Ben Hillman is Lecturer in Political Science at the ANU's Crawford School of Economics and Government where he teaches graduate courses on comparative government and democracy.

Ben’s specific research interests are political change in Asia (especially China and Indonesia), democratisation, ethnic conflict, regional autonomy and comparative local governance.

He also works as an advisor to the United Nations on democratic institutions and post-conflict governance. He headed the United Nations Development Programme's support program for post-conflict elections in Aceh, Indonesia and has advised UNDP on its strategies for strengthening democratic governance in Aceh and Indonesia.

Ben’s publications on democratic governance and ethnic politics appear in several leading international journals. He also contributes to Australian and international media such as The Wall Street Journal, The Diplomat, the Far Eastern Economic Review and The Jakarta Post.

Ben is also Founding Chair of the Eastern Tibet Training Institute-a not-for-profit training center based in southwest China that provides free vocational training to unemployed Tibetan and other ethnic minority youth.

Research interests/expertise

• Democracy and democratisation
• Comparative local governance
• Ethnic politics and conflicts
• Chinese politics

Current projects

• Factionalism in Chinese politics
• Political parties and democratic reform in Indonesia

Teaching

• Comparative Government and Politics (2nd semester)
• Democratisation in Asia (Autumn session)

Recent articles

• ‘Factions and Spoils: Examining Local State Behaviour in China’, The China Journal, Vol 62, July 2010, pp1-18
• ‘China’s Many Tibets: Diqing as a model for ‘development with Tibetan characteristics?’  Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2010, pp 269-277
• 'Political Parties and Post-Conflict Transition: the Results and Implications of the 2009 Parliamentary Elections in Aceh', Canberra: CDI Policy Brief Series, February 2010
• 'Deepening Local Democracy in Indonesia: the Challenge of Implementing Direct Elections for Local Heads of Government’, Policy Paper, UNDP Indonesia, March 2010
• 'Local Political Parties in Indonesia – the Aceh Test Case', Australia Indonesia Governance Research Partnership Policy Brief, ANU, December 2009.
  » view article
• 'Bullets to Ballots - Aceh in 2009', Far Eastern Economic Review, December 2009.
  » view article [PDF, 97KB]
• 'Aceh Party victory legitimate despite threat', The Jakarta Post, 8 July, 2009
  » view article

Books

• Rural Governance: Village Autonomy and Natural Resource Management (with He Jun and Xu Jianchu eds) Beijing: China Agricultural University Press (2007)

Articles (peer reviewed)

• ‘Factions and Spoils: Examining Local State Behaviour in China’, The China Journal, Vol 62, July 2010, pp1-18
• ‘China’s Many Tibets: Diqing as a model for ‘development with Tibetan characteristics?’  Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 11, No. 2, June 2010, pp 269-277
• 'Macho Minority: Masculinity and Ethnicity on the Edge of Tibet', (with Lee-Anne Henfry) Modern China, April 2006 (32) 251-272
• 'Monasticism and the Local State: Autonomy and Authority in a Tibetan Prefecture', The China Journal, No. 54, July 2005, 22-52
• 'The Rise of the Community in Rural China: Village Politics, Cultural Identity and Religious Revival in a Hui Hamlet', The China Journal, No. 51, January 2004, 53-73
• 'A Way out for Traditional Handicrafts during Market Integration: A Case Study of a Poor Village' (in Chinese), Nongcun Jingji (Rural Economy), April 2005
• 'Paradise Under Construction: Minorities, Myths and Modernity in Northwest Yunnan', Asian Ethnicity, Vol. 4, No. 2, June 2003, 177-190
• 'Opening Up: The Politics of Poverty and Development in Rural China', Development Bulletin, No. 61, May 2003, 47-50
• 'China's Mountain Poor: Integrating Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Protection', Development Bulletin, No. 61, May 2003, 51-54

Other publications and seminar papers

• ‘From Rebels to Politicians: the transformation of former combatants in Aceh, Indonesia”, Weatherhead Centre for International Affairs, Harvard University, 30 March 2010
• ‘Political Parties in Post-Conflict Transitions: Lessons from Aceh, Indonesia’, Columbia University, 31 March 2010
• ‘Local Governance in China’, Association for Asian Studies annual convention, Philadelphia, 27 March 2010
• 'Development With Tibetan Characteristics', Wall Street Journal, 31 January, 2010
  » view article
• 'Ethnic Tourism and Ethnic Politics in Tibetan China', Harvard Asia Pacific Review, Spring, 2009, pp 1-6.
• 'Democracy and Peace-Building in Aceh: Report on Aceh Local Elections', United Nations Development Program, Indonesia, 2008.
• 'Rethinking China's Tibet Policy', The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, 2008.
  » view article
• 'Money Can't Buy Tibetans' Love', Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 171, No. 3, 8-16, 2008
• 'Cuba after Castro' The Diplomat, April-May 2007, 94-95.
• 'Aceh's Rebels Turn to Ruling', Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 170, No. 1, January-February 2007, 49-53.
• “Rethinking Tibet: causes of the current crisis', Griffith Asia Institute, July 31, 2008
• "Village Elections and Natural Resource Management" (in Chinese) in Rural Governance: village autonomy and natural resource management (Ben Hillman, He Jun and Xu Jianchu eds) Beijing: China Agricultural University Press (2007) pp 86-100.
• "Rural Governance, Village Democracy and Natural resource Management" (with He Jun, Li Zhinan and Su Yufang), in Rural Governance: village autonomy and natural resource management (Ben Hillman, He Jun and Xu Jianchu eds) Beijing: China Agricultural University Press (2007) pp 11-22.
• 'China's Federal Future?', Principles of a Modern federal Community, University of Adelaide, 27 May 2008
• 'Indonesia: New Elections: Old-Style Politics', Far Eastern Economic Review, Vol. 169, No. 1, January-February 2006, 26-29.
• 'Chinese Nationalism and the Belgrade Embassy Bombing', in Leong H. Liew Wang Shaoguang (ed.) Chinese Nationalism, Democracy and National Integration in China (London: Routledge Curzon, 2003) 65-84
• 'Developing Paradise: Tourism and Rural Poverty in China's Shangri-la', in Xu Jianchu and Steven Mikesell (eds.) Landscapes of Diversity: Indigenous Knowledge, Sustainable Livelihoods and Resource Governance in Montane Mainland Southeast Asia, Yunnan Academy of Science, 2003
• 'Implementing Elections in Aceh: Political and Administrative Challenges', Department of Political and Social Change, Research School of Asia and Pacific Studies, Australian National University, 23 October 2006.
• 'Decentralization and Local Governance: Lessons from China', Graduate Studies in Political Science Program, Diponegoro University, Semarang, Indonesia, 16 January 2006.
• 'Islam in China', National Institute for Islamic Studies, Semarang, Indonesia, 17 January 2006.
• 'Political Parties and Democracy', Panel presentation at televised public forum on local elections in Indonesia sponsored by newspaper Independent Voice (Suara Merdeka) Semarang, Indonesia, 16 January 2006.

Other professional activities and associations

Editorial Board Member, The China Journal
Academic Referee, The China Journal, China Quarterly, Asian Studies Review, East Asian History, Journal of Asian Studies
Chair, The Eastern Tibet Training Institute

[back]