Coronavirus
A changing aid landscape in the Pacific
The latest edition of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map provides the first comprehensive picture of how official development finance in the Pacific — including grants, loans,…
2022: A global turning point
Tectonic shifts in world affairs are underway as 2022 draws to a close.
With the Ukraine war drawing a line under the familiar post-Cold War period, the world has entered a…
North Korea’s politics defeats Covid … almost
In late April this year, North Korea finally succumbed to one of its most tenacious adversaries: Covid-19. The hermit kingdom’s first wave of the virus, which has been circulating…
Lowy Institute Papers
Rise of the Extreme Right: The new global extremism and the threat to democracy
ASEAN and pandemic recovery: Economy before strategic rivalry
The sweeping consequences of Covid-19 have carried a devastating cost right across the world, but especially for less-developed countries that began the crisis at a disadvantage…
The Quad needs a futures focus
If there is a cumulative lesson from the past few years, it’s that the era of “polycrises” is firmly upon us. A polycrisis is defined as the net effect from the non-linear…
Pacific youth: challenges today need the leaders of tomorrow
The populations of Pacific states are young and getting younger. A glance at the demographic breakdowns of countries such as Fiji and Solomon Islands provides an immediate and…
Lies, damn lies, and North Korea’s Covid statistics
More than two years since North Korea locked down its border in January 2020 and went on to record zero Covid-19 cases and deaths across all the months since, the country last…
Shanghai lockdown prompts collective action
The Shanghai lockdown following a Covid-19 outbreak last month saw the most stringent restrictions placed upon a Chinese city since the pandemic began. Although Chinese civil…
Asia’s Covid waste dilemma
For the last couple of years, virtually every news feed or broadcast has included images of mask-clad people or health workers suited up as protection from Covid-19. While…