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Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 24 Feb 2026
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom

    Andrew is a symptom of the monarchy’s existential crisis, not the cause

    Hans van Leeuwen
    Tectonic shifts in English society are fundamentally reshaping the monarchy. Australia must be ready to adapt.
  • 19 Feb 2026
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    Who’s afraid of Diego Garcia?

    David Vallance
    Behind Trump’s “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA” bluster lies a careful deal that actually protects American power.
  • 16 Oct 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom

    Australia should heed Britain’s tough choices – and its mistakes

    Hugh Piper
    Development spending prevents conflicts and builds resilience – dismissing it as secondary betrays decades of effective practice.
  • 3 Sep 2025
    • Defence & Security
    • AUKUS
    • Maritime Security
    • South China Sea
    • United Kingdom
    • Technology
    • United States

    Beyond submarines: Why AUKUS Pillar II matters now

    Frank A. Rose
    The trilateral security partnership has the potential to deliver meaningful operational advantages within this decade.
  • 28 Aug 2025
    • Japan
    • South Korea
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • France
    • United Kingdom
    • New Zealand

    Why France must join: Turning the Quintet into a Sextet

    Lindsay R. Dodd
    Paris brings territorial legitimacy, EU leverage and military presence that would strengthen any Indo-Pacific grouping.
  • 22 Aug 2025
    • Japan
    • South Korea
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • New Zealand

    Why the United Kingdom and the Indo-Pacific Four should form a new Quintet

    Ben Bland
    These five resource-constrained democracies face shared challenges that require coordination beyond existing alliance structures.
  • 13 Aug 2025
    • China
    • Japan
    • Philippines
    • Thailand
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Global Issues
    • Türkiye

    Religious revival: Why young people around the world are finding faith again

    Intifar Chowdhury
    From digital spirituality to gendered divides, faith seems to offer meaning and identity where secular culture has fallen short.
  • 29 Jul 2025
    • Australia
    • AUKUS
    • United Kingdom

    Australia and the United Kingdom put the AUKUS spin cycle on High

    Michael Shoebridge
    Trumpeting a new treaty does nothing to fix fundamental production problems.
  • 11 Jun 2025
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Canada
    • United States

    Australia’s royal dilemma as King Charles serves conflicting Commonwealth interests with Trump

    Hugh Piper
    If Australians found their sovereignty threatened, would people want an unelected septuagenarian Englishman representing their interests as head of state?
  • 15 Apr 2025
    • Asia
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • New Zealand

    Asia without America? History shows Australia can be confident shaping regional security

    Rahman Yaacob
    The Five Power Defence Arrangements makes for a case in point.
  • 28 Mar 2025
    • India
    • Mauritius
    • United Kingdom
    • International law
    • United Nations
    • United States

    India’s support for Chagos sovereignty speaks volumes

    Sanchari Ghosh
    New Delhi’s backing of Mauritius on Chagos is a calculated geopolitical move within a shifting Indo-Pacific order.
  • 27 Feb 2025
    • Aid & Development
    • Development Assistance
    • Australia in the World
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    UK aid cut: Implications for an increasingly lonely Australia

    Grace Stanhope , Riley Duke
    Starmer’s announcement is another demonstration of a narrowing perception of global security.
  • 6 Jan 2025
    • India
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Africa

    Test Cricket’s world cup forgets what’s best about the game

    Hugh Piper
    Cricket’s centre of power has long outgrown its colonial roots.
  • 29 Nov 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • South Korea
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    As traditional “Anglo” international education destinations falter, Asia-Pacific countries look closer to home

    Angela Lehmann
    Chinese students are largely driving the surge in international students choosing universities across the region.
  • 29 Oct 2024
    • India
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom

    India’s historic shift in attitude about a US base at Diego Garcia

    Rahul Jaybhay
    Scouring the archival records is revealing of New Delhi’s changing strategic priorities.
  • 8 Oct 2024
    • United Kingdom
    • International law
    • Africa

    The UK deal on Diego Garcia is positive, but it won’t reverse declining support for the rules-based order

