Personal profile
Biography
Ben Zala is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at Monash University.
He has worked on global security issues in think tanks and universities in the UK, US, and Australia. His current work focuses on the politics of the great powers and the management of nuclear weapons. His scholarship has appeared in over a dozen different peer-reviewed academic journals as well as blogs and newspapers around the world.
He is author, co-author, or editor of three books: The Global Third Nuclear Age (Routledge, 2025), Power in International Society (forthcoming, Oxford University Press) and National Perspectives on a Multipolar Order (Manchester University Press, 2021).
Ben joined Monash in 2025 from the Australian National University and has previously been a Stanton Nuclear Security Fellow at Harvard University as well as holding positions at the University of Leicester and Chatham House.
Ben is an Honorary Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK where he contributes to the 5-year, European Research Council-funded project, Towards a Third Nuclear Age.
Education/Academic qualification
International Relations, PhD, University of Birmingham
Award Date: 3 Jul 2013
Bachelor of International Relations (Hons), La Trobe University
Award Date: 5 May 2006
External positions
Honorary Fellow (Third Nuclear Age Project), University of Leicester
1 Nov 2020 → 31 Jul 2025
Stanton Nuclear Security Junior Faculty Fellow, Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
1 Aug 2018 → 30 Jun 2019
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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SDG 13 Climate Action -
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Projects
- 1 Active
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Nuclear-Conventional Entanglement Risks: Australia and Allied Crisis Management Interoperability
Zala, B. (Primary Chief Investigator (PCI)), Panda, A. (Associate Investigator (AI)), Kuang Heng, Y. (Associate Investigator (AI)) & Choi, S. (Associate Investigator (AI))
10/09/25 → 31/07/26
Project: Research
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The Global Third Nuclear Age: Clashing Visions for a New Era in International Politics
Futter, A., Castelli, L., Hunter, C., Samuel, O., Silvestri, F. & Zala, B., 2025, 1st ed. Abingdon UK: Routledge. 275 p. (Routledge Global Security Studies)Research output: Book/Report › Book › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Link opens in a new tab Citation (Scopus) -
The return of nuclear great power politics (or why we stopped worrying about terrorists and the bomb)
Futter, A. & Zala, B., Feb 2025, In: European Journal of International Security. 10, 1, p. 133-149 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Nuclear-conventional entanglement in Northeast Asia: the case for crisis management interoperability
Zala, B., 2024, In: Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament. 7, 1, p. 115-130 16 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile2 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
Should AI stay or should AI go? First strike incentives & deterrence stability
Zala, B., 2024, In: Australian Journal of International Affairs. 78, 2, p. 154-163 10 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile5 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus) -
'No one around to shut the dead eyes of the human race': Sartre, Aron, and the limits of existentialism in the Nuclear Age
Zala, B., Dec 2023, In: Review of International Studies. 49, 5, p. 795-812 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Link opens in a new tab Citations (Scopus)