Prof Greg Barton - Researcher Profile

Greg Barton

Address

School of Political & Social Inquiry
Faculty of Arts, Clayton

Biography

Greg is the Herb Feith Research Professor for the Study of Indonesia in the Faculty of Arts at Monash. He is based in the Politics stream in the School of Political and Social Inquiry. He is acting Director of the Centre for Islam and the Modern World (CIMOW), Deputy UNESCO Chair in Interreligious and Intercultural Relations – Asia Pacific, and is active in the Global Terrorism Research Centre (GTReC). For the past twenty years Greg has been active in inter-faith dialogue initiatives and has a deep commitment to building understanding of Islam and Muslim society. The central axis of his research interests is the way in which religious thought, individual believers and religious communities respond to modernity and to the modern nation state. He also has a strong general interest in comparative international politics.

Over the past two decades Greg has undertaken extensive research on Indonesia politics and society, especially of the role of Islam as both a constructive and a disruptive force. Since 2004 he has made a comparative study of progressive Islamic thought in Turkey and Indonesia and is hoping to extend this comparative study to India.

Greg also has a general interest in security studies and human security and a particular interest in counter-terrorism. He is an active member of the Global Terrorism Research Centre (GTReC) at Monash and continues to research Jemaah Islamiyah and other radical Islamist movements in Southeast Asia. He is involved in teaching several counter-terrorism courses each year at the Asia Pacific Centre for Security Studies (APCSS) in Honolulu and with other institutions and agencies. He joined Monash in January 2007, prior to that he had worked for a year as an Associate Professor at the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies (APCSS) in Honolulu, Hawaii, where he continues to have an association as adjunct professor teaching in human security and counter-terrorism courses in Honolulu and in Asia. Before that he was an Associate Professor at Deakin University where had worked since 1993. There he developed and taught courses in the Politics stream on Political Leadership, Global Islamic Politics, and Society and Culture in Contemporary Asia, and earlier, in the Religious Studies stream, on Islam and Christianity. At Monash he teaches Islam and Modernity; Political Islam; Islam in Turkey and Indonesia; and Interfaith relations in the 21st Century in the newly developed Masters of Islamic Studies.

His PhD thesis at Monash in the early 1990s examined the emergence of liberal Islamic thought in the 1970s and 80s in the political context of the Suharto regime; and the social and political consequences of the civil society activism that it gave rise to. In particular it examined the thought and activism of Abdurrahman Wahid, Nurcholish Madjid and Djohan Effendi and anticipated their contribution to democratic transition. This laid the foundations for his later studies of the Wahid presidency and of Islam and civil society. The book demonstrated a link between progressive, neo-modernist Islamic thought and political liberalism in Indonesia, and its typology of ‘Islamic liberalism’ has proven broadly influential.

Greg has written or edited five books and published dozens of refereed articles and book chapters in this field, together with numerous essays. He is a frequently interviewed by the Australian and international electronic and print media on Islam, Islamic and Islamist movements and on Indonesia and politics.

His biography of Abdurrahman Wahid (2002, Abdurrahman Wahid, Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President: a view from the inside, Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press) was published in 2002 (and translated and published in Indonesian in 2003). His book: Indonesia’s Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam, was published in 2004 by UNSW Press (and by Singapore University Press in 2005).

He is currently working on two other book projects: Progressive Islamic thought and social movements in Indonesia and Turkey (which returns to some of the themes and material he first addressed in his published PhD thesis Gagasan Islam Liberal); and: Islam’s Other Nation: a fresh look at Indonesia.

Qualifications

PHD
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 1996
BACHELOR OF ARTS
Institution: Monash University
Year awarded: 1988

Publications

Books

Barton, G.J., 2004, Indonesia's Struggle: Jemaah Islamiyah and the Soul of Islam, University of New South Wales Press Ltd, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2002, Abdurrahman Wahid: Muslim Democrat, Indonesian President, University of New South Wales Press Ltd, Sydney NSW Australia.

Book Chapters

Barton, G., 2010, Australia and the Pacific: Indonesia, in Guide to Islamist Movements, eds Barry Rubin, ME Sharpe, USA, pp. 133-148.

Barton, G.J., 2008, Indonesia's Year of living Normally: Taking the Long View on Indonesia's Progress, in Southeast Asian Affairs 2008, eds Daljit Singh and Tin Maung Maung Than, ISEAS, Singapore, pp. 123-145.

