Richard Tanter is Professor of International Relations, Royal Melbourne Institute of
Technology, and Senior Research Associate, Nautilus Institute in San Francisco and
of Nautilus@RMIT at RMIT's Research and Innovation Section. Within Nautilus he
has particular responsibilities for the Global Collaborative and Global ProblemSolving project, and is closely involved in the East Asian Science and Security
Collaborative.
From 1989-2003 Richard was Professor of International Relations at Kyoto Seika
University in Japan. After returning from Japan in 2003, he has been Senior
Curriculum Consultant to Deakin University for its Security Studies graduate program
at the Australian Defence College's Centre for Defence and Strategic Studies.
http://www.defence.gov.au/adc/cdss_home.htm
Richard has worked on peace, security and environment issues in East and Southeast
Asia as analyst, policy advocate and activist since the 1970s. His research has
focussed on militarisation and peace issues in Indonesia, Korea and Japan, as well as
the wider politics of East and Southeast Asia. His doctoral thesis research on the
intelligence agencies of the Indonesian state in the Suharto period was the first study
of its type in Asia.
In more recent writing he has returned to a Northeast Asian focus, concentrating on
questions of Japanese security policy, its intersection with US policy and relations
with China, the issues of Japanese theatre missile defence and electronic intelligence
capabilities, and the possibilities of Japanese acquisition of nuclear weapons.
In addition to publishing widely on the New Order state in Indonesia as an academic,
Richard also testified as the principal expert witness in the successful civil case for
crimes against humanity brought by East Timorese plaintiffs in a US court against
Indonesian Lt-General Johny Lumintang.
Richard worked on the issue of East Timor from 1975 onwards as an academic
analyst and activist. He published the first substantive analysis of East Timorese
military resistance to the Indonesian invasion in early 1977, based on work as a
lobbyist for the the East Timorese delegation to the United Nations. His most recent
books on East Timor are Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East
Timor in 1999, [co-edited with Gerry Van Klinken and Desmond Ball] and Bitter
Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community [edited
with Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom].
Contact details
richard.tanter@rmit.edu.au
Complete RMIT contact details for Richard Tanter.
Languages
Interview languages: English, Japanese
Reading languages: Indonesian, French
Education
Monash University, (Politics), Ph.D - Intelligence Agencies and Third World
Militarization: A Case Study of Indonesia, 1992.
New School for Social Research, M.A. (Sociology), 1982.
University of Melbourne - B.A. Hons (Political Science), 1971
Selected writings:
2006
2006a (with Peter Hayes, David von Hippel, Jungmin Kang, Tatsujiro Suzuki and
Scott Bruce), ' Grid-locked', Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2006,
52-58 (vol. 62, no. 01). http://www.thebulletin.org/article.php?art_ofn=jf06hayes
2006b "Japan's Indian Ocean Naval Deployment: Blue water militarization in a
'normal country'", (March 21, 2006), Japan Focus 549.
http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1700
2006c English translation of Umebayashi Hiromichi, "Japan as a Base for the Defense
of the US homeland: US Navy Missile Defense Operations in the Sea of Japan",
NAPSNet Policy Forum 06-43A May 30th, 2006 [PDF].
http://www.nautilus.org/fora/security/0643Umebayashi.pdf
2006d English translation of Hiromichi Umebayashi, US Navy Set Missile Defence
Operations Area in the Sea of Japan 190 Kilometres West of Okushiri: Japan as a
Base for the Defense of the US Homeland, NAPSNet Special Report 06-42A May
30th, 2006.
2006e Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor in 1999,
[co-edited with Gerry Van Klinken and Desmond Ball], (New York: Rowman and
Littlefield, second edition)
http://www.rowmanlittlefield.com/Catalog/SingleBook.shtml?command=Search&db=
^DB/CATALOG.db&eqSKUdata=0742538346
2006f 'Practical Justice in Doe v. Lumintang: The Successful Use of Civil Remedies
Against "an Enemy of All Mankind"', in Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and
Violence in East Timor in 1999 [second edition].
