Anna Powles

Anna Powles
Biography
Publications

Dr Anna Powles specialises in geopolitics and security in the Pacific Islands region. She is a Senior Lecturer with the Centre of Defence and Security Studies at Massey University, New Zealand, an Associate Scholar with the MacMillan Brown Center for Pacific Studies, University of Canterbury, and in 2019 held a Senior Visiting Fellowship with the East-West Center, Honolulu. Her research is on New Zealand foreign and security policy in the Pacific and the geopolitical dynamics of the Pacific region. She is the chief investigator on a project on foreign interference in the Pacific and the New Zealand investigator on an Australian Research Council project on the Australia-New Zealand alliance in the Pacific (with Joanne Wallis). She is the author and editor of United Nations Peacekeeping Challenge (2015) and two forthcoming books on New Zealand policy and influence in the Pacific, and private security sector governance in the Pacific.  Prior to joining Massey University, Anna spent over two decades working on security issues in Timor-Leste, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Geopolitical duel in the Pacific: Solomon Islands security at risk as Australia and China compete
Geopolitical duel in the Pacific: Solomon Islands security at risk as Australia and China compete
Honiara has successfully leveraged strategic competition to meet its security interests but there are worrying signs of friction.
Remembering Australia’s “other” alliance
Remembering Australia’s “other” alliance
New Zealand has dropped off the radar in modern strategic discussions despite the long history of trans-Tasman ties.
Shouldering their fair share? The ANZUS allies in the Pacific Islands
Shouldering their fair share? The ANZUS allies in the Pacific Islands
A reported pivot by special forces to the region raises questions about the role expected of Australia and New Zealand.
Kiwis and hawks: Is New Zealand edging closer to Australia on China?
Kiwis and hawks: Is New Zealand edging closer to Australia on China?
Views on China appear to be hardening in Wellington, and the next government will be pressed to find a policy balance.
Chinese whispers and Pacific agency
Chinese whispers and Pacific agency
Pacific island countries are well aware of strategic risks, and want the issues that worry them most to be in focus.
Working with China in the Pacific
Working with China in the Pacific
Development partners, and Pacific nations themselves, need to be better coordinated.
New Zealand’s Pacific sea change
New Zealand’s Pacific sea change
The Pacific Islands region is the focus of the most significant shift in New Zealand foreign policy in decades.
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