Professor Toni Erskine

Professor of International Politics
School of Humanities and Social Sciences
  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS

Professor Erskine received a BA Honours (First Class) in Political Science from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, an MSc in Social and Political Theory (with Distinction) from the University of Edinburgh, and a PhD in Political Philosophy and International Relations from Trinity College, University of Cambridge, where she was Cambridge Commonwealth Scholar. After being awarded her PhD, she was British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre of International Studies, University of Cambridge and Research Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge (1999-2002). She moved from Cambridge to the west coast of Wales in 2002 when she was appointed to a lectureship in the Department of International Politics at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth. She was promoted to Professor of International Politics in 2009 (with the award of a Personal Chair) and was Director of Research and Deputy Head of Department at Aberystwyth when she took up her current position of Professor of International Politics at UNSW in February 2013.

She is also currently Associate Director (Politics & Ethics) of UNSW’s Australian Centre for Cyber Security, Director of Research / Associate Head of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, and Convenor of the International Ethics Research Group at UNSW Canberra. She has been appointed to the Research Committee of the Australian Institute of International Affairs (from 2014), is past Chair of the International Ethics Section of the International Studies Association (2008-10), and recently served as an elected member of its Governing Council (2014-16) and as a member of its Executive Committee (2015-16).  Professor Erskine is on the international editorial advisory boards of the following journals: International Theory; Journal of Political Philosophy; International Relations; Cambridge Review of International Affairs; and Journal of International Political Theory.  She will join the international editorial advisory board of Ethics & International Affairs in Jan. 2018. She has been Lurie-Murdoch Senior Research Fellow in Global Ethics (2008-10) and Honorary Professor (2010-12) at RMIT University in Melbourne, Visiting Scholar at Sydney University (2011-12), Senior Research Associate in International Politics at Aberystwyth University (2013-14), and, most recently, Visiting Research Fellow in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford (May & June 2016).  In 2016 she was awarded UNSW Canberra’s Dorothy Green Award 'for outstanding contributions to research by a female academic'.

Research Interests

Professor Erskine's research focuses on the following themes:  moral agency and responsibility in relation to formal organisations in world politics (such as states, multinational corporations and intergovernmental organisations); the ethics of war; the responsibility to protect (R2P); cosmopolitan theories and their critics; norms and cyber security; joint action and collective responsibility; international relations theory; the ethics of intelligence collection; the role of luck in ethical analyses of international politics; and moral responsibility in relation to new technologies of war (particularly with respect to artificial intelligence). Her books include: Embedded Cosmopolitanism:  Duties to Strangers and Enemies in a World of ‘Dislocated Communities’ (Oxford University Press, 2008), which was recipient of the ‘2008/2009 Notable Book Award in International Ethics’, International Studies Association; Tragedy and International Relations (ed. with Richard Ned Lebow; Palgrave Macmillan, 2012; paperback edition 2016), which was CHOICE outstanding academic title winner 2014; and International Relations Theory Today (ed. with Ken Booth; Polity, 2016).  She is currently completing a single-authored monograph entitled Locating Responsibility: Institutional Moral Agency and International Relations. 

Books

Erskine T, 2008, Embedded Cosmopolitanism: Duties to Strangers and Enemies in a World of 'Dislocated Communities', Oxford University Press, Oxford University Press, http://dx.doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197264379.001.0001

Book Chapters

Logan S; Erskine T, 2018, ''New Technologies': Questions of Agency, Responsibility, and Luck', in Technologies of International Relations: Continuity and Change, Springer International Publishing, pp. 123 - 136, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-97418-7_13

Erskine T, 2018, 'Moral responsibility-and luck?-In international politics', in The Oxford Handbook of International Political Theory, pp. 130 - 142, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198746928.013.8

Erskine TA, 2018, 'Moral Responsibility - and Luck? - in International Politics', in Robyn Eckersley ; Chris Brown (ed.), Oxford Handbook of International Political Theory, Oxford University Press, pp. 130 - 142, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198746928.001.0001

Erskine TA, 2016, 'Normative International Relations Theory (revised and updated)', in Dunne T; Kurki M; Smith S (ed.), International Relations Theories: Discipline and Diversity, Oxford Universoty Press, pp. 36 - 58

Erskine TA; Carr M, 2016, 'Beyond "Quasi-Norms": The Challenge and Potential of Engaging with Norms in Cyberspace', in International Cyber Norms: Legal, Policy & Industry Perspectives, NATO CCD COE Publications, Tallinn, pp. 87 - 109, https://ccdcoe.org/multimedia/international-cyber-norms-legal-policy-industry-perspectives.html

Erskine TA; Booth K, 2016, ''Responsibility, Risk, and IR Theory'', in Booth K; Erskine T (ed.), International Relations Theory Today, Polity Press, Cambridge, pp. 279 - 295

Erskine TA; Booth K, 2016, 'Introduction : the Argumentative Discipline', in Booth K; Erskine T (ed.), International Relations Theory Today, edn. 2nd, Polity Press, Cambridge

Erskine TA, 2016, ''Moral Agents of Protection and Supplementary Responsibilities to Protect'', in Bellamy A; Dunne T (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of the Responsibility to Protect, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 167 - 185, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198753841.013.10

Erskine TA, 2015, ''Coalitions of the Willing' and the Shared Responsibility to Protect', in Nollkaemper A; Jacobs D (ed.), Distribution of Responsibilities in International Law, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 227 - 264, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781316227466.009

