industries, the economic – and accordin…
Australian debate of the China question: The Covid-19 case
Debate within Australia regarding the bilateral relationship with China is complex, contentious and often lacks clarity. Informed by basic international relations theory, we identify two dividing lines within this debate. First, whether understanding China’s behaviour is most effectively done through a unitary actor framework, or whether it is essential to look inside the ‘black box’ of the Chinese party-state. Second, whether one is more concern…
Informal economic sanctions: The political economy of Chinese coercion during the THAAD dispute
Contemporary economic coercion increasingly features the use of ‘informal’ sanctions—government-directed disruption of international commerce that is not enshrined in official laws or publicly acknowledged as coercive, yet which seeks to impose costs on key firms or industries in a target country in order to achieve strategic objectives. We investigate how ‘informality’ mediates the link between economic interdependence and coercive power, levera…
Chinese Outbound Tourism as an Instrument of Economic Statecraft
China’s growing economic strength provides Beijing with potent instruments of economic statecraft to pursue political and strategic objectives. Yet studies of economic power and Chinese economic statecraft tend to concentrate on trade in goods, outbound investment, and international institutions. This article broadens this research program into trade in services by focusing on China’s outbound tourism sector. Drawing on a variety of Chinese and E…
China Dreams
The year 2019 marked a number of significant anniversaries for the People's Republic of China (PRC), each representing different 'Chinese dreams'. There was the centennial of the May Fourth Movement - a dream of patriotism and cultural renewal. The PRC celebrated its seventieth anniversary - a dream of revolution and national strength. It was also thirty years since the
Power in Chinese Foreign Policy
ITH CHINA HAVING the world's second largest economy, increasingly sophisticated armed forces, deepening networks of foreign relations, and prominent participation in international institutions, discussions of its foreign policy increasingly involve the consideration of 'power'. 2 Yet 'power' can mean many things in the Chinese context.It may refer to China's identity in international politics: variously a 'rising power', a 'partial power', and a …
Hedging in South Asia: Balancing economic and security interests amid Sino-Indian competition
The literature on hedging as a secondary state strategy – built largely on evidence from United States-China competition in East and Southeast Asia – focuses on conditions where a major power presents both an economic opportunity and a security threat. In South Asia, in contrast, secondary states facing strategic competition between India and China have pursued hedging strategies in the absence of a security threat. We develop a theoretical recon…
Diffusion of disinformation: How social media users respond to fake news and why
This exploratory study seeks to understand the diffusion of disinformation by examining how social media users respond to fake news and why. Using a mixed-methods approach in an explanatory-sequential design, this study combines results from a national survey involving 2501 respondents with a series of in-depth interviews with 20 participants from the small but economically and technologically advanced nation of Singapore. This study finds that m…
Puzzled out? The unsurprising outcomes of the Greek bailout negotiations
While to date the Eurozone debt crisis is one of the most important and consequential events in world politics of the twenty-first century, the actions taken by states to negotiate a cooperative resolution do not seem particularly puzzling. In this article, we employ the analytic explanation approach to process tracing to test whether the most protracted and high-profile case – negotiations between creditors led by Germany, and Greece as debtor s…
Doxing democracy: Influencing Elections via Cyber Voter Interference
There is a recent surge in the use of state-sponsored cyber operations by states against foreign political institutions, including efforts to sway electoral outcomes by influencing voters. Yet cyber statecraft research has focused more on operations designed to yield a direct military advantage or reward, rather than as a subtle tool of influence. We seek to address this gap in the literature, first by conceptualising a typology of state-sponsore…
Power in Australian foreign policy
The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper emphasises the importance of ‘maximising’ Australia’s power and influence. However, the White Paper and much of the commentary on Australian foreign policy do not clearly conceptualise ‘power’ or indicate how it ought to be increased. The Lowy Institute’s recent Asia Power Index implies one possible strategy via its resource-based approach to measuring power. We outline a different approach and argue that power…
The innovation imperative: Technology and US-China rivalry in the twenty-first century
