Zayu Safitri
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Email
zs20028@essex.ac.uk -
Location
Colchester Campus
Profile
- Indonesia’s national security and defense governance
- Civil-military relations and democratization in Southeast Asia
- Qualitative research methods (interviews, discourse analysis, narrative analysis)
- Decolonial and postcolonial approaches to security studies
- Political sociology of security institutions
- Stakeholder engagement and strategic policy research in transitional democracies
- Academic publishing and early-career researchers from the Global South
- Contract Law
Biography
Zayu is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex, where her doctoral research examines the evolution of Indonesias National Security Strategy from 1988 to 2024. Her work explores how national security priorities have been shaped by shifting political regimes with security priorities, institutional transformations, civil-military dynamics, and evolving interpretations of risk and threat within a democratising society. Applying qualitative methodologiesincluding thematic content analysis, interviews, hermeneutics, and discourse analysisshe investigates the sociopolitical, economic drivers behind national security policymaking in Indonesia from a Global South perspective. In addition to her doctoral research, Zayu contributes to teaching at Essex as an Assistant Lecturer in Contract Law, supporting undergraduate legal education and offering insights grounded in both academic theory and professional legal practice. Zayu holds a Masters degree in International Relations (Security) from the University of Westminster, a Level 7 qualification in Strategic Studies from the Royal College of Defence Studies (UK), and a Bachelors degree in Law from Indonesia. With over 20 years of professional experience in the defence industry and significant years as lawyer, she brings a rich understanding of civil-military institutions, legal governance, and strategic policymaking. Her career has included collaboration with government and law enforcement agencies, providing her with deep contextual insights that inform her academic work. Her research interests include civil-military relations, public trust, public opinion and civil competency in security institutions, decentralisation and governance, political sociology, economic approaches to security studies. She is also committed as early career researcher from the Global South.
Qualifications
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PhD University of Essex (2025)
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Master of Art University of Westminster (2017)
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Level 7 PG Royal College of Defence Studies (2014)
Research and professional activities
Thesis
The Evolution of Indonesia'a National Security Strategy from 1998 to 2024
Indonesia's strategic location between the Asia-Australia and Indo-Pacific oceans underscores its critical role in regional security. Understanding its National Security Strategy requires examining how defence and security intersect with economic and political factors, shaping both national and regional stability. Over the past three decades, Indonesia has faced diverse challenges, including conventional, unconventional, internal, and external threats.
Supervisor: Dr Carlos Solar , Professor Anna Sergi
