Articles | Lowy Institute

8 hours ago
Vietnam
The fallacy of Vietnam’s bamboo diplomacy

Jackson Lopez

Vietnam is prioritising appeasement of the powers that matter – Beijing and Washington – while neglecting its own long-term vulnerabilities.
9 hours ago
AUKUS
AUKUS will be worth the work. China’s alarm shows why Trump should get onboard

Frank Rose

The strategic benefits far outweigh the operational and political challenges.
10 hours ago
Debt

United Nations
UN development summit shows who’s really fanning the flames

Melissa Conley Tyler

Seville’s sweltering UN conference exposed deep rifts between those pushing private finance and advocates for debt justice.
17 hours ago
China

Defence & Security

United States
Fear, honour, and miscalculation: War game lessons in the Indo-Pacific

Henry Yep

Why it’s reckless to assume that wars only erupt by deliberate design.
1 day ago
France

Pacific Islands

New Caledonia
New Caledonia’s Bougival Accord offers path beyond independence deadlock

Denise Fisher

Voters in the French territory must now decide at a 2026 referendum whether to accept dual citizenship and statehood within France.
1 day ago
Asia

Australia

Energy
If infrastructure is the new oil, Australia is in a winning position

Melinda Stuart

By investing in Southeast Asia’s sustainable development, Australia can help shape regional growth and prosperity.
1 day ago
Caucasus

European Union

Russia

Ukraine
Making Greater Russia again?

William Gourlay

Trump’s new world order may greenlight a Russian sphere of interest, but Moscow’s geopolitical clout seems in decline.
1 day ago
Asean

Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste is ready for ASEAN, but is ASEAN ready for what comes next?

Vu Lam

The bloc’s inability to mediate even among its members highlights a structural blind spot: it can convene, but not intervene, even when regional cohesion is at stake.
2 days ago
Trade

United States
The America First approach to trade and tariffs is only getting started

Robert Walker

Multiple legal mechanisms give the US President broad authority to impose sectoral levies beyond current negotiations.
2 days ago
Myanmar

Trade

Diplomacy

United States
False recognition, tariffs, Myanmar, and the lost art of letter writing

Sean Turnell

Myanmar’s military ruler celebrates receiving formal correspondence from Washington, seeing diplomatic validation despite sanctions.
2 days ago
India

Trade
Pivot to the West: India’s changing trade strategy

Ved Shinde

Even for a country of India’s economic size, not prioritising exports is unviable.
2 days ago
Australia

Coronavirus

Multilateral Institutions
One Health diplomacy: How Australia can lead regional disease prevention

Philippa Nicole Barr

Scientific collaboration on health threats offers a new pathway for regional influence.
14 Jul 2025
Aid & Development

United States
Taxing the world’s most generous givers

Heather Wrathall

A 3.5% levy on diaspora remittance transfers could reduce vital flows by billions at the very time aid budgets are shrinking.
14 Jul 2025
AUKUS
An AUKUS ultimatum for Australia over Taiwan risks backfiring on Washington

Andrew O'Neil

US pressure tactics could undermine the Australia alliance it aims to strengthen.
14 Jul 2025
AUKUS
AUKUS: Building confidence in Australia’s submarine pathway

Jennifer Parker

Promises need to shift to performance, judged against a published timeline.
14 Jul 2025
Asean

Myanmar

Global Issues
Can Malaysia nudge ASEAN beyond non-interference to tackle the scam crisis in Myanmar?

Liu Weiyi , Asha Hemrajani

Traditional principles are clashing with urgent need for coordinated response to the threat of transnational crime.
11 Jul 2025
Central Asia

Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament
Nuclear waste to nuclear reactor: The case of Russia in Kazakhstan

Ayushi Saini

Facing energy deficits, Kazakhstan turns to Russia’s Rosatom for nuclear power despite a history of environmental and dependency concerns.
11 Jul 2025
India

Indonesia

Australia

Defence & Security
Can Australia, India and Indonesia really sail together?

Rahman Yaacob

Mismatched strategic culture is the main obstacle to joint maritime security ambitions.
11 Jul 2025
North Korea

South Korea

Russia
Can Seoul’s soft diplomacy break the Russia–North Korea alliance?

Khang Vu

Pyongyang is reaping the benefits of its relationship with Moscow. South Korea’s new president wants to woo them back.
11 Jul 2025
Global Issues
End of equality and the century of political correctness

R. N. Prasher

From Xi to Modi to Trump, a global shift reflects growing acceptance that not all nations – or ideologies – are equal.
10 Jul 2025
Philippines

Defence & Security

United States
Trump’s bearhug for the Philippines

Richard Javad Heydarian

While other Asian allies face American pressure, the Philippines enjoys special treatment – but at the cost of strategic flexibility.
10 Jul 2025
India

Australia
India-Australia: A partnership a long time coming

Anondeeta Chakraborty

There are important lessons from the last time Canberra and New Delhi sought to forge common cause.
10 Jul 2025
Europe

Human rights

International law

War Crimes

Multilateral Institutions
Srebrenica at 30: Why this turning point for international justice still matters

Ian Kemish

The 1995 massacre galvanised legal accountability mechanisms that remain vital as multilateral institutions face new challenges.
10 Jul 2025
China
China coup? Rumours of Xi Jinping’s decline are premature

Michael Cunningham

Despite speculation about leadership challenges, evidence suggests Xi Jinping holds firm control over China's political system.
9 Jul 2025
Australia

Migration

Pacific Islands
Visa free Pacific-Australia travel is the next logical step in the relationship

Edward Cavanough

And is even more important as Trump dials down American engagement in the region.
9 Jul 2025
Indonesia