2006g "Anxious Nation: Japanese Perspectives on National Strategy", Part 1 of
Richard Tanter and Honda Masaru, "Does Japan Have a National Strategy?", Japan
Focus 610. http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1938
2006h "Does Japan Have a National Strategy?", ZNet, 31 May 2006.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=17&ItemID=10347
2006i "Ten questions about East Timor for which we need answers", Austral Policy
Forum 06-18A, 8 June 2006. http://nautilus.rmit.edu.au/forum-reports/0618atanter.html
Republished: Ten questions about East Timor for which we need answers ZNet, 10
June 2006.
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=44&ItemID=10391
Indonesian translation: Sepuluh Pertanyaan Mengenai Timor Leste Dunia Sepi, 14
June 2006. http://rajasidi.multiply.com/journal/item/106
2006j "About face: Japan's remilitarisation", CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets, Tokyo,
November 2006.
2005
2005a (with Jungmin Kang, Peter Hayes, Li Bin, and Tatsujiro Suzuki), 'South
Korea's nuclear surprise', Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, January/February 2005,
pp. 40-49 (vol. 61, no. 01) http://www.thebulletin.org/
2005b 'With Eyes Wide Shut: Japan, Heisei Militarization and the Bush Doctrine' in
Melvin Gurtov and Peter Van Ness (eds.), Confronting the Bush Doctrine: Critical
Views from the Asia-Pacific, (New York: Routledge, 2005)
http://www.selectbooks.com.sg/titles/36158.htm
2005c 'Japanese militarisation and the Bush doctrine', Japan Focus, 221
http://japanfocus.org/products/details/1989
2005d "Voice and Silence in the First Nuclear War: Wilfred Burchett and Hiroshima,
with an Afterword (2005)", Japan Focus, 362, August 2005
http://japanfocus.org/products/details/2066
2005e (with Peter Hayes, David von Hippel, Jungmin Kang, Tadahiro Katsuta,
Tatsujiro Suzuki, Scott Bruce) "Light Water Reactors at the Six Party Talks: The
Barrier that Makes the Water Flow," Policy Forum Online 05-78A, Nautilus Institute.
http://www.nautilus.org/fora/security/0578LWR.html
2004
2004a ' Japan, Heisei Militarization and the Bush Doctrine', Policy Forum Online,
Nautilus Institute, (PFO 04-42A: October 28, 2004)
http://www.nautilus.org/fora/security/0442A_Tanter.html
2004b (co-author with Desmond Ball) ' In the Miura Listening Room: Radio
Surveillance under Japan's 'Friendly Authoritarianism' JPRI Working Paper No. 103
(September 2004) http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingpapers/wp103.html
2004c ' The Deputy Sheriff shoots himself in the foot', New Matilda, 15 December,
2004 http://www.newmatilda.com/home/articledetail.asp?ArticleID=390
2004d "Beyond Realpolitik", Spinach7, No. 3, Autumn-Winter 2004.
2004e "Gas dispute deepens neighbourly tensions", Spinach7, No. 5, Summer
2004/05.
2003
2003a ' The humble star of hope: environmental heroes in the shadow of war', Kankyô
Zatsugaku Magazin, 138 (January 14 2003), [Japanese and English]
http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/newdi/kankyo/maga/magazine138_e.html
2003b ' Against a Security Council War', Z-Net (January 30, 2003)
http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/Iraq/IraqCrisis.htm
2002
2002a Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and Violence in East Timor in 1999,
[co-edited with Desmond Ball et al], (Canberra, Australian National University,
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre).]
2002b Practical Justice in Doe v. Lumintang: The Successful Use of Civil Remedies
Against 'an Enemy of All Mankind', in Masters of Terror: Indonesia's Military and
Violence in East Timor in 1999
2002c 'Witness Denied: Australian media responses to the Indonesian killings of
1965-66', Inside Indonesia, July - September, 2002
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit71/Witness1.htm
2002d ' Law, globalization and the control of Southeast Asian military terror', Inside
Indonesia, October - December 2002
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit72/Politics%20Tanter.htm
2002e ' Sakhalin gas: dream or nightmare?, Part 1', Kankyô Zatsugaku Magazin, 124,
(March 30, 2002 [Japanese and English] http://www.kyotoseika.ac.jp/newdi/kankyo/maga/magazine124_e.htm
2002f 'Mizu kenri no shihai: Isuraeru tai Paresuchina senso no misugoreta ichimen' [
The control of water rights: a hidden aspect of the Israel-Palestine war'], Kankyô
Zatsugaku Magazin, 126 (May 11, 2002) [Japanese and English] http://www.kyotoseika.ac.jp/newdi/kankyo/maga/magazine126.htm
2002g 'In memory of Herb Feith'
2001
2001a Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia and the World
Community [edited with Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom]. (New York: Rowman
and Littlefield; Sydney: Pluto Press).
