Publications

The new terms of trade

Mark Thirlwell

Summary

The landscape of the international trading environment is changing. Progress in the Doha Round remains painfully difficult, a powerful symbol of the mounting stresses and strains on the multilateral trading system. Meanwhile, policymakers, frustrated with multilateralism's shortcomings, continue to turn to bilateral and regional trade deals, producing an ever-expanding web of preferential trade arrangements. This is all against a backdrop of major shifts in the structure and composition of trade flows, as the manufacturing might of China and India's services-based export model are together contributing to a fundamental reshaping of the worldwide pattern of trade.

A new Lowy Institute Paper by Mark Thirlwell looks at this transformation in the international context for trade and trade policy.

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Peace with illusions
It would be dull to join the already large chorus of commentators predicting failure for the latest round of Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, launched this week in Washington. Assuming that...Read more

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The 2010 Lowy Institute Poll

The sixth annual Lowy Institute Poll surveys Australian public opinion on a range of foreign policy issues. New questions this year cover the Rudd Government’s handling of foreign policy issues during its first term in office, whether Australia should develop nuclear weapons, attitudes towards Indonesia and US power, sanctions against Fiji and the morality of Australia’s foreign policy.

The Poll also repeated questions asked in previous years, revealing trends in public opinion on topics such as climate change, Australia’s military involvement in Afghanistan, and attitudes towards the United States and China.

A panel discussion about the poll can be heard here:
The 2010 Lowy Institute Poll - MP3 (23MB)Download item (1.3MB)

Power and choice: Asian security futures

Recent events in the seas off South Korea and Japan emphasise the fragility of Asia’s security order and the strains the region’s changing power distribution are placing on it. A new major Lowy Institute Asia Security Project report, 'Power and Choice: Asian Security Futures', analyses the likely security futures for Asia and Australia and recommends steps countries should take to ensure growing regional competition does not lead to conflict. This report was made possible by the generous support for the Project by the MacArthur Foundation.

A copy of the report, launched by Dennis Richardson, AO, the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on 1 June, can be downloaded here.Download item (6.5MB)