International Relations scholars have long recognized that technology plays a critical role in power transitions, but the field lacks a framework to understand how technology and innovation strategies generate rivalry between dominant and rising states. With an empirical focus on contemporary United States–China relations, this paper addresses that gap. We identify the ‘innovation imperative’ that drives rising states to pursue technological mode…
What Money Can’t Buy: The Security Externalities of Chinese Economic Statecraft in Post-War Sri Lanka
China’s growing trade, investment, and aid links are commonly believed to constitute a potent instrument of statecraft, generating important security externalities. Yet there is insufficient research tracing the precise mechanisms linking economic relationships between a “sender” and “target” state to actual influence in the security domain. We offer three contributions. First, we map out the theoretical mechanisms of influence in a sender–target…
Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia
It is widely claimed that secondary states across East Asia are not purely balancing or bandwagoning, but rather hedging between the United States and China by combining policies of economic and political engagement with risk management. We argue that hedging behavior should not include costless activities that do not require states to face trade-offs in their security choices. We redefine hedging as signaling that generates ambiguity over the ex…
Misplaced Blame: Foreign Aid and the Consequences of UN Security Council Membership
In a well-publicized finding, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith argue that temporary members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) suffer politically and economically because they receive elevated inflows of foreign aid in exchange for votes. Closer examination of the data reveals a lack of support for this claim. Even when the analysis is limited to countries that do not enjoy temporarily increased aid during tenure, UNSC membership retains an…
Diffusion of disinformation: How social media users respond to fake news and why
This exploratory study seeks to understand the diffusion of disinformation by examining how social media users respond to fake news and why. Using a mixed-methods approach in an explanatory-sequential design, this study combines results from a national survey involving 2501 respondents with a series of in-depth interviews with 20 participants from the small but economically and technologically advanced nation of Singapore. This study finds that m…
Informal economic sanctions: The political economy of Chinese coercion during the THAAD dispute
Contemporary economic coercion increasingly features the use of ‘informal’ sanctions—government-directed disruption of international commerce that is not enshrined in official laws or publicly acknowledged as coercive, yet which seeks to impose costs on key firms or industries in a target country in order to achieve strategic objectives. We investigate how ‘informality’ mediates the link between economic interdependence and coercive power, levera…
Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia
It is widely claimed that secondary states across East Asia are not purely balancing or bandwagoning, but rather hedging between the United States and China by combining policies of economic and political engagement with risk management. We argue that hedging behavior should not include costless activities that do not require states to face trade-offs in their security choices. We redefine hedging as signaling that generates ambiguity over the ex…
Doxing democracy: Influencing Elections via Cyber Voter Interference
There is a recent surge in the use of state-sponsored cyber operations by states against foreign political institutions, including efforts to sway electoral outcomes by influencing voters. Yet cyber statecraft research has focused more on operations designed to yield a direct military advantage or reward, rather than as a subtle tool of influence. We seek to address this gap in the literature, first by conceptualising a typology of state-sponsore…
Hedging in South Asia: Balancing economic and security interests amid Sino-Indian competition
The literature on hedging as a secondary state strategy – built largely on evidence from United States-China competition in East and Southeast Asia – focuses on conditions where a major power presents both an economic opportunity and a security threat. In South Asia, in contrast, secondary states facing strategic competition between India and China have pursued hedging strategies in the absence of a security threat. We develop a theoretical recon…
What Money Can’t Buy: The Security Externalities of Chinese Economic Statecraft in Post-War Sri Lanka
China’s growing trade, investment, and aid links are commonly believed to constitute a potent instrument of statecraft, generating important security externalities. Yet there is insufficient research tracing the precise mechanisms linking economic relationships between a “sender” and “target” state to actual influence in the security domain. We offer three contributions. First, we map out the theoretical mechanisms of influence in a sender–target…
Chinese Outbound Tourism as an Instrument of Economic Statecraft
