23 Dec 2024
Five surprises from Lowy’s Global Diplomacy Index
Revealing the who, what and – just as importantly – where of foreign policy.
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20 Dec 2024
Trump’s relations with the Blue Pacific
The second Trump administration will find a region different from when last in office. -
20 Dec 2024
A US dollar deal? Explaining a lack of enthusiasm for a Plaza Accord redux
A few lessons from economic history for a start. -
20 Dec 2024
Your Top 10 most-read Interpreter articles in 2024
After a year of momentous events, it’s time for a short break. See you in the New Year. -
19 Dec 2024
Vanuatu: The challenge to build back
A crippling earthquake will test Vanuatu’s already fragile political and economic system. -
19 Dec 2024
The big global steps to forge a new relationship between tech and society
A lot of global tech-related policy has been implemented or proposed this year, so it’s worth taking stock to capture the developments. -
19 Dec 2024
An opposition party could hold the deciding vote on Japan’s national security policy
Minority government has its challenges, as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is discovering. -
19 Dec 2024
What a Trump second term holds for global development
Judging by track records, there's a bumpy road ahead for aid, health and climate funding. -
19 Dec 2024
Indians are streets ahead of their government in foreign policy
In terms of partners, Delhi is multi-aligned, but where would most Indians prefer to migrate? -
18 Dec 