Eliza Matthews

Eliza Matthews

Postgraduate Award

Media Profile

“Many diplomats and media commentators have levelled criticism at the United States, that it has acted inconsistently in its overthrow of the Saddam Hussein dictatorship in Iraq on the one hand, and its diplomatic acquiescence on the issue of Israel and its opaque nuclear status on the other. [My thesis] will hopefully provide significant insight into the manner in which the United States has dealt with ‘rogue states’ with nuclear aspirations that have also had significant hesitations in signing the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).”

Eliza Matthews has won a Fulbright Postgraduate Student Award and will conduct research at the George Washington University’s (GWU) Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies, Elliott School of International Affairs. Eliza is an Arts Graduate who achieved First Class Honours specialising in History and Journalism. She is currently undertaking a PhD in the School of History, Philosophy, Religion and Classics at the University of Queensland.

Eliza will spend one year based at GWU to complete her PhD on U.S. Nuclear Relations with India, Pakistan and Israel between 1968 and 1995. Eliza intends to conduct interviews with prominent policy-makers in U.S. Nuclear Relations including former presidents, former Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, and former Secretary of Defence, Casper Weinberger and former National Security advisor, General Brent Scowcroft.

The change in United States foreign policy following September 11, 2001 has attracted worldwide attention. “Our close alliance with the United States results in a tendency for Australian foreign policy to become ‘tarred with the same brush’,” Eliza says. There is currently a major lack in academic literature comparing United States and Australian foreign policy towards and between India, Pakistan and Israel, particularly in regard to the consistency of Presidential opinion regarding nuclear weapons from the period of 1968 to 1995.

“Although the historical experience of the various nations to be studied (India, Pakistan and Israel) is unique, I hope that a better understanding will be gained regarding how the U.S. and its policymakers have reacted and responded to nuclear issues,” Eliza explains.

The Fulbright Scholarship will allow Eliza access to otherwise unavailable documents relating to presidential opinions and nuclear non-proliferation in the United States. The outcomes of Eliza’s PhD thesis will assist Australian policy makers in their ability to assert Australia’s independence from the United States in foreign policy endeavours.