The University of Queensland’s Dr Andrew Phillips has been awarded the Crisp Prize for his first book ‘War, Religion and Empire’, (Cambridge University Press).
The biennial prize is awarded by the Australian Political Science Association for the best scholarly book on political science written by a member within 10 years of gaining a PhD.
The announcement was made during this year’s APSA conference in Hobart.
Dr Phillips from the School of Political Science and International Studies said it was a ‘huge honour’ to receive this award.
"It was very satisfying to write the book but it’s quite a different feeling to receive an award as prestigious as this from a jury of my peers all of whom I admire - it’s quite humbling," Dr Phillips said.
The book is concerned with major changes in world affairs and how this affects international order.
The judging panel for the Crisp Prize recognised the challenges both historical and theoretical in taking on such an issue.
The judges comments included: "This book thus makes a big-picture contribution to the literature on global order transformation."
The book was based on Dr Phillips PhD, which he completed at Cornell University in upstate New York.
"I was at the start of my second year there when 9/11 happened," Dr Phillip said.
"It gave me the urge to try and figure out what this change in order would mean for our modern political system, which looked to be in flux immediately after the attack.
"Indeed the final chapter of ‘War Religion and Empire’ considers the current international order and how it is threatened by militant Islam and terrorism."
Since it was published in 2011, the book has received favourable reviews by five academic journals and Dr Phillips is now working on his next project – a collaboration with Professor Jason Sharman from Griffith University, working title: ‘How the East was Won’.
“The book looks at how the west was able to dominate Asia for a brief period," he said.
"Australian International Relations talks a lot about ‘The Asian Century’ but the book argues that we are now returning to the historical equilibrium.”
Media contact: Gillian Ievers: g.ievers@uq.edu.au