2001b "East Timor and the Crisis of the Indonesian Intelligence State", in Bitter
Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community [edited by
Richard Tanter, Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom]. (New York: Rowman and
Littlefield; Sydney: Pluto Press).
2001c "East Timor Facing Independence" (with Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom), in
Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community
[edited by Richard Tanter, Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom]. (New York: Rowman
and Littlefield; Sydney: Pluto Press).
2001d "East Timor: Chronology", with Gerry van Klinken, Stephen Shalom, and
Geoffrey C. Gunn, in Bitter Flowers, Sweet Flowers: East Timor, Indonesia and the
World Community [edited by Richard Tanter, Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom].
(New York: Rowman and Littlefield; Sydney: Pluto Press).
2001e 'Washinton de wa nanika kyushin ni kawarou to shite iru', [ Something radical
is happening in Washington], Kankyô Zatsugaku Magazin, (July 21, 2001)
http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/jinbun/kankyo/magazine/magazine_103.html
2001f 'Isuramu to kesshi to paipurain: afuganu no sensou no haikei: 1 & 2', [ Islam,
poppies and pipelines: background to the coming war - Parts 1 and 2]', Kankyô
Zatsugaku Magazin, (October 6 and 13, 2001) [Reprinted in Shûkan Kinyôbi,
December 2001], http://www.kyotoseika.ac.jp/jinbun/kankyo/magazine/magazine_108_e.html
2001h 'Pipeline politics: oil, gas and the US interest in Afghanistan', Z-Net
http://www.zmag.org/tanteroil.htm
2000
2000a "Sashimi no kei: minami maguro wa ikinokoreruka? (2) and (3)' [Death by
Sashimi: Can the Southern Bluefin Tuna Survive? Parts 2 and 3: The national interest,
the human interest, and the human responsibility to nature.]", Kankyô Zatsugaku
Magazin. (January 22, 29, 2000) http://www.kyotoseika.ac.jp/newdi/kankyo/maga/magazin28.htm
2000b "Power talk: sensô, kankyô, risuku shakairon [Power Talk: War, the
Environment, and the Theory of Risk Society]", in Matsuo Makoto (ed.), Kyôkan
Suru Kankyôgaku, (Kyoto: Mineruba Shobô,).
[English version: Power Talk: War, the Environment, and the Theory of Risk Society]
2000c East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community: Resistance, Repression and
Responsibility. Special Issue of the Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, Vol. 31,
No. 1 and 2, [senior editor, with Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom].
2000d "East Timor and the Crisis of the Indonesian Intelligence State", in Tanter,
Selden and Shalom (eds.), East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community. [revised
version in Tanter, 2001]
2000e "East Timor Facing Independence" (with Mark Selden and Stephen Shalom), in
Tanter, Selden and Shalom (eds.), East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community.
[revised version in Tanter, 2001]
2000f Translation of Shiraishi Takashi, "Whither Indonesia?' in Tanter, Selden and
Shalom (eds.), East Timor, Indonesia and the World Community. [translated from the
Japanese].
2000g "East Timor: Chronology", with Gerry van Klinken, Stephen Shalom, and
Geoffrey C. Gunn, in Tanter, Selden and Shalom (eds.), East Timor, Indonesia and
the World Community.
2000h "After Fear, Before Justice: Indonesia and Australia in the long haul, as if
ethics mattered", Inside Indonesia, 61 (January-February)
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit61/richard.htm
2000i 'Death by Sashimi: the survival of the Southern Bluefin Tuna', Arena Journal,
14, (1999/2000).
