In his time in office, Malcolm Fraser oversaw the acceptance of southeast Asian refugees and led economic and social welfare reforms.
- Adjunct Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney
Britain’s decision to join China’s new Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is a revealing example of one of the key realities of the new international order. Not only are geopolitics and geoeconomics…
Corruption can directly contribute to the growth of the very forces the world’s security agencies are desperately trying to contain and combat.
There can’t be too many people in Australia who don’t recognise that the health of the Australian economy is increasingly determined in China. The boom and all-too-predictable bust in the resource sector…
What is it about Iraq? This poor benighted country has suffered from the consequences of tribalism, imperialism, factionalism, despotism, to say nothing of religious rivalries that still prevent the country…
The International Studies Association conference, from where I write, is the world’s biggest gathering of international relations scholars. Held annually in one attractive American city or another – New…
Even by recent standards, the last few weeks have seen new levels of dysfunction, volatility and even chaos within federal and state governments. As the voters of Queensland demonstrated, there is little…
Of all the questions that have emerged about the future make-up of Australia’s new submarine fleet, one has been conspicuous by its absence: do we actually need them in the first place? No doubt strategic…
Of the many things academics obsess about, few rank more highly than citation counts. We all like to think our work is at least read by our peers, even if it doesn’t actually change the world. Google Scholar…
There is something rather appropriate about Greece being at the centre of the European Union’s growing political and economic crises. Greece, after all, is the historical home of democracy and foundation…
International politics is no place for starry-eyed idealists at the best of times. But this week the leaders of what we used to know as the “free world” in the dark days of the Cold War have plumbed new…
Global governance sounds like a good idea. Solving the sorts of “collective action problems” that are an inescapable part of geographically dispersed activities – especially economic ones – is something…
There’s nothing like a little juxtaposition to put things in context. On the same day Oxfam warned that 1% of the world’s population would soon control 50% of its wealth, US President Barack Obama came…
No-one doubts that Europe, or more specifically the European Union, has got more than its fair share of problems. Even before home-grown jihadists inflicted their version of divine retribution on an unambiguously…
Getting on for 14 billion years ago the universe suddenly sprang into life. I can’t actually do the math, as they say, but I’m happy to accept the word of those who can that the physics is unambiguously…
One of the more noteworthy features of Xi Jinping’s presidency has been his apparently genuine and effective efforts to crack down on corruption. Like everything else in China, the scale of the problem…
The Hawke government in the 1980s is widely considered to be the most competent and effective of recent years. Some may say this is not setting the bar terribly high, but the cabinet papers of 1988-89…
Sanctions work. Russia’s problems may be manifold and closely related to the precipitous decline in the price of oil, but sanctions have played an important part in bringing Russia to its economic knees…
It is becoming increasingly commonplace to observe that we live in an era of disorder and instability. Whether it is the seemingly endless conflicts and political upheavals in the Middle East, the return…
Three things about the present era are especially striking. First, problems persist. For those fortunate enough to have grown up in post-war Australia in particular, this is a somewhat surprising reality…
To lose one Secretary of Defense might be considered unfortunate. To have lost three and to be looking for a fourth looks like something more fundamental and systemic. The early departure of Chuck Hagel…
There’s nothing quite like being the centre of attention, even if it costs A$400 million to do so. Now that the curtain has come down on Australia’s moment in the diplomatic spotlight, taxpayers might…
The region’s diplomats and leaders have been earning their money over the last few weeks. Or they have, at least, if their preferred key performance indicators are meetings attended, photos posed for…
For those of us who believe that international institutions are a good idea in principle, these ought to be quite exciting times. After all, we’re about to host the G20 and there will be an even bigger…
China’s decision to establish an Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) may prove to be one of the most important regional initiatives in recent history. At the very least it is yet another revealing…
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