I am a Lecturer in Political Science at the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne. Prior to this I was a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Studies, in the School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies, University of Bristol, and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Mortara Center for International Studies, Georgetown University. I hold a PhD from the University of Toronto, where I have also been a sessional lecturer.
My research focuses on institutional change, strategic innovation, and normative evolution in national and international security sectors. My book Normative Transformation and the War on Terrorism, published with Cambridge University Press, examines the evolving norms and practices of the targeted killing, torture as a method for interrogation, and the widespread employment of armed private contractors to perform military functions. It traces the institutional transformations behind these developments, spanning the US’s security and intelligence apparatuses, via cutting edge methods of qualitative process tracing and ethnography.
My current major project examines the role of non-state intelligence actors, spanning government contractors, to private companies marketing ‘offensive’ cybersecurity products, to citizen groups engaged in public interest OSINT. These actors are increasingly central to mechanisms of surveillance, sovereignty, and security, but the their constituent practices often departure significantly from what is typical or expected within official state agencies.
My other current projects seek to develop a pragmatist approach to international relationships scholarship and to better study the roles of innovation, problem-solving, and ethical change in security-sector policymaking and practice. Recent and past work may be found in publications in International Theory, International Studies Quarterly, European Journal of International Relations, International Studies Review, and Terrorism and Political Violence, among others. In addition to my academic work, I have published a number of popular and editorial essays on current events. A full index of my publications, along with my CV, may be found in a dedicated page.
Contact information:
- Email simon.pratt@unimelb.edu.au
Simon Frankel Pratt 