Rate My Professor Kelly Connors

Michael Kelly Connors is a Professor in the School of Arts and Social Sciences at Monash University Malaysia. He concurrently holds the position of Associate Professor in the Malaysia Graduate Research Office, serves as the Foundation Director of the Monash University Malaysia Graduate Research Office, and chairs the Campus Graduate Research Committee. Connors earned his PhD in Political Science from the University of Melbourne in 2000. His extensive career includes lecturing roles at Thammasat University, La Trobe University, the University of Leeds, City University of Hong Kong, the University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, and Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University. He has occupied key leadership positions, such as Head of Department at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, Head of School at the University of Nottingham, Director of Research at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, and Faculty Chair of Graduate Studies at La Trobe University. From 2016 to 2017, he was a Visiting Fellow at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, where he convened a workshop on political ideologies, initiated a Thai-to-English translation project, and authored papers on populism, corruption, and political theory.

Connors specializes in political ideologies in Southeast Asia, anti-corruption politics, Thai modern history and politics, Gramscian international relations, comparative political theory, intellectual history, critiques and theories of democracy, studies of the state, Thailand and Southeast Asia, foreign policies of Australia and Japan, nationalism, populism, political corruption, cultural policy, and global intellectual history focused on Southeast Asia. He has received research funding from the Australian Research Council, the British Academy of the Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities. His accolades include the Dwight Honours Examination Prize in Political Science from the University of Melbourne in 1994 and multiple Purple Ratings, the highest teaching excellence rating, for units such as AMU1326 Transformation from Above (2022), AMU2920 Transformations from Below (2022-2023), and AMU3440 Democracy and Development (2022). Key publications encompass the book Democracy and National Identity in Thailand (2003), Article of Faith: The Failure of Royal Liberalism in Thailand (2008), Political Reform and the State in Thailand (1999), Towards a History of Conservative Liberalism in Thailand after the 1932 Siamese Revolution: An Ideological Analysis (2023), Beyond the Leader: An Ideational-Political Logics Approach to Redshirt Movement Populism in Thailand (2022), and Locating Liberalisms in Southeast Asia: An Introductory Essay (2023). Connors has contributed as guest editor for Asian Studies Review and editorial board member for the Journal of Contemporary Asia, exerting considerable influence on scholarship in Thai politics and Southeast Asian ideologies.