China’s growing economic strength provides Beijing with potent instruments of economic statecraft to pursue political and strategic objectives. Yet studies of economic power and Chinese economic statecraft tend to concentrate on trade in goods, outbound investment, and international institutions. This article broadens this research program into trade in services by focusing on China’s outbound tourism sector. Drawing on a variety of Chinese and E…
The innovation imperative: Technology and US-China rivalry in the twenty-first century
International Relations scholars have long recognized that technology plays a critical role in power transitions, but the field lacks a framework to understand how technology and innovation strategies generate rivalry between dominant and rising states. With an empirical focus on contemporary United States–China relations, this paper addresses that gap. We identify the ‘innovation imperative’ that drives rising states to pursue technological mode…
Misplaced Blame: Foreign Aid and the Consequences of UN Security Council Membership
In a well-publicized finding, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith argue that temporary members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) suffer politically and economically because they receive elevated inflows of foreign aid in exchange for votes. Closer examination of the data reveals a lack of support for this claim. Even when the analysis is limited to countries that do not enjoy temporarily increased aid during tenure, UNSC membership retains an…
Market adjustments to import sanctions: Lessons from Chinese restrictions on Australian trade, 2020–21
Under what conditions do high levels of export concentration in a single market generate vulnerability to coercive economic power? This paper investigates that question by examining the experiences of Australian export-oriented industries that lost access to the Chinese market during a sanctions episode beginning in May 2020. Despite China being a dominant and highly valuable export market for many affected industries, the economic – and accordin…
Puzzled out? The unsurprising outcomes of the Greek bailout negotiations
While to date the Eurozone debt crisis is one of the most important and consequential events in world politics of the twenty-first century, the actions taken by states to negotiate a cooperative resolution do not seem particularly puzzling. In this article, we employ the analytic explanation approach to process tracing to test whether the most protracted and high-profile case – negotiations between creditors led by Germany, and Greece as debtor s…
Australian debate of the China question: The Covid-19 case
Debate within Australia regarding the bilateral relationship with China is complex, contentious and often lacks clarity. Informed by basic international relations theory, we identify two dividing lines within this debate. First, whether understanding China’s behaviour is most effectively done through a unitary actor framework, or whether it is essential to look inside the ‘black box’ of the Chinese party-state. Second, whether one is more concern…
Between market and state: The evolution of Australia’s economic statecraft
For nearly four decades, Australia’s domestic and international economic policies were anchored by the promotion of open, transparent, and rules-based market exchange. This was considered the best way to increase both Australia’s prosperity and its security, and that belief guided Canberra’s approach to economic statecraft. However, emerging concerns about the vulnerabilities arising from economic interdependence, and the increasingly blurry line…
China and the Logic of Illiberal Hegemony
We develop a theoretical logic and character of a Chinese model of international order. We begin by considering general problems of power transition and hegemonic order-building, with reference to the American experience with liberal hegemony. China will, like all powerful states, seek an order that protects its interests. But unlike its predecessors, China faces an existing order containing elements that threaten its domestic political and econo…
Power in Australian foreign policy
The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper emphasises the importance of ‘maximising’ Australia’s power and influence. However, the White Paper and much of the commentary on Australian foreign policy do not clearly conceptualise ‘power’ or indicate how it ought to be increased. The Lowy Institute’s recent Asia Power Index implies one possible strategy via its resource-based approach to measuring power. We outline a different approach and argue that power…
Strategically (in)secure and economically (in)vulnerable: Australia, New Zealand, and their relations with China
This article considers the extent to which the expectations embedded in Allan Gyngell's assessment–that Australia is strategically vulnerable but economically secure and New Zealand is economically vulnerable but strategically secure–are borne out in the strategic posture adopted by the two countries in managing their bilateral relationship with China in recent years. We argue that Gyngell's assessment is not obsolete, but that the policy differe…
Misplaced Blame: Foreign Aid and the Consequences of UN Security Council Membership
