Sam Roggeveen

Director, International Security Program
Areas of expertise

Australian foreign and defence policy, China’s military forces, US defence and foreign policy, drones and other military technology. Also, trends in global democracy.

Sam Roggeveen
Biography
Publications
News and media

Sam Roggeveen is Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia's Search for Power and Peace, published by La Trobe University Press in 2023.

Before joining the Lowy Institute, Sam was a senior strategic analyst in Australia’s peak intelligence agency, the Office of National Assessments, where his work dealt mainly with North Asian strategic affairs, including nuclear strategy and Asian military forces. Sam also worked on arms control policy in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs, and as an analyst in the Defence Intelligence Organisation.

Sam has a long-standing interest in politics and political philosophy, and in 2019 he wrote Our Very Own Brexit: Australia's Hollow Politics and Where it Could Lead Us, about the hollowing out of Western democracy and its implications for Australia. 

Sam writes for newspapers and magazines in Australia and around the world, and is a regular commentator on the Lowy Institute’s digital magazine, The Interpreter, of which he was the founding editor from 2007 to 2014.

Sam also serves as lead editor at the Lowy Institute, and editor of the Lowy Institute Papers.

Australia keeps calm while China carries on
Australia keeps calm while China carries on
In the face of sustained coercion, Canberra has rejected the urge to seek economic revenge against Beijing.
Something is broken in the way we are conducting Australian politics
Commentary
Something is broken in the way we are conducting Australian politics
Originally published in The Mandarin.
How far would Australia go in defence of the rules-based order?
How far would Australia go in defence of the rules-based order?
The way the defence force is structured and the weapons deployed sends a message beyond the words.
Democracy vs autocracy: Biden’s “inflection point”
Democracy vs autocracy: Biden’s “inflection point”
If this really is a new Cold War, it’s off to a slow start.
What does America think the rules-based order is for?
What does America think the rules-based order is for?
The US is in a defensive crouch rather than in an expansionary mood. But bring on debate.
Book review: The Ministry for the Future
Book review: The Ministry for the Future
Putting the fate of the world in the hands of boring bureaucrats might not seem compelling – might just also be right.
There are reasons to feel OK about 2020, but a long-forgotten worry got worse
Commentary
There are reasons to feel OK about 2020, but a long-forgotten worry got worse
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald.
COVIDcast: 2020 Asia Power Index
Podcasts
COVIDcast: 2020 Asia Power Index
In this episode of COVIDcast, Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, sits down with the two leading researchers behind the Lowy Institute…
Why Australia Should Respond to China’s Provocations With Self-Reliance
Commentary
Why Australia Should Respond to China’s Provocations With Self-Reliance
Originally published in World Politics Review.
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