Defence & Security

Technology
Indonesia targeted in Rafale fighter jet disinformation

Nava Nuraniyah , Jennifer Williams , Julian Droogan

Viral videos can become weapons.
9 Jul 2025
BRICS
BRICS in Rio: Bigger, yet emptier than ever

Filipe Porto

Despite its expansion, internal fractures and absent leaders undermined the group’s influence in Rio.
9 Jul 2025
Australia

Australian trade, investment & economy

Energy

Climate change

Sustainability
Green energy statecraft and Australia’s clean industry future

Elizabeth Thurbon , Oliver Yates

A new policy model that removes the risk in clean commodity innovation will put Australia ahead of the pack.
8 Jul 2025
Indonesia

Trade
Indonesia: Prabowo’s populism clashes with economic realities

Robert Walker , Hilman Palaon

Mounting headwinds leave limited space for President Prabowo’s spending and centralising tendencies.
8 Jul 2025
Review
War stories: Our fascination with the grease and guts of conflict

Mark Pierce

Long after armies have left the field, the tales of conflict endure.
8 Jul 2025
China

Australia

European Union

Human rights

Technology
AI surveillance and the governance vacuum in the Asia-Pacific

Monique Taylor

While Europe moves ahead with regulation, China is exporting the infrastructure of digital control.
8 Jul 2025
Australia

Defence & Security
Allied burden-sharing must reshape Australia’s defence priorities

Arthur Sinodinos

US pressure for higher military spending offers a chance to demonstrate America’s security is bound up with its alliances.
7 Jul 2025
China

Australia

Diplomacy

Pacific Islands
League versus union: Australia’s rugby diplomacy needs a game plan

Hugh Piper

Does Australia really want to fund rival codes against each other in Pacific competition with Beijing?
7 Jul 2025
Australia

Defence & Security
Why Albanese is echoing Curtin’s call to America

John Edwards

A wartime declaration was as much about the confidence to see the world through Australian eyes.
7 Jul 2025
Australia

Defence & Security

AUKUS

United States
Clock ticks towards Pentagon AUKUS review deadline

Sam Roggeveen

The 30 days reportedly set aside for the Pentagon’s review have almost expired. An alliance crisis could be next.
7 Jul 2025
Asylum seekers and refugees

International law

Lebanon
The protection paradox: How refugee law fails those fleeing failed states

Guita G. Hourani

Legal definitions rooted in 1951 miss today’s reality – many people flee state collapse, not specific persecutors.
4 Jul 2025
Indonesia

Malaysia

Defence & Security
From Gallipoli to the Strait of Malacca: Why maritime choke points still decide the fate of nations

Adam Leong Kok Wey

How a crucial regional waterway may be affected in the event of conflict.
4 Jul 2025
China

Indonesia

Human rights

Sustainability
China isn’t the main culprit in Indonesia’s dirty nickel boom

Muhammad Zulfikar Rakhmat

While Chinese firms capitalise on the country’s resources, the social and environmental damage lies squarely with Jakarta.
4 Jul 2025
Bangladesh

China

India

Pakistan

International law

Sustainability
The Indus Treaty verdict: When water outlasts war

Ishaal Zehra

A Hague ruling against India’s treaty “abeyance” might stop a precedent that could spread from China to Bangladesh.
4 Jul 2025
China

Australia

Diplomacy

United States
Meeting Xi before Trump? Why Albanese’s diplomatic calendar matters

Daniel Flitton

With pressure mounting at home over a Trump meeting and a forthcoming Beijing trip raising questions about alliance priorities, the PM must show relations run both ways.
3 Jul 2025
Vietnam

United States
Vietnam’s Trump tariff deal: What it means for Asian supply chains

Roland Rajah

A US crackdown on Chinese goods still appears to be the target – but it all depends on the approach.
3 Jul 2025
Quad
Critical minerals at a critical moment: Testing the Quad’s resolve

Shameek Godara

The Washington meeting highlighted supply chain ambitions while US tariffs and defence spending disputes create obstacles in the group.
3 Jul 2025
Russia

Climate change
Putin’s potato politics exposes the new economics of conflict

Henry Throp

Sanctions are biting in a taste of the global food security crisis that climate change will bring for world politics.
3 Jul 2025
Europe

Diplomacy
Two months in, what has Pope Leo XIV signalled as his foreign policy agenda?

Isha Desai

With influence its main power, the Holy See is seeking to exert a more global reach.
2 Jul 2025
Australia

Australian trade, investment & economy

Defence & Security
Australia can’t prevaricate on tough economic and security trade-offs anymore

Hugh Piper

To be safer in the world, Australians might need to be less secure at home.
2 Jul 2025
Australia

Defence & Security

Public Opinion

United States
Australia-United States: How to disagree with a superpower

Ryan Neelam

The 2025 Lowy Institute Poll illustrates the areas of contention and convergence in a longstanding alliance.
2 Jul 2025
Myanmar
Myanmar’s federal future cannot be built on the junta’s foundations

Yuyun Wahyuningrum

Grassroots democratic movements across Myanmar are forging new institutions while ASEAN struggles with diplomatic paralysis over the coup.
2 Jul 2025
Defence & Security
NATO’s 5% pledge and the quiet drift from the Indo-Pacific

Vu Lam

Over the past five years, security ties between the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific have grown closer. But we may be witnessing the onset of a decoupling.
2 Jul 2025
Australian trade, investment & economy

Technology
Australia’s $17 trillion AI moment

Michael Harré

In a world where you can be fired by a bot, countries that get workplace AI governance right will reap economic gains.
1 Jul 2025
Australia

Technology
Information overload: Can we keep our minds and our democracy?

Miah Hammond-Errey

Algorithms and echo chambers are fracturing Australian society, but the democratic discourse hasn’t switched off yet.