The ANU’s recent decision to stop investing in companies it judges to have behaved in an unsustainable manner environmentally or even socially has attracted a great deal of attention. The overwhelming…
- Adjunct Professor, Australia-China Relations Institute, University of Technology Sydney
Gough Whitlam, Labor prime minister from 1972 to 1975, has died aged 98. A giant of modern Australian politics, his passing triggered a flood of tributes on Tuesday morning. In a statement, current Labor…
Western Australia is an interesting place. No, really! True, lots of students from Asia think Perth’s a bit ‘quiet’, but at least local politics is getting a bit more exciting. Indeed, our state premier…
Demography is destiny. It’s an old idea but it remains as true as ever, despite the fact that it doesn’t get anything like the attention it deserves. It’s not hard to see why: not only is there a crowded…
Xi Jinping is China’s most powerful leader since Deng Xioping. The centralisation of power that has occurred during Xi’s still relatively recent ascendancy is remarkable. Not only is Xi the president and…
The phrase “some viewers may find images in this report disturbing” has become an unhappy accompaniment of the nightly news. Images of the aftermath of bombings – whether suicidal or carefully calibrated…
If there is one place in the increasingly troubled East Asian region that captures all of the tensions over national identity, accidents of history, and the current geopolitical tensions that threaten…
The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home Confucius Wise words indeed, and ones that are especially apt at present. Australia is not the only country that finds itself having to come…
Rumour has it Australia is about to spend an awful lot of money buying some new submarines. This may not be the sort of thing to get the pulses of the casual reader racing, but it ought to be, not least…
How did it come to this? Once again Australia is apparently in a ‘high state of readiness’ and prepared to commit to military forces in the Middle East. In reality, this will probably only mean the RAAF…
I’m what used to be known in less politically correct times as a whinging pom. Locals, among whom I now count myself, will be relieved to learn that I mainly moan about my former, rather than my adopted…
Like him or loathe him, the late Samuel Huntington was one of the towering figures in political science and international relations. Even those who disagreed with his ideas were forced to engage with them…
Once in a while an unexpected event shines a revealing light on aspects of international relations we generally neglect or would rather not think about. The surrogacy saga that has seemingly transfixed…
The continuing slaughter of women and children in Gaza is a painful reminder of the inadequacy of international institutions and our collective inability to impose order, let alone justice, in the world…
As columns go, this is definitely at the more self-indulgent end of the spectrum. In my defence, I’ve been given at least lukewarm encouragement by one of the editors. However, those hoping for penetrating…
Was it only 20 years or so ago that Francis Fukuyama proclaimed the ‘end of history’? Fukuyama may have one of the biggest brains on the planet, but he was spectacularly wrong about the idea that Western-style…
While there is violent disagreement about who is to blame for the unfolding catastrophe in Gaza, there is less argument about its consequences. A rapidly rising – primarily civilian – death toll is difficult…
The apparently deliberate destruction of flight MH17 has sent shockwaves around the world. Few places have been more affected than Australia, which has been relatively immune to many of the world’s recent…
Whatever you think about the Abbott government, one of its more surprising features is that foreign policy looks like its strongest suit. True, this may not be setting the bar terribly high given the unproductive…
The Abbott government’s asylum seeker policy is heartless, selfish, non-transparent, possibly in breech of international law, certainly a violation of progressive international norms – but it seems to…
One of the more popular myths among the conspiratorially minded is that there is a common set of business interests that drives the policy agenda in countries such as Australia. At its crudest, this can…
Crises have their uses. If nothing else, they remind us how the international system works, who has power, and what’s at stake when things fall apart. The current, depressingly familiar, mayhem in Iraq…
For better or worse, national leaders don’t just represent their country: they become its public face and an expression of its values to the outside world. In the case of the United States this is in large…
Anyone following the debate about climate change over the last few years might be forgiven for feeling a little cast down. The pessimists, it seems, have the most compelling arguments, and no shortage…
Malcolm Fraser occupies a rather unique place in Australia as someone who has, at different times, managed to incense both ends of the political spectrum. If nothing else this is indicative of someone…
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