Connor O’Brien
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien
@connorpobrien.bsky.social
450 followers 1.9K following 14 posts
Politics PhD @Cambridge_Uni, alumn @UniMelb. International political economy, global environmental politics, and Australian FP. Like/share ≠ endorse
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
foreignpolicy.com
Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · Jul 21
The AUKUS review poses a fundamental challenge to the U.S.-Australia relationship, and Australian foreign policy generally. Three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
If AUKUS Is Toast, What Should Australia Do Next?
Amid Elbridge Colby’s review of the submarine deal, three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
foreignpolicy.com
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jul 22
Great to publish this @foreignpolicy.com review essay on the future of Australian foreign policy
foreignpolicy.com Foreign Policy @foreignpolicy.com · Jul 21
The AUKUS review poses a fundamental challenge to the U.S.-Australia relationship, and Australian foreign policy generally. Three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
If AUKUS Is Toast, What Should Australia Do Next?
Amid Elbridge Colby’s review of the submarine deal, three books consider the future of the alliance itself.
foreignpolicy.com
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 27
Australia is far too small to shape the regional balance of power via military means, and its defence spending will remain a rounding error in comparison to the US and China

This is the inconvenient truth ignored by many pro-AUKUS commentators

www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpre...
Australia should stop pretending to be a military hegemon
With its defence spending akin to a rounding error in comparison to China and the US, Australia must find other ways to exert power.
www.lowyinstitute.org
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
lowyinstitute.bsky.social
The Lowy Institute @lowyinstitute.bsky.social · Jun 26
“Australia is particularly well placed to shape the medium- and long-term economic determinants of the regional distribution of power,” writes Connor O’Brien in The Interpreter.
https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/australia-should-stop-pretending-be-military-hegemon
Australia should stop pretending to be a military hegemon
With its defence spending akin to a rounding error in comparison to China and the US, Australia must find other ways to exert power.
www.lowyinstitute.org
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 26
As the debate about Australian defence commitments and AUKUS heats up, it’s worth questioning what all this spending is meant to be for

To boost regional ties, Australia should instead be prioritising decisive multilateral action on trade, sovereign debt, and climate finance
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
phenomenalworld.bsky.social
Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · Jun 10
"After first emerging in the interwar years, offshore tax havens proliferated during the era of decolonization. Postcolonial self-determination prompted the flight of imperial capital to offshore jurisdictions, many of which were current or former British dependent territories."
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 6
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
phenomenalworld.bsky.social Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · Jun 5
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."

NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
phenomenalworld.bsky.social
Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · Jun 5
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."

NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
3 8
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offshoring-the-planet/
t.co
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 10
Now in Spanish! Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social www.phenomenalworld.org/es/analisis/...
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
To conclude, I reframe the financing of the green transition as a multi-layered battle for jurisdictional control, with important implications for transnational private control over global environmental governance (7/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
Through two case studies, I show how both mechanisms are expanding the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft, enabling states to commercialize their sovereignty over the green transition (6/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
The essay explores how proponents of carbon credit trading and debt-for-nature swaps use offshore financing vehicles to argue that the financial flows are both locally and internationally controlled, while advancing both climate justice and market-based prerogatives (5/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
Different financing models have profound implications for governmental control over project implementation, local self-determination, broader development outcomes, and indeed the penetration of financial globalization (4/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
Yet beyond the first-order issue of generating new financing, the question of how the money should be spent looms large (3/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
As the global environmental financing ‘gap’ grows, there is increasing momentum behind non-traditional financing measures such as carbon credit trading and debt-for nature swaps (2/7)
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 8
In my @phenomenalworld.bsky.social essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’, I explore how the offshore world is reshaping the global green transition (a 🧵1/7)
t.co/8j7i8iXAIk
https://www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/offshoring-the-planet/
t.co
1 3 5
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 6
@hpe-project.bsky.social
connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jun 6
Thanks @phenomenalworld.bsky.social for publishing my essay ‘Offshoring the Planet’
phenomenalworld.bsky.social Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · Jun 5
"Debt-for-nature swaps and carbon credit trading represent the expansion of the offshore phenomenon as a logic of global South statecraft."

NEW, Connor O'Brien on jurisdictional control over biodiversity and climate finance
Offshoring the Planet | Connor O'Brien
A battle for jurisdictional control lies at the heart of the global green transition.
www.phenomenalworld.org
1 2 3
Reposted by Connor O’Brien
cambridgecria.bsky.social
Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social · May 7
🚨CRIA is soliciting special issue proposals that contribute to scholarly debate and which examine pertinent and topical theoretical, empirical and methodological questions ⬇️

Deadline: 11 June
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
cambridgecria.bsky.social
Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social · Mar 11
On 28 May, CRIA is running an ECR workshop on 'The Global Politics of the Green Transition'! Abstract submissions close on 7 April.
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
phenomenalworld.bsky.social
Phenomenal World @phenomenalworld.bsky.social · Mar 11
"Whatever the economy is, its reality does not exist independent of our ability to account for it."

NEW: An adapted excerpt from The Real Economy by
Jonathan Levy, out now from Princeton University Press.
The Real Economy | Phenomenal World
No discipline in the humanities or social sciences today has a convincing theory of the economy. Long preoccupied with honing methods, the core of the discipline of economics has abandoned investigati...
www.phenomenalworld.org
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
cambridgecria.bsky.social
Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social · Mar 2
CRIA is hosting a roundtable on 'Concept Formation and Historical IR' (SA30) to kickoff our presence at the 2025 Chicago International Studies Association conference @isanet.bsky.social. Come along to The Barbershop (Blackstone Hotel) from 8:15am for a great discussion!
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connorpobrien.bsky.social
Connor O’Brien @connorpobrien.bsky.social · Jan 4
Excited to be joining @alktaif.bsky.social as co-editor of the Cambridge Review of International Affairs @cambridgecria.bsky.social
CRIA welcomes submissions on international affairs topics from across the social sciences!
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Reposted by Connor O’Brien
bhbradlow.bsky.social
Benjamin H. Bradlow @bhbradlow.bsky.social · Dec 19
My new essay with @akentikelenis.bsky.social on green technology transfers in @phenomenalworld.bsky.social.

www.phenomenalworld.org/analysis/tec...
Transfer and Transition | Benjamin Bradlow & Alexandros Kentikelenis
Technology transfer is a necessity for a just global green transformation
www.phenomenalworld.org
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