    Kate O’Shaughnessy
    China and Russia might argue this is just another example of Western countries gaming the system to suit themselves.
  • 12 Aug 2024
    • United Kingdom

    Starmer’s Labour sets out to sustain Indo‑Pacific ties

    Patrick Triglavcanin
    A change of government has refreshed the message, but the overall direction remains the same. 
  • 8 Aug 2024
    • India
    • United Kingdom
    • Identities
    • Review

    A reckoning with empire

    Ved Shinde
    Two very different volumes on the legacies of imperialism expose the parallax of coloniser and colonised.
  • 24 Jul 2024
    • Europe
    • European Union
    • Ukraine
    • United Kingdom

    Good vibes only: Can Starmer make the European Political Community work?

    Elizabeth Ames
    Europe’s newest strategic forum has the chance to rally regional leaders around common defence and security challenges.
  • 15 Jul 2024
    • Europe's Economy
    • European Union
    • United Kingdom
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • Trade
    • WTO

    What next for UK trade relations with the EU?

    Justin Brown
    The ushering in of new blood in Westminster promises less ideology on trade, but no fewer red lines.
  • 9 Jul 2024
    • United Kingdom

    The broad Asia‑Pacific ambition for Britain under Labour

    Claire Yorke
    From AUKUS to climate change, the challenge now is to translate enthusiasm and energy into momentum. 
  • 27 Jun 2024
    • Australia
    • Intelligence and security
    • Diplomacy
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    Julian Assange: Some consular cases are more equal than others

    Ian Kemish
    It’s hard to think of a case that has consumed more official hours and dollars.
  • 19 Jun 2024
    • Diplomacy
    • United Kingdom
    • Review

    How to broaden the political gene pool

    Mark Pierce
    With the United Kingdom headed for the polls, Alastair Campbell has a few suggestions on what makes a good leader.
  • 10 May 2024
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Kingdom

    Ukraine gets the green light for strikes in Russia – it was long overdue

    Tennyson Dearing
    But nor does this mean the end of Western hesitancy in its support for Ukraine.
  • 15 Apr 2024
    • Caucasus
    • European Union
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Kingdom

    Russia conundrum in the Caucasus and beyond

    Nikola Mikovic
    Once a de facto leader in the post-Soviet space, Moscow is now falling outside the friend zone in its own backyard.
  • 26 Mar 2024
    • China
    • India
    • United Kingdom
    • Review

    Opium and the colonial narco-state

    Mark Pierce
    In an attempt to control 19th century trade with India and China, Britain dumped tea and resorted to a new addictive drug.
  • 18 Mar 2024
    • India
    • India's Economy
    • United Kingdom
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • Free Trade
    • Trade
    • Migration

    Reverse colonialism? India and Britain’s free trade agreements

    Aarti Betigeri
    The failure of FTA talks between New Delhi and London rings with an unmistakable tone of irony.
  • 5 Mar 2024
    • Japan
    • Australia
    • Australia and Climate Change
    • France
    • United Kingdom
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    A role for nuclear in Australia’s climate response?

    Stephen Grenville
    In the facts-lite political debate, the opportunities and comparative advantages of solar are being sidelined.
  • 27 Feb 2024
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    AUKUS is a Trump-style deal

    Patrick Triglavcanin
    He rebels against the language of a “rules-based order” but he is happy to talk business.
  • 1 Feb 2024
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    Is AUKUS Pillar I unworkable?

    Matthew C. Mai
    The strategic logic might be compelling, but that alone won’t get the number of nuclear-powered subs built in time.
  • 20 Nov 2023
    • United Kingdom

    The Chagos dilemma

    David Vallance
    Duelling dynasties, violations of international law, and great power dynamics leave dispossessed Chagossians in limbo.
  • 17 Nov 2023
    • United Kingdom
    • Review

    Practising politics in a moral wilderness

    Mark Pierce
    Yes Minister, indeed.
  • 15 Nov 2023
    • Australia
    • European Union
    • United Kingdom
    • Technology
    • United States

    The Bletchley Park artificial intelligence summit: Good optics, less substance

    José-Miguel Bello y Villarino , Kimberlee Weatherall
    A jumbled collection of commonplace platitudes does not a remarkable outcome make.
  • 25 Oct 2023
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • Technology
    • United States

    AUKUS as Big Science?