Barton, G.J., 2006, Australia and globalized Islam, in Australia and the Middle East: A Front-line Relationship, eds Fethi Mansouri, Tauris Academic Studies, London UK, pp. 101-121.

Barton, G.J., 2006, Islam and democratic transition in Indonesia, in Religious Organizations and Democratization: Case Studies from Contemporary Asia, eds Tun-Jen Cheng and Deborah A Brown, ME Sharpe, New York USA, pp. 221-241.

Barton, G.J., 2006, Turkey's Gulen hizmet and Indonesia's neo-modernist NGOs: remarkable examples of progressive Islamic thought and civil society activism in the Muslim world, in Political Islam and Human Security, eds Fethi Mansouri and Shahram Akbarzadeh, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle UK, pp. 140-160.

Barton, G.J., 2005, Islam, Islamism and politics in Indonesia, in Violence in Between: Conflict and Security in Archipelagic Southeast Asia, eds Damien Kingsbury, MAI Press, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 75-103.

Barton, G.J., 2005, Jemaah Islamiyah terrorism and radical Islamism in Indonesia, in Islam and the West: Reflections from Australia, eds Shahram Akbarzadeh and Samina Yasmeen, UNSW Press, Sydney NSW Australia, pp. 114-131.

Barton, G.J., 2003, The Wahid presidency in context: regime change, inflated expectations, Islam and the promise of democracy, in Indonesia Matters: Diversity, Unity, and Stability in Fragile Times, eds Thang D Nguyen and Frank-Jurgen Richter, Times Editions, Singapore, pp. 28-38.

Barton, G.J., 2002, Islam and politics in the new Indonesia, in Islam in Asia: Changing Political Realities, eds Jason F. Isaacson and Colin Rubenstein, Transaction Publishers, USA, pp. 1-90.

Barton, G.J., 2002, Islam, society, politics, and change in Malaysia, in Islam in Asia: Changing Political Realities, eds Jason F Isaacson and Colin Rubenstein, Transaction Publishers, USA, pp. 91-164.

Barton, G.J., 2001, A fair measureassessing President Wahid's first year as Indonesia embarks on the long road of regime change, in The Presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid: An Assessment after the First Year, eds Damien Kingsbury, Monash Asia Institute, Clayton Vic Australia, pp. 33-46.

Barton, G.J., 2001, Evaluating the Wahid Presidency: a response to Marcus Mietzner's evaluation, in Indonesia: The Uncertain Transition, eds Damien Kingsbury and Arief Budiman, Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd, Hindmarsh SA Australia, pp. 349-359.

Barton, G.J., 2001, Islam, politics, and regime change in Wahid's Indonesia, in Tiger's Roar: Asia's Recovery and its Impact, eds Julian Weiss, M.E. Sharpe, Inc., Armonk USA, pp. 312-317.

Barton, G.J., 2001, President Abdurrahman Wahid: a realist-idealist?, in Indonesia: The Uncertain Transition, eds Damien Kingsbury and Arief Budiman, Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd, Hindmarsh SA Australia, pp. 312-328.

Barton, G.J., 2001, The prospects for Islam, in Indonesia Today: Challenges of History, eds Grayson Lloyd and Shannon Smith, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Pasir Panjang Singapore, pp. 244-255.

Journal Articles

Morrison, C., Kurniashi, Y., Barton, G.J., 2012, The landscape of services for drugs users in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, Drug and Alcohol Review [P], vol 31, issue 1, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd., United Kingdom, pp. 95-100.

Barton, G.J., 2006, Response to Ian S. Markham, Conversations in Religion and Theology, vol 4, issue 1, Blackwell Publishing Ltd, UK, pp. 92-97.

Barton, G.J., 2005, Indonesia and Israel: a relationship in waiting, Jewish Political Studies Review, vol 17, issue 1, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Jerusalem Israel, pp. 157-170.

Barton, G.J., 2001, Indonesia's difficult transition and President Abdurrahman Wahid, Pacifica Review: Peace, Security & Global Change, vol 13, issue 3, Routledge, UK, pp. 273-281.

