Programs & Projects
The West Asia Program
The West Asia program provides original research on developments in the Middle East and Central and Southwest Asia, including as they impact on Australia. Central research issues include relations between West Asia and East Asia, the Arab uprisings and geo-political change in the Middle East and Australia’s relations with the Gulf.
Experts
Latest publications
News and media
India links: Strategic partnerships, Iraq, sexual violence, socialism and more
C Raja Mohan argues that the new government must work on restoring the lost dynamism in India's vital strategic partnerships.
Two interesting pieces on sexual violence in India:…
Iraq and Syria: ISIS's internet insurgency
Al Qaeda and other Islamist terrorist and insurgent groups have cultivated an advanced social media presence. It serves a much more important purpose than do traditional…
Iraq crisis: What do Americans want?
By this point in his presidency, Barack Obama had hoped to be firmly focused on withdrawing troops from Afghanistan, one of two wars he inherited from the Bush Administration…
Why the US (and Australia) should go back to Iraq
ISIS's dramatic seizure of Mosul last week has caused much geo-strategic hyperventilation. Commentators are variously predicting the collapse of Iraq and eulogising (once again)…
Iranian and US interests in Iraq: Strange bedfellows
One of the more unusual byproducts of the advance of ISIS has been the realisation that Iran and the US share an interest in blocking ISIS advances and re-asserting government…
Commentary
From Spain to Syria: a tale of two civil wars
From Spain to Syria: a tale of two civil warsRoger ShanahanABC OnlinePlease click here for full online text.Rodger Shanahan
Egypt's opposition: Three scenes from Cairo
Below are photos taken by journalist Lisa Main in Cairo over recent days of the opposition to presumptive new president Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. We published Lisa's post on the…
False choices in Egypt's presidential election
It goes something like this: over the next two days, Egyptians will elect the former head of the military, Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, as Egypt's new president. His sole challenger,…
Narendra Modi's foreign policy: Continuity the key
The Narendra Modi-led BJP government that takes office in Delhi next week will in all likelihood ensure a certain continuity with the broad foreign and security policy…
Iran: Nuclear deal could bring thaw in relations with West
Iran's partners of choice are the US and Europe.
That statement may be hard to believe, given how much 'death to America' we've heard out of Tehran, but it's true. The new…