In a well-publicized finding, Bueno de Mesquita and Smith argue that temporary members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) suffer politically and economically because they receive elevated inflows of foreign aid in exchange for votes. Closer examination of the data reveals a lack of support for this claim. Even when the analysis is limited to countries that do not enjoy temporarily increased aid during tenure, UNSC membership retains an…
Reassessing Hedging: The Logic of Alignment in East Asia
It is widely claimed that secondary states across East Asia are not purely balancing or bandwagoning, but rather hedging between the United States and China by combining policies of economic and political engagement with risk management. We argue that hedging behavior should not include costless activities that do not require states to face trade-offs in their security choices. We redefine hedging as signaling that generates ambiguity over the ex…
What Money Can’t Buy: The Security Externalities of Chinese Economic Statecraft in Post-War Sri Lanka
China’s growing trade, investment, and aid links are commonly believed to constitute a potent instrument of statecraft, generating important security externalities. Yet there is insufficient research tracing the precise mechanisms linking economic relationships between a “sender” and “target” state to actual influence in the security domain. We offer three contributions. First, we map out the theoretical mechanisms of influence in a sender–target…
Power in Australian foreign policy
The 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper emphasises the importance of ‘maximising’ Australia’s power and influence. However, the White Paper and much of the commentary on Australian foreign policy do not clearly conceptualise ‘power’ or indicate how it ought to be increased. The Lowy Institute’s recent Asia Power Index implies one possible strategy via its resource-based approach to measuring power. We outline a different approach and argue that power…
The innovation imperative: Technology and US-China rivalry in the twenty-first century
International Relations scholars have long recognized that technology plays a critical role in power transitions, but the field lacks a framework to understand how technology and innovation strategies generate rivalry between dominant and rising states. With an empirical focus on contemporary United States–China relations, this paper addresses that gap. We identify the ‘innovation imperative’ that drives rising states to pursue technological mode…
Power in Chinese Foreign Policy
ITH CHINA HAVING the world's second largest economy, increasingly sophisticated armed forces, deepening networks of foreign relations, and prominent participation in international institutions, discussions of its foreign policy increasingly involve the consideration of 'power'. 2 Yet 'power' can mean many things in the Chinese context.It may refer to China's identity in international politics: variously a 'rising power', a 'partial power', and a …
Hedging in South Asia: Balancing economic and security interests amid Sino-Indian competition
The literature on hedging as a secondary state strategy – built largely on evidence from United States-China competition in East and Southeast Asia – focuses on conditions where a major power presents both an economic opportunity and a security threat. In South Asia, in contrast, secondary states facing strategic competition between India and China have pursued hedging strategies in the absence of a security threat. We develop a theoretical recon…
Diffusion of disinformation: How social media users respond to fake news and why
This exploratory study seeks to understand the diffusion of disinformation by examining how social media users respond to fake news and why. Using a mixed-methods approach in an explanatory-sequential design, this study combines results from a national survey involving 2501 respondents with a series of in-depth interviews with 20 participants from the small but economically and technologically advanced nation of Singapore. This study finds that m…
Puzzled out? The unsurprising outcomes of the Greek bailout negotiations
While to date the Eurozone debt crisis is one of the most important and consequential events in world politics of the twenty-first century, the actions taken by states to negotiate a cooperative resolution do not seem particularly puzzling. In this article, we employ the analytic explanation approach to process tracing to test whether the most protracted and high-profile case – negotiations between creditors led by Germany, and Greece as debtor s…
Doxing democracy: Influencing Elections via Cyber Voter Interference
There is a recent surge in the use of state-sponsored cyber operations by states against foreign political institutions, including efforts to sway electoral outcomes by influencing voters. Yet cyber statecraft research has focused more on operations designed to yield a direct military advantage or reward, rather than as a subtle tool of influence. We seek to address this gap in the literature, first by conceptualising a typology of state-sponsore…
Chinese Outbound Tourism as an Instrument of Economic Statecraft
