Biography
Publications
News and media
James Curran is Professor of Modern History at Sydney University and foreign affairs columnist at the Australian Financial Review, where he was also International Editor from 2023-25. His most recent book is Australia’s China Odyssey: From Euphoria to Fear, published by Newsouth (2022). A former analyst with the Office of National Assessments, Curran is the author of a number of books on Australian diplomatic history and is now working on a study of former prime minister Paul Keating’s foreign policy. He was previously a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute.
Marles’ dash to Washington as Australia’s old anxieties resurface in the Trump era
Perpetual worry about US access says more about Australian insecurity than American indifference to allies.
Australia-China relations: Understanding how we arrived at this point
History is too often reduced to a cartoonish view, but a proper perspective is crucial to chart the next challenges.
Taking China seriously: A review of Geoff Raby’s “grand strategy”
Jumping at shadows is no basis for Australian foreign policy. Common sense must prevail.
Interactive
The Prime Ministers in America
On the eve of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s state visit to Washington, the Lowy Institute presents a series of snapshots examining some of the more memorable meetings between…
Julie Bishop: buffeted by headwinds
Bishop struggled at times to find the right tone in response to an inward-looking America and a muscular China.
Analysis
“Americanism, not globalism”: President Trump and the American mission
President Trump may be unwittingly preparing the United States for the end of American global hegemony.
Harry Harris and the ambassadorial absence
Alliance sentimentalists are wrong to judge the entire heath of the US–Australia relationship through one diplomatic appointment.
Foreign Policy White Paper sees a new Asia but pleads for the old
This White Paper is, as it ought to be, full of tension between history and geography.
Commentary
Trump exhumes the Quad
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
James Curran
ABC RN PM
02 February 2017
Sydney Morning Herald
02 February 2017
