Ben Scott's Bio | People | Lowy Institute

People | experts Ben Scott

Director, Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order Project

The Lowy Institute

Areas of ExpertiseAustralian national security policy; International rules and norms; US foreign policy; the Middle East

Connect @Ben_G_Scott

Navigate to:

view

Frontier Rules: Emerging tech and challenges to the rules-based order

Intensifying geopolitical competition is combining with emerging technologies to create new frontiers for statecraft and present new challenges to the rules-based order. How should Australia engage in emerging domains such as cyberspace and outer space? How should Australia adopt new military

By Ben Scott, Sasha Fegan, Sam Roggeveen

view

A strategy for uncertain times

Is a case-by-case approach good enough for Australia to respond to the great and developing regional challenges?

By Ben Scott

view

How do we keep an eye on our spies?

Our intelligence services have never been more important to us, and democratic governance is part of their strength. But do we need to look at this again? Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

Address by the US National Cyber Director on cyber cooperation

US National Cyber Director Chris Inglis addressed the Lowy Institute on the role of cyber in US strategy and the outlook for international cyber cooperation to build resilience and counter threats

By Ben Scott

view

Australian cyber: What’s “Redspice” for?

Canberra should explain why Australia needs a larger offensive cyber capability and how it will be used.

By Ben Scott

view

Rules Based Audio: Ukraine and the future of the rules based order

In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Ben Scott discusses the war in Ukraine and international law with Professor Fleur Johns and Dr Eve Massingham

By Ben Scott

view

We need to stop talking about the grey zone

And instead learn more about the many measures short of war.

By Ben Scott

view

Exploit Xi and Putin mutual distrust to limit China-Russia partnership

Originally published in The Australian

By Ben Scott

view

The nature of US intelligence is radically different - and more open - with the Ukraine invasion

Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald

By Ben Scott

view

Australia and the crisis in Europe: threats and opportunities

A global contest of values and interests – and sharply divergent visions of order - is now dramatically intensified.

By Ben Scott, Richard Maude

view

Australian intelligence should not be used for political goals. The US is still recovering from Trump doing just that

The political consensus on China is a dead end. Australia should harness political debate to produce smarter policies. Originally published in The Guardian

By Ben Scott

view

Getting ready for Trump as President 47

In order to adjust to an unpredictable United States, Canberra needs new habits.

By Ben Scott

view

Best decision-making needed as Fortress Australia rejoins the world

The central challenge is striking the right balance between negative and positive globalisation. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

Digital Conference: The Indo-Pacific Operating System

The digital conference The Indo-Pacific Operating System: Power, Order and Rules for the 21st Century was hosted by the Lowy Institute on 1-2 December 2021

By Ben Scott, Sasha Fegan, Hervé Lemahieu

view

US seeks recalibration, but China is unlikely to reciprocate

Washington wanted the Biden-Xi meeting to establish guardrails to prevent confrontation. Beijing will probably see that as just code for maintenance of the US-dominated status quo. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

The Indo-Pacific Operating System: How can America shore up the regional order?

Five essays from experts from, or based in, Southeast Asia provide a sense of the region’s complexity and the nuance with which any effort to shore up – or rebuild – regional order must grapple

By Ben Scott

view

International rules make U.S.-China conflict more likely

Cross-border principles governing conduct only exist if they are accepted by states. Originally published in Nikkei Asia Review

By Ben Scott

view

Rules Based Audio (Episode 3): In Conversation with Hilary Charlesworth

In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Ben Scott talks to Professor Hilary Charlesworth

By Ben Scott

view

How to save the Summit for Democracy

Another platform for meaningless democracy rhetoric would be a step backwards.

By Ben Scott

view

Why Australia needs a security rebalance

The pandemic has blown up any idea that we can easily spot the future threats to Australia. So how do we prioritise our finite security resources? Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

AUKUS must walk and chew gum at the same time

Originally published in The Canberra Times

By Ben Scott

view

Rules Based Audio (Episode 2): In Conversation with Shirley Scott

In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Ben Scott talks to Professor Shirley Scott, Professor of International Law and International Relations at UNSW, Canberra

By Ben Scott

view

ANZUS and Trumpism

Australia needs to acknowledge its blind spots in its 70-year friendship with America.

By Ben Scott

view

Sharpening deterrence

The language around the who, what and how of Australia’s defence strategy needs an overhaul.