    Marigold Black
    With all the focus on nuclear-powered submarines, are we missing a chance to achieve something truly transformative?
  • 12 Oct 2023
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Public Opinion

    Voting “Yes” in the heart of empire

    Hugh Piper , Matthew Newman
    If the ballot queue in London were any guide, the Voice would win hands down.
  • 8 Sep 2023
    • United Kingdom
    • Review

    Boris Johnson: Does distance really lend enchantment to the view?

    Mark Pierce
    A recent biography on the former PM reveals a man short on dignity and gravitas, and afraid to make the hard decisions.
  • 25 Aug 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    The social licence for AUKUS has not yet been earned

    Peter K. Lee , Alice Nason , Sophie Mayo
    Convincing Australians that nuclear-powered subs are needed, and worth the $368 billion price tag, is a hard sell.
  • 5 Jul 2023
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom

    Stumped by the cricket controversy? Here’s how sport and politics collide

    Hugh Piper
    When PMs weigh in on the “spirit”, you might start to wonder about the effect on oft-cited shared values.
  • 20 Jun 2023
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Kingdom
    • Syria

    Chemical weapons: Impunity is killing deterrence

    Joel Keep
    Poisoning continues as a favoured form of invisible warfare meted out by dictators and autocrats, with horrific results.
  • 11 May 2023
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • Multilateral Institutions

    Australia: The lynchpin of a modernised Commonwealth

    Sam Bidwell
    A network of middle powers and small states supporting one another. What’s not to like?
  • 24 Apr 2023
    • India
    • United Kingdom

    To India, spoils of empire a less sparkly side of Charles’ coronation

    Aarti Betigeri
    Narendra Modi has set out to erase a colonial mindset in public life, but its replacement has generated its own unease.
  • 10 Mar 2023
    • Australia
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    AUKUS: Asking a veteran submariner what to think

    Justin Burke
    What are the big issues still lurking beneath the surface of the AUKUS debate?
  • 2 Mar 2023
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    AUKUS and intellectual property

    Naoise McDonagh , Sascha-Dominik Dov Bachmann
    In an era of economic entanglement, IP theft has the potential to threaten democracy. Governments need to be vigilant.
  • 10 Nov 2022
    • United Kingdom

    Battle for Chagos

    Samuel Bashfield
    A dispute over sovereignty in the Indian Ocean tracks Britain’s dwindling empire and the path of international law.
  • 2 Nov 2022
    • United Kingdom
    • Migration

    Can the UK stop the boats?

    Khalid Koser
    Attempting to mimic the Australian model ignores the striking differences that confront post-Brexit Britain.
  • 12 Oct 2022
    • United Kingdom

    Liz Truss and foreign policy: expect the unexpected

    David Wells
    The new PM may see global affairs as welcome theatre to demonstrate leadership and distract from domestic pressure.
  • 12 Sep 2022
    • United Kingdom

    History, one tribute at a time

    Mateo Szlapek-Sewillo
    Reactions to the Queen’s death reflect our complex attitudes to the United Kingdom.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • France
    • Germany
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    France can help Albanese fix AUKUS

    Alan J. Kuperman
    Labor faces a dilemma over nuclear-powered subs and the non-proliferation regime. An old partner might offer an answer.
  • 26 Jul 2022
    • South China Sea
    • Singapore
    • China
    • Malaysia
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom

    Answering China’s South China Sea flying safety challenge

    Peter Layton
    A regional response can best manage risks, and the Five Power Defence Arrangement offers just the mechanism.
  • 17 Jun 2022
    • United Kingdom
    • International law
    • Human rights

    The British Indian Ocean Territory and the rules-based order

    Samuel Bashfield , Elena Katselli Proukaki
    In claiming sovereignty over Chagos, London privileges Western interests. And breaks international law.
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