Publications

In this article on The Diplomat's Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf explores how potential conflict between the United States and China might unfold

In this opinion piece in American Review magazine, Rory Medcalf explores the effect that social media has had on interstate tensions in Indo-Pacific Asia and beyond

In 2015 Australia will host the Asian Football Confederation’s Asian Cup, providing opportunities for government, business and community groups to strengthen their engagement with Asia

In this article on The Diplomat's Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf asks whether Asia's growing strategic uncertainty will affect President Obama's push for nuclear disarmament

In an opinion piece in the Australian Financial Review, Dr Michael Fullilove and Alex Oliver argue that as Australians look ahead to a federal election in September, they should be asking tough questions of both major parties about the funding of their foreign policies

In this blog for the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Military Fellow James Brown asks why we don't hear more rom Australia's retired Generals in the public defence debate

Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Dave McRae, in an opinion piece for Indonesian daily Kompas, outlines three reasons why executions are not the solution to narcotics crime. He argues that Indonesia can seek effective measures against narcotics and abolish the death penalty. The full text appears

In this article on The Diplomat's Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf looks at the silver linings surrounding North Korea's nuclear test

In this article on The Diplomat's Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf looks at the security implications of India's recent submarine-launched ballistic missile test for Indo-Pacific Asia

In a new piece for Inside Indonesia, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Dave McRae outlines signs that Indonesia may move towards abolition of the death penalty, and examines how Indonesia is reconciling its foreign and domestic policy on capital punishment. Read the full text of Staying the

Therefore Chinese foreign policy can be expected to be reactive. This may have serious consequences because of the potentially explosive nature of two of China's most pressing foreign policy challenges: how to decrease tensions with Japan and with Southeast Asian states over diverse territorial

In this article on The Diplomat’s Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf advocates for the usage of the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ to describe the emerging Asian strategic system

In this article on The Diplomat’s Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf looks at what the U.S. National Intelligence Council’s 2030 Report, Alternative Worlds, says for Indo-Pacific Asia

In this article on The Diplomat’s Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf looks the prospect of using bilateral and multilateral military diplomacy to manage security tensions in Asia

In this article on The Diplomat’s Flashpoints blog, Rory Medcalf examines Australia and India’s strategic partnership following Bob Carr’s visit to India

Australia and the world needs a focused and effective G20. But the forum is in danger of losing its way. This Analysis identifies nine key lessons from the G20’s history that can help relaunch it. This should be Australia’s goal when it chairs the G20 in 2014

In an opinion piece in The Age, Mark Thirwell discusses the last-minute negotiations to prevent the US economy from plunging lemming-like over the so-called fiscal cliff and back into recession

In the Pacific Islands region, climate change and natural disasters could displace potentially  thousands of people in coming years.  A significant number of these people could end up as environmental migrants to Australia.  In this Analysis, Dr Khalid Koser argues that Australia

In this book chapter, the Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf and Ashley Townshend examine the factors that are likely to influence the strategic dynamic of the China-India bilateral relationship in the Asian Century. Although engagement through trade, defence dialogue and high-level visits has

At first glance, the differences between the two candidates for president of the United States in 2012, President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney, are striking. Each candidate is doing his best to emphasise these differences. Most commentators have drawn sharp distinctions between the two

China’s currency is on the rise. Buoyed by the economy’s outperformance and global trade impact, policy steps over the past few years have thrust the renminbi onto the global stage. Is the renminbi going to climb to become a major reserve currency? Not so fast. 

This is an extract from The China choice: why America should share power by Hugh White, published by Black Inc. The China choice will be released on Monday 6 August, RRP $29.99, and is also available as an ebook. http://www.blackincbooks.com/books/china-choice

In this 2010 working paper, Mark Thirlwell looks at the changing shape of a global economy that was born with the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989. 

On 30 June 2012, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood was sworn in as Egypt’s first ever democratically elected President.  In an effort to address some of the questions raised by this development, we are republishing, with a new foreword, the Muslim Brotherhood chapter from the 2008 Lowy