By Ben Scott

view

This is America’s new foreign policy on show

The abandoning of Afghanistan is all about a shift to diplomacy and deal-making, not firepower and force. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

How Biden's China doctrine can swing the pendulum back

A shift toward the center is more likely in coming months. Originally published in Nikkei Asia Review

By Ben Scott

view

The trouble with Washington’s ‘Rules-Based Order’ gambit

Improved U.S. compliance with international norms would greatly enhance U.S. defense of the rules-based international order. Originally published in The Diplomat

By Ben Scott

view

Rules Based Audio (Episode 1): In Conversation with John Ikenberry

In an increasingly contested world, basic questions about how the world works, and how it should work, are being asked anew. In Rules Based Audio we will be posing those questions to some of the world’s leading thinkers and practitioners. This podcast series is part of the Lowy Institute’s Rules

By Ben Scott

view

Decoding intelligence on Afghanistan

An official inquiry should answer much wider questions about the US mission than only those of the final few weeks.

By Ben Scott

view

Defending the liberal international order

John Ikenberry takes a long view of the success and failures of efforts to make “a world safe for democracy”.

By Ben Scott

view

Australia right to back Biden on democracy

Foreign policy trade-offs are an uncomfortable truth on the road to rules-based freedom.

By Ben Scott

view

Rules-based order: What’s in a name?

The genesis, rise and complex ambitions of one of the most speculated about concepts in global politics right now.

By Ben Scott

view

Australians need clarity on war or peace

A formal annual threat assessment from the government is better than the shapeless war talk voters are getting at the moment. Originally published in The Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

Quad’s great leap forward leaves free trade behind

Originally published in The Australian

By Ben Scott

view

The US and the Rules-Based Order: Testing the plan

A frank new guidance document shows that in directing his foreign policy, Joe Biden still has to resolve means and ends.

By Ben Scott

view

Lowy Institute Conversations: The United States and the Rules-Based Order

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Lowy Institute Director of Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order project, Ben Scott, sits down with Stacie Goddard and Michael Mazarr to discuss the United States and the rules-based order

By Ben Scott

view

The United States and the Rules‑Based Order

Six experts debate America's approach to the rules-based order

By Madeleine Nyst, Ben Scott, Michael J. Mazarr

view

We can’t combat China’s ‘grey zone’ war while polarised

Originally published in The Australian

By Ben Scott

view

Australia needs America to follow global rules too

Australia's troubles with China won't end until its US ally starts more actively supporting a rules-based world order itself. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

view

Can Trumpism live without Trump?

Might a more competent Republican leader turn this movement into a far more powerful force? Or will the bloc splinter?

By Ben Scott

view

But what does “rules-based order” mean?

For Australia to shape the future order, it will have to get more specific about what it wants.

By Ben Scott

view

Australia's Security and the Rules-Based Order: Tracking a Decade of Policy Evolution

In this feature, we identify ten recurring propositions about the rules-based order and show it's evolution through national debate and government policy. Explore how the rules-based order has developed over time and in meaning with experts offering inside commentary along the way

By Ben Scott, Madeleine Nyst, Sam Roggeveen

view

Smart China choices

Australia’s relationship with China is unavoidably asymmetric. That shouldn’t stop Australia finding a competitive edge.

By Ben Scott

view

China and the Rules‑Based Order

Seven experts debate China’s approach to the rules‑based international order

By Ben Scott, Nadège Rolland, John Culver, David Kelly

view

Hidden seams in the UAE-Israel deal

It’s all about Iran, right? Actually, the agreement has more to do with managing the US and China.

By Ben Scott

view

Book review: “The false promise of liberal order”

A contrarian view on a cherished historical narrative and the necessity of “dark bargains with illiberal forces”.

By Ben Scott

view

COVIDcast: Salvaging the liberal international order

In this episode of COVIDcast, Ben Scott, Lowy Institute Director of the Rules Based Order Project, sat down with Bobo Lo to discuss Bobo’s new Lowy Institute Analysis: “Global Order in the Shadow of the Coronavirus: China, Russia and the West”.

By Ben Scott

view

Submission to the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Inquiry into the Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic for Australia's Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade

Joint submission by Lowy Institute researchers to the JSCFADT inquiry into the implications of the pandemic.

By Ben Bland, Alexandre Dayant, John Edwards, Michael Fullilove, Bonnie S Glaser, Stephen Grenville, Natasha Kassam, Lydia Khalil, Hervé Lemahieu , Richard McGregor, Shane McLeod, Annmaree O’Keeffe, Alex Oliver, Jonathan Pryke, Roland Rajah, Sam Roggeveen, Ben Scott

view

Five Eyes: Blurring the lines between intelligence and policy

Intelligence sharing is one thing. Aligning policy with the same brand risks making too exclusive a grouping.

By Ben Scott

view

Why Australia hasn't given up on a rules-based world order

Putting 'negative globalism' talk aside, strategic shocks are forcing Canberra to think about an international system that can protect sovereignty and prevent great power conflict. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review

By Ben Scott

Search

Institute - Top Menu

Pages

Useful Links

Contact Us

Our Location