Dr Adam Tyson

Profile

I joined the School of Politics and International Studies in 2011 after working for universities in Canada, Indonesia and Malaysia. Drawing on my international experience, I am currently involved in a number of interdisciplinary research projects with colleagues in the UK as well as the Asia Pacific. I am responsible for delivering the Faculty of Social Sciences international strategy that prioritises equitable and dynamic research and educational partnerships. Our vision is to change the world for the good of all.

My primary research agenda is to investigate political transitions in democratic and non-democratic settings. I am interested in the subvarieties of contentious politics, and my publications are based on empirical field research in countries such as democratic Indonesia and autocratic China. In recent years I have applied this research agenda to such diverse topics as the visual arts, ethnic conflicts and vigilantism, land claims and political ecology, and blasphemy laws.

In 2022 I was elected as Chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Studies UK

Responsibilities

• Pro Dean International, Faculty of Social Sciences

Research interests

My research is collaborative and interdisciplinary. Since 2004 I have studied processes of political transition in Indonesia, the third largest democracy (and fourth most populous country) in the world. My research focuses on the unintended consequences that have arisen in Indonesia since the transition to democracy in 1998. I am interested in the ways in which liberal reforms produced illiberal outcomes in newly decentralised Indonesia, based on comparative evidence of ethnic and religious revivalism. In addition, my research considers why democracy complicates efforts to achieve environmental sustainability and development pledges in Indonesia and Malaysia, as well as administrative reform in contemporary China.

I find that international providers of development aid and assistance are often manipulated by local ‘clients’ who have their own political agendas, thus adding a level of complexity to the study of patron-client relations. I am currently leading a collaborative research project concerning the design, communication and impact of evidence-based forestry in Indonesia https://www.britac.ac.uk/international-partnership-and-mobility-2016-awards-list.

Professional memberships

• Association of Southeast Asian Studies UK
• International Indonesia Forum

Student education

I teach politics modules at the undergraduate level concerning China and Southeast Asia.

I supervise BA and MA dissertations.

I supervise PhD students in a range of topics concerning politics in the Asia Pacific

Current postgraduate researchers

• Rendy Pahrun Wadipalapa
• Stanislaus Risadi Apresian
• Dewa Ayu Putu Eva Wishanti
• Rizqi Bachtiar