2000j Review of Joseph A. Camilleri, Kamal Malhotra, and Majid Tehranian,
Reimagining the Future: towards democratic governance - A report of the Global
Governance Reform Project in Global Change, Peace and Security, Vol.12, No.3
(October), pp. 319-320.
2000k The Indonesian Intelligence State: Characteristics and prospects, Paper
prepared for the Australian Asian Studies Conference, July 2 - 5, 2000.
1999
1999a Testimony to the United Nations Special [Decolonization] Committee Hearing
on East Timor, June 22nd 1999.
1999b 'Tomorrow in Timor Lorosae", Inside Indonesia, 58, (June)
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit58/lorosae.htm
1999c 'Invitation to an Arms Race: the Japanese TMD Decision', Kyoto Journal, 40:
39-42.
1999d ' Lady Freedom Among Us: Lessons in the Retrieval of Democracy',
Introduction to Messages of Freedom: Interviews with Aung San Suu Kyi, Jose
Ramos-Horta, and the Dalai Lama, Kyoto Seika University, (March). (English and
Japanese) http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/freedom/freedom-eng/ladyfreedom.html
1999e " Japanese Militarization and the Coming East Asian Explosion", Arena
Magazine, http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail//B000996KYM/qid=1121929718/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/103-83675684193405?v=glance&s=books
1999f " The East Timor Disaster: A Failure of Asian Security", Northeast Asia Peace
and Security Network, Special Reports, East Timor Analysis, No. 1, (September 7)
http://www.nautilus.org/archives/pub/ftp/napsnet/special_reports/East_Timor1.txt
1999g " The Indonesian Intelligence State Revisited", Northeast Asia Peace and
Security Network, Special Reports, East Timor Analysis, No. 12 (September 14), and
widely pirated on the Internet. Original source:
http://www.nautilus.org/archives///////napsnet/sr/East_Timor/index.html
1999h "Sashimi no kei: minami maguro wa ikinokoreruka? (1) Nihon - Oosutoraria
ronsô [Death by Sashimi: Can the Southern Bluefin Tuna Survive? Part 1: The
Australia-Japan Southern Bluefin Tuna Dispute]", Kankyô Zatsugaku Magazin, 28
(December 25) http://www.kyoto-seika.ac.jp/newdi/kankyo/maga/magazin28.htm
1998
1998a "Suharto's War Crimes: The Case for an International Criminal Tribunal",
Inside Indonesia, 55, (July-September)
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit55/genoc.htm
1998b Testimony to United Nations Special [Decolonization] Committee Hearing on
East Timor, June 30th 1998
1998c "Indonesian politics after Suharto", Arena Journal, (new series) 11.
1998d "Japan Incorporated: Drowning, Waving, or Considering its Options?
Conflicting interpretations of the Japanese Financial Crisis", Arena Journal, (new
series) 10: 15-26.
1998e "The Peace Process in East Timor", Inside Indonesia, 53 PRIVATE (March)
http://www.insideindonesia.org/edit53/tanter.htm
1998f Lessons from Oslo, Jerusalem and Belfast: Notes on the Paths to selfdetermination in East Timor. Paper prepared for the International Conference on East
Timor: History and Conflict Resolution, Kansai University of Asia-Pacific Studies,
Osaka University of Foreign Studies and the University of Aveiro (Portugal),
December 5-6, 1998.
1997
1997 "Appropriation and dialogue in the global cultural economy: against Marlo
Morgan's 'Mutant Messenger Down Under', Ritsumeikan gengo bunka kenkyu
[Ritsumeikan Studies in Language and Culture] 9, 2: 321-331.
1997 Perceiving "National Security", (co-writer with Anthony Milner et al) Australian
Asian Perceptions Project, Working Paper Number 5, (Academy of the Social
Sciences in Australia). Revised and incorporated as chapter in Anthony Milner &
Mary Quilty (eds.), Australia in Asia: Comparing Cultures (Oxford University Press,)
http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/Sociology/ComparativeHistorical/~~/
c2Y9YWxsJnNzPWF1dGhvci5hc2Mmc2Q9YXNjJnBmPTQwJnZpZXc9dXNhJnBy
PTEwJmJvb2tDb3ZlcnM9eWVzJmNpPTAxOTU1MzY3Mlg=?view=usa&ci=01955
3672X#Author_Information
1995
1995Politik Kelas Mengenah Indonesia, (Jakarta: LP3ES, 1993; Indonesian edition of
Tanter and Young (ed.), The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia, 1990, with an
introduction by Ariel Heryanto).
