Dr Melissa Johnston

ARC DECRA Research Fellow

School of Political Science and International Studies

Postgraduate Convenor of Mediation and Conflict Resolution Studies

Undergraduate and Postgraduate Convenor of Peace and Conflict Studies

+61 7 336 57014

melissa.johnston@uq.edu.au

View researcher profile

Researcher biography

Melissa Johnston is a Lecturer in the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland where she works in the areas of political economy and security. Melissa was awarded a Discovery Early Career Research Award (2022-2025) for her project on Brideprice, Conflict and Violence Against Women in Southeast Asia.

Melissa has two main research areas. The first area examines the pivotal role of misogyny and violence against women in the political economy of violent extremism, populism and Islamist and right wing politics,looking at the empirical and analytical links between violence against women and violent extremism in Indonesia, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Libya. Findings show that support for violence against women and misogyny is the best predictor of an individual's support for violent extremism - a finding cited several times by the UN Secretary General in 2019 and 2020.

The second area is the political economy of post-conflict rebuilding. Her doctoral dissertation, winner of the 2019 Australian Political Studies Association thesis prize, applies a feminist political economy approach to account for the uneven outcomes gender programming by international development agencies. It argues the outcomes of international interventions on gender responsive budgeting, laws against domestic violence and microfinance are shaped by power relations between men and women in a setting of elite dominance. In the Timor-Leste case specifically, the political economy of kinship—as manifested in brideprice or traditional dispute resolution—has been as crucial to class formation as it has in perpetuating gender injustices. A journal article from this work "Frontier Finance" was the winner of the 2021 Australian International Political Economy Network best journal article prize.

Previously, Melissa has worked for the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) on Asia-Pacific development, and for Women Against Violence Europe (WAVE) on European Union programs to protect women from severe intimate partner violence.

Publications

Book (1)

Book Chapter (1)

Journal Articles (7)

Conference Papers (6)

Generic Document (1)

Seminar Papers (6)

Research Reports (6)

Book

Johnston, Melissa (2023). Building peace, rebuilding patriarchy: the failure of gender interventions in Timor-Leste. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University PressNew York. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197637999.001.0001

Book Chapter

Johnston, Melissa (2022). Feminist methods in international relations research. Handbook of research methods in international relations. (pp. 214-231) edited by R. Huddleston, Thomas Jamieson and Patrick James. Northampton, MA USA: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781839101014.00022

Journal Articles

Lingham, Jayanthi Thiyaga and Johnston, Melissa (2024). Running on empty: depletion and social reproduction in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. Antipode. doi: 10.1111/anti.13016

Johnston, Melissa (2023). Brideprice's relationship to conflict, class, and violence against women. Journal of Global Security Studies, 8 (1) ogac043, 1-18. doi: 10.1093/jogss/ogac043

Mollica, Caitlin, Davies, Sara E., True, Jacqui, Eddyono, Sri Wiyanti, Fonseka, Bhavani and Johnston, Melissa (2022). Women and the justice divide in Asia Pacific: how can informal and formal institutions bridge the gap?. Human Rights Quarterly, 44 (3), 612-639. doi: 10.1353/hrq.2022.0029

Johnston, Melissa, Davies, Sara E., True, Jacqui and Riveros-Morales, Yolanda (2021). "Patriarchal reset" in the asia pacific during COVID-19: the impacts on women's security and rights. The Pacific Review, 36 (3), 1-28. doi: 10.1080/09512748.2021.2005123

Johnston, Melissa Frances (2020). Frontier finance: the role of microfinance in debt and violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste. Review of International Political Economy, 27 (6), 1305-1329. doi: 10.1080/09692290.2020.1733633

Johnston, Melissa Frances, Iqbal, Muhammad and True, Jacqui (2020). The lure of (violent) extremism: gender constructs in online recruitment and messaging in Indonesia. Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, 46 (4), 1-19. doi: 10.1080/1057610X.2020.1759267

Gerard, Kelly and Johnston, Melissa (2019). Explaining microfinance's resilience: the case of microfinance in Australia. Globalizations, 16 (6), 876-893. doi: 10.1080/14747731.2018.1560188

Conference Papers

Johnston, Melissa (2023). Patriarchal accumulation regimes: do men also appropriate women’s labour and commodities as men, not just as part of capitalist patriarchy?. European International Studies Association Conference, Potsdam, Germany, 5-9 September 2023.