Conference Proceedings

Barton, G.J., 2007, Preaching by example and learning for life: Understanding the Gulen Hizmet in the global context of religious philanthropy and civil religion, International Conference Proceedings: Muslim World in Transition: Contributions of The Gulen Movement, 25-27 Oct 2007, Leeds Metropolitan University Press, United Kingdom, pp. 650-662.

Other

Barton, G.J., 2005, Compassion breaches Islam's divide, The Australian, News Corporation, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2005, Indonesia must win minds, as well as hearts, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2005, Legacy of military dirty tricks breeds JI doubt, The Australian, News Corporation, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2004, Education the key in fight against terror, The Courier Mail, News Corporation, Brisbane Qld Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2004, Good news as people power rears its head, The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2004, So far, so good for the great hope of Indonesian democracy, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2004, Terror alerts must be issued - and heeded, The Courier Mail, News Corporation, Brisbane Qld Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2004, The week Yudhoyono and Indonesia got lucky, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2003, Bashir verdict beggars belief, The Courier Mail, News Corporation, Brisbane Qld Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2003, Bashir's slap over wrist shows some fish too big to fry, The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2003, Beware Amrozi's death sentence, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2003, Taking stock of terrorism, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2003, The good, bad and chilling news on Jemaah Islamiah, The Age, Fairfax Media, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2002, Call to arms that can't be ignored, Newcastle Herald, Fairfax Media, Newcastle NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2002, In the shadow of the generals, The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, Sydney NSW Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2001, A tragedy in the making, Herald Sun, Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2001, Danger in the ousting of Wahid, Herald Sun, Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne Vic Australia.

Barton, G.J., 2001, Decline and fall, The Sydney Morning Herald, Fairfax Media, Sydney NSW Australia.

Postgraduate Research Supervisions

Current Supervision

Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
@Terror.com: An examination of violent extremist literature and new media consumption as a measure of violent radical development.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Lentini, P (Associate), Moss, S (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Citizenship and identity: young Africans in Australia.
Supervisors:
Lentini, P (Main), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
From terrorist to citizen: How people move on from violent extremism..
Supervisors:
Macqueen, B (Joint), Walter, J (Joint-co), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Gulen movements dialogue inititives and its posotive effects on Islamophobia.
Supervisors:
Yucel, S (Main), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Imagin'Nation': Secularism, democracy and Islam in contemporary Turkey - The case of Istanbul's urban elite.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Lentini, P (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Islamic Law, State and Society .The Study of Implementation of Islamic Law in Indonesia.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Islamic philanthropy and civic society activism: the differences between the secular schools and associated with the Guler movement and islamic schools in the secular states.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Joint-co), Yucel, S (Joint).
Program of Study:
(MASTER'S BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Minorities in South-East Asian Democracies: A Comparative Analysis of Malaysia and Indonesia.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Bouma, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Radical Muslims on the Web: a comparative study between Australia and Canada.
Supervisors:
Lentini, P (Main), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
Shi'ism in a Sunnite Milieu: the making of Jalaluddin Rakhmat as a popular intellectual in Indonesia.
Supervisors:
Ahmad, I (Joint), Millie, J (Joint-co), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The Crime-Terror Continuum and Challenges Posed to Australian Law Enforcement and National Security..
Supervisors:
Lentini, P (Main), Barton, G (Associate).
Program of Study:
(DOCTORATE BY RESEARCH).
Thesis Title:
The Gulen movement's educational philanthropy: Schools as Social Business Enterprises.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Ahmad, I (Associate).

Completed Supervision

Student:
Hindasah, L.
Program of Study:
Islamist politics by other means: Majelis Ulama Indonesia in post-Suharto Indonesia. (Masters) 2009.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Millie, J (Associate).
Student:
Lyons, J.
Program of Study:
War without end?: one thousand years of anti-Islam discourse. (PHD) 2009.
Supervisors:
Bouma, G (Joint-Co), Barton, G (Joint).
Student:
Schottmann, S.
Program of Study:
"Islam, properly understood": Mahathir Mohamad on religion, Malaysian society and politics. (PHD) 2010.
Supervisors:
Vicziany, A (Main), Barton, G (Associate), Millie, J (Associate).
Student:
Tittensor, D.
Program of Study:
The Gulen Movement: Muslim educational activism in Turkey and abroad. (PHD) 2011.
Supervisors:
Barton, G (Main), Lentini, P (Associate).