1992
1992 "Inching Towards Reality. The Cold War is Over. Japan Won - An Interview
with Chalmers Johnson", Kyoto Journal, 21: 34-38.
1991
1991a "Oil, IGGI and US hegemony: the global pre-conditions for Indonesian rentiermilitarization", in Arief Budiman (ed.), State and Soviet in Contemporary Indonesia,
(Clayton: Victoria: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University), pp.51-93.
1991b "The totalitarian ambition: the Indonesian intelligence and security apparatus",
in Arief Budiman (ed.), State and Soviet in Contemporary Indonesia, (Clayton:
Victoria: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University), pp.215-288.
1991c "Naimen no kabe: shakai no kabe" ["Inner walls, social walls"], Kinô Hyôron,
22.
1990
1990a The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia, edited by Richard Tanter and Kenneth
R. Young. (Clayton, Victoria: Monash Papers on Southeast Asia No.19, Centre of
Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University). [Indonesian edition: Politik Kelas
Mengenah Indonesia, (Jakarta: LP3ES, 1993, with an introduction by Ariel
Heryanto).]
1990b "Introduction: the Politics of Middle Class Indonesia", (with K.R.Young) in, in
The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia, edited by Richard Tanter and Kenneth R.
Young. (Clayton, Victoria: Monash Papers on Southeast Asia No.19, Centre of
Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University). p. 7-21 [Indonesian edition: 1995]
1989
1989 "Preconditions for de-linking Australia from the nuclear system", in R. Walker
and W. Sutherland, (eds.), Peace and Security in the Pacific, (Tokyo: United Nations
University; London: Zed Press), pp.141-174.
1988
1988a "Nuclear-free zones as a demilitarization strategy", in Yoshikazu Sakamoto
(ed.), Asia: Militarization and Regional Conflict, (Tokyo: United Nations University;
London: Zed Press), pp.184-207.
1988b Review article: "Richard Robison's Indonesia: the Rise of Capital", AASA
Review, pp.106-109.
1988c "Bringing it all back home: a study of new technology homework in Australia",
(with J. Wajcman and B. Probert), Proceedings of the Third IFIP Conference on
Women and Computing, (Amsterdam: Elsevier).
1987
1987 "The antinomies of Korean development", (with Clive Hamilton), Journal of
International Affairs, 41, 1: 63-90.
1986
1986a "Voice and silence in the first nuclear war: Wilfred Burchett and Hiroshima" in
Ben Kiernan (ed.) Burchett: Reporting the Other Side of the World, (London:
Quartet), pp.13-40.
1986b "Promise abandoned: the dumping of the uranium issue", Peace Studies,
(February), pp.28-33.
1984
1984 "Militarization: Trends in Asia", Alternatives: Journal of World Policy, X, 1:
161-191.
1983
1983a "Breaking the nuclear faith: an introduction to the US Catholic Bishops'
statement on war and peace", Alternatives: A Journal of World Policy, IX, 3: 461473.
1983b "Interview with Kim Dae Jung" (with Richard Falk), Alternatives: A Journal of
World Policy, IX, 2.
1982
1982 'Sekai no gunjika k eq z eq to Reagan senryaku: Kokusai bungy eq international
division of labour and militarization: an interview with Richard Falk, Mary Kaldor,
Robin Luckham and Richard Tanter"], Sekai, 439: 118-134.
1981
1981 "The militarization of ASEAN: global context and regional dynamics",
Alternatives: A Journal of World Policy, VII, 4: 501-532.
1980
1980 "Global militarization and Southeast Asia: the ASEAN case", in Yoshikazu
Sakamoto (ed.) Violence and Peace, (Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1980) (in Japanese).
1978
1978 "Australian military assistance to Indonesia", Timor Information Service,
(October).
1977
1977 "The military situation in East Timor", Pacific Research, VIII, 2: 1-6; reprinted
in Dissent, 35/36: 3-9.