Erskine TA; Lebow RN, 2012, 'Understanding Tragedy and Understanding International Relations', in Erskine T; Lebow RN (ed.), Tragedy and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan

Erskine TA; Lebow RN, 2012, 'Learning from Tragedy and Refocusing International Relations', in Erskine TA; Lebow RN (ed.), Tragedy and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York and Basingstoke

Erskine TA, 2011, 'Kicking Bodies and Damning Souls: The Danger of Harming "Innocent" Individuals While Punishing Delinquent States (reprinted)', in Isaacs T; Vernon R (ed.), Accountability for Collective Wrongdoing, Cambridge University Press, New York, pp. 261 - 286, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511976780.011

Erskine TA, 2010, '"As Rays Of Light to the Human Soul"? Moral Agents and Intelligence Gathering (reprinted)', in Goldman J (ed.), A Reader for the Intelligence Professional, Volume 2, pp. 195 - 215, http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9780203504420

Erskine TA, 2010, '"Citizen of Nowhere" or "the Point Where Circles Intersect?" Impartialist and Embedded Cosmopolitanisms (reprinted)', in Inglis D; Delanty G (ed.), Cosmopolitanism, Volume 4, edn. 3, Routledge, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, pp. 457 - 477, http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000177370400002&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=891bb5ab6ba270e68a

Erskine TA, 2010, 'Krieg und korporative Verantwortung: Das Problem der Bestrafung "delinquenter" Staaten, German translation of 'The Problem with Punishing the "Delinquent" State', in Gerber D; Zanetti V (ed.), Kollective Verantwortung und Internationalen Beziehungen (Collective Responsibility within International Relations), Suhrkamp, Frankfurt

Erskine T, 2009, 'Locating Responsibility: The Problem of Moral Agency in International Relations', in The Oxford Handbook of International Relations, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199219322.003.0041

Erskine TA, 2008, 'Pripisivanje Odgovornosti Institucionalnim Moralnim Delatnicima: Slučaj Država i Kvazi-država’, Serbian translation of ‘Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of State and “Quasi-states”', in Bojanic P (ed.), Predrag Krstic, Odgovornost. Individualna I kolektivna (Individual and Collective Responsibility), Sluzbeni Glasnik, Belgrade

Erskine TA, 2004, '"As Rays of Light to the Human Soul"? Moral Agents and Intelligence Gathering (reprinted)', in Scott LV; Jackson PD (ed.), Understanding Intelligence in the Twenty-First Century: Journeys in Shadows, Routledge, London and New York

Erskine T, 2003, 'Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of States and "Quasi-states" (reprinted)', in Erskine T (ed.), Can Institutions Have Responsibilities?

Erskine TA, 2003, 'Making Sense of "Responsibility" in International Relations: Key Questions and Concepts', in Erskine T (ed.), Can Institutions Have Responsibilities? Collective Moral Agency and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York and Basingstoke, pp. 1 - 16

Edited Books

Erskine TA; Booth K, (ed.), 2016, International Relations Theory Today, Polity Press

Erskine T; Lebow RN, (ed.), 2012, Tragedy and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York and Basingstoke

Erskine T, (ed.), 2003, Can Institutions Have Responsibilities? Collective Moral Agency and International Relations, Palgrave Macmillan, New York and Baskingstoke

Journal articles

Erskine TA, 2014, '“Coalitions of the Willing” and Responsibilities to Protect: Informal Associations, Enhanced Capacities and Shared Moral Burdens', Ethics & International Affairs, vol. 28, pp. 115 - 145, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0892679414000094

Erskine T, 2012, 'Whose progress, which morals? Constructivism, normative IR theory and the limits and possibilities of studying ethics in world politics', International Theory, vol. 4, pp. 449 - 468, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1752971912000152

Erskine T, 2010, 'Kicking Bodies and Damning Souls: The Danger of Harming “Innocent” Individuals While Punishing “Delinquent” States', Ethics & International Affairs, vol. 24, pp. 261 - 285, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.2010.00267.x

Erskine T, 2008, 'How should we respond to ‘delinquent’ institutions?', Journal of International Political Theory, vol. 4, pp. 1 - 8, http://dx.doi.org/10.3366/E1755088208000050

Erskine T, 2006, 'Teaching the ethics of war: Applying theory to "hard cases"', International Studies Perspectives, vol. 7, pp. 187 - 203, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1528-3585.2006.00239.x

Erskine T, 2004, '"Blood on the UN's hands: Assigning duties and apportioning blame to an intergovernmental organisation', Global Society, vol. 18, pp. 21 - 42, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1360082032000173554

Erskine T, 2004, ''As rays of light to the human soul'? Moral agents and intelligence gathering', Intelligence and National Security, vol. 19, pp. 359 - 381, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0268452042000302047

Erskine T, 2002, '‘Citizen of nowhere’ or ‘the point where circles intersect’? Impartialist and embedded cosmopolitanisms', Review of International Studies, vol. 28, pp. 457 - 478, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0260210502004576

Erskine T, 2001, 'Assigning Responsibilities to Institutional Moral Agents: The Case of States and Quasi-States', Ethics and International Affairs, vol. 15, pp. 67 - 85, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7093.2001.tb00359.x

Erskine T, 2000, 'Embedded Cosmopolitanism and the Case of War: Restraint, Discrimination and Overlapping Communities', Global Society, vol. 14, pp. 569 - 590, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/713669058