Day 1 - Wednesday 27 September: Governance
10:00-11:00 | Opening Keynote Address
Presenter: Associate-Professor Susan Engel, University of Wollongong
Chair/moderator: Dr Kearrin Sims

Abstract: To help set the scene for JCU’s RED symposium on whether the globe is living up to the commitment to no one being left behind, this paper briefly surveys the history of Australia’s engagement with the Third World and the Third World Project of independence, non-alignment, and equality in the post-World War II era. It does this using a critical international political economy framework that highlights not just the role of nation-states but also the way world orders and modes of production shape actions. Having surveyed Australia’s legacy and the ideas that underpin it, the paper turns to Australia’s contemporary commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals. 
Focusing on Australia’s development finance and development assistance, the paper will highlight the ways in which Australia’s simplistic commitment to national interests has undermined any capacity to effectively engage with issues of systemic injustice.

Research Biography:
Associate Professor Susan Engel is Co-Director, Future of Rights Centre, and Associate Professor, Politics and International Studies, University of Wollongong. Her research is on the impact of neoliberalism on the theory and prac;ces of development and development finance. She is a coeditor of the 2022 Routledge Handbook of Global Development and co-author of The Global Architecture of Mul;lateral Development Banks: A System of Debt or Development? (With AR Bazbauers, 2021, Routledge). She also has a 2010 book on the Word Bank plus over 30 articles and book chapters. Susan is with indigo foundation Australia and was on the board from many years. She is also on the Research Committee of the Jubilee Australia Research Centre.

* Public Livestreamed Event:
https://jcu.zoom.us/j/89152315055?pwd=TjB1Wm9GUVcrZEdsRFhZNW0xQ2E3dz09