Programs & Projects
Australia's Security and the Rules-Based Order
The 2016 Defence White Paper describes a rules-based global order as a “fundamental strategic interest”.
This project, supported by the Department of Defence’s Strategic Policy Grants Program, aims to lead a national debate on the rules-based order and its implications for Australian security and defence. It will connect the legal, political, and historical debates about the nature of the global order with the practical realities of Australia’s strategic environment. It will address how the order can evolve to meet new technological challenges and modes of warfare, including grey zone operations.
Cover image: Official U.S. Navy / Flickr
Experts
Latest publications
News and media
Policy Briefs
Eyes on the Prize: Australia, China, and the Antarctic Treaty System
Despite China’s increasing assertiveness in Antarctica, the Antarctic Treaty System is not failing and Australia should refrain from geostrategic panic
The power of example: America’s presence in Diego Garcia
In remarks delivered at the US State Department in early February, President Joe Biden championed the rule of law as part of “America’s abiding advantage” and spelled out his…
What does America think the rules-based order is for?
This week we launched the latest project to emerge from the Lowy’s Institute’s Australia’s Security and the Rules-Based Order project, a debate feature on America and…
Podcasts
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…
Interactives
The United States and the Rules‑Based Order
Six experts debate America's approach to the rules-based order.
Commentary
We can’t combat China’s ‘grey zone’ war while polarised
Originally published in The Australian.
Commentary
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…
Bringing space law into the 21st century
Throughout 2020, a renewed debate has taken hold over international legal frameworks and the governance of outer space. A flurry of outer space activities has ensured this debate…
Who was Hugo Grotius and what is a “Grotian world”?
On Monday, the UK-based think tank Policy Exchange awarded Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison the inaugural Grotius Prize “in recognition of his work in support of…
But what does “rules-based order” mean?
Although the “rules-based international order” is central to Australian strategy, what exactly this concept means remains a work very much in progress. For Australia to achieve…