China’s growing economic strength provides Beijing with potent instruments of economic statecraft to pursue political and strategic objectives. Yet studies of economic power and Chinese economic statecraft tend to concentrate on trade in goods, outbound investment, and international institutions. This article broadens this research program into trade in services by focusing on China’s outbound tourism sector. Drawing on a variety of Chinese and E…
China Dreams
The year 2019 marked a number of significant anniversaries for the People's Republic of China (PRC), each representing different 'Chinese dreams'. There was the centennial of the May Fourth Movement - a dream of patriotism and cultural renewal. The PRC celebrated its seventieth anniversary - a dream of revolution and national strength. It was also thirty years since the
Australian debate of the China question: The Covid-19 case
Debate within Australia regarding the bilateral relationship with China is complex, contentious and often lacks clarity. Informed by basic international relations theory, we identify two dividing lines within this debate. First, whether understanding China’s behaviour is most effectively done through a unitary actor framework, or whether it is essential to look inside the ‘black box’ of the Chinese party-state. Second, whether one is more concern…
Informal economic sanctions: The political economy of Chinese coercion during the THAAD dispute
Contemporary economic coercion increasingly features the use of ‘informal’ sanctions—government-directed disruption of international commerce that is not enshrined in official laws or publicly acknowledged as coercive, yet which seeks to impose costs on key firms or industries in a target country in order to achieve strategic objectives. We investigate how ‘informality’ mediates the link between economic interdependence and coercive power, levera…
Market adjustments to import sanctions: Lessons from Chinese restrictions on Australian trade, 2020–21
Under what conditions do high levels of export concentration in a single market generate vulnerability to coercive economic power? This paper investigates that question by examining the experiences of Australian export-oriented industries that lost access to the Chinese market during a sanctions episode beginning in May 2020. Despite China being a dominant and highly valuable export market for many affected industries, the economic – and accordin…
Allan Gyngell's podcasting contribution to Australian foreign policy
This article analyses Allan Gyngell's contribution to Australian foreign policy through his podcast, 'Australia in the World'. We outline two mechanisms. First, we explore how the unique features of the podcast medium as a form of communication channelled Allan's approach – in both form and substance – to Australian foreign policy thought. Second, we show how Allan leveraged the podcast to help pry open a political culture where bureaucrats seldo…
Between market and state: The evolution of Australia’s economic statecraft
For nearly four decades, Australia’s domestic and international economic policies were anchored by the promotion of open, transparent, and rules-based market exchange. This was considered the best way to increase both Australia’s prosperity and its security, and that belief guided Canberra’s approach to economic statecraft. However, emerging concerns about the vulnerabilities arising from economic interdependence, and the increasingly blurry line…
China and the Logic of Illiberal Hegemony
We develop a theoretical logic and character of a Chinese model of international order. We begin by considering general problems of power transition and hegemonic order-building, with reference to the American experience with liberal hegemony. China will, like all powerful states, seek an order that protects its interests. But unlike its predecessors, China faces an existing order containing elements that threaten its domestic political and econo…
Strategically (in)secure and economically (in)vulnerable: Australia, New Zealand, and their relations with China
This article considers the extent to which the expectations embedded in Allan Gyngell's assessment–that Australia is strategically vulnerable but economically secure and New Zealand is economically vulnerable but strategically secure–are borne out in the strategic posture adopted by the two countries in managing their bilateral relationship with China in recent years. We argue that Gyngell's assessment is not obsolete, but that the policy differe…
China and Hegemony: An Exchange – The Authors Reply
Peer-reviewed
The Role of Technology Standards in Strategic Hedging
This article argues that technology standards provide Southeast Asian states with a distinct mechanism for hedging amid intensifying US–China technological rivalry. Traditional hedging strategies emphasizing economic engagement without political alignment are increasingly constrained by the weaponization of technological interdependence, politicizing previously neutral technology decisions. We develop a framework showing how active participation …
Political science (18 works) · Economics (14 works) · Law (14 works) · Politics (14 works) · Law (11 works) · Political economy (11 works) · China (10 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Economic system (6 works) · International Development and Aid (6 works)