Lingham, Jayanthi and Johnston, Melissa (2023). Running on empty: depletion and social reproduction in Myanmar and Sri Lanka. European International Studies Association Conference, Potsdam, Germany, 5-9 September 2023.

Johnston, Melissa (2023). Patriarchal accumulation regimes: do men also appropriate women’s labour and commodities as men, not just as part of capitalist patriarchy?. Asian Studies Association of Australia Workshop Examining the “hidden abode” of social reproduction, marriage, and violence in Southeast Asia, Salatiga, Indonesia, 20-21 July 2023.

Johnston, Melissa and Meger, Sara (2022). Linkages between violent misogyny and violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism. Linkages between violent misogyny and violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism, Vienna, Austria, 9 September.

Johnston, Melissa, Riveros-Morales, Yolanda and True, Jacqui (2022). Misogyny and violent extremism: investigating missing variables. European International Studies Association Conference, Athens, Greece , 1-4 September 2022.

Johnston, Melissa and Lingham, Jayanthi (2022). War on two fronts: gender and the ethnonationalist state. Australian International Political Economy Network , Brisbane, QLD Australia, 3-4 February 2022.

Generic Document

Segrave, Marie, Maher, JaneMaree, Fitz-Gibbon, Kate, Johnston, Melissa, Ulbrick, Madeline, Forbes-Mewett, Helen, McCulloch, Jude, Pickering, Sharon and Wickes, Rebecca (2018). Submission to Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs: the practice of dowry and the incidence of dowry abuse in Australia. Australian Parliament House.

Seminar Papers

Johnston, Melissa (2023). The study of brideprice in international relations: re-invigorating feminist materialist analysis of patriarchy. 9th Annual Symposium on Women Peace and Security. Program on Women Peace and Security, The Bush School of Government, Texas A and M University.

Johnston, Melissa (2023). Building peace, rebuilding patriarchy. SEAC Seminar Series. LSE Saw Swee Hock Southeast Asia Centre, London School of Economics.

Johnston, Melissa (2022). Studying brideprice: A new approach using political economy, gender, and social conflict. Moviementu Letras, Dili, East Timor.

Johnston, Melissa (2021). Managing crisis on multiple fronts: Southeast Asian women's leadership during COVID-19. Pacific Forum, US Indo-Pacific Command .

Johnston, Melissa (2021). Frontier finance: the role of microfinance in debt and violence in post-conflict Timor-Leste. Credit Markets and Household Debt in Southeast Asia. Yusof Ishak Institute, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.

Johnston, Melissa and Lingham, Jayanthi (2020). Inclusive economies, enduring peace in Myanmar and Sri Lanka: implications for policymakers. Monash Gender Peace and Security, Melbourne, Monash University, Melbourne.

Research Reports

Pospisil, Jan, Johnston, Melissa, Garang, Adut Alaak and Tai, Nyachangkuoth Rambang (2023). Bring enough cows to marry: Brideprice, conflict, and gender relations in South Sudan. Coventry, United Kingdom: University of Coventry.

Johnston, Melissa and Meger, Sara (2022). Linkages between violent misogyny and violent extremism and radicalization that lead to terrorism. Vienna, Austria: The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Johnston, Melissa, True, Jacqui, Davies, Sara, Riveros-Morales, Yolanda and Phillips, Sara (2020). Mapping the impact of COVID-19 in the Indo-Pacific region II: women, peace and security practitioner views. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Monash University.

Johnston, Melissa, True, Jacqui, Gordon, Eleanor, Chilmeran, Yasmin and Riveros-Morales, Yolanda (2020). Building a stronger evidence base: a gender sensitive approach to empowering women for peaceful communities. Melbourne, VIC Australia: Monash GPS and UN Women.

Johnston, Melissa, True, Jacqui, Benalla, Zineb, Imeina, Abir, Basha, Faiza and El Farsi, Oum Elezz (2019). Gender equality and violent extremism: a research agenda for Libya. Melbourne, VIC Australia: Monash GPS and UN Women.

Johnston, Melissa and True, Jacqui (2019). Misogyny and violent extremism: implications for preventing violent extremism. Melbourne, VIC Australia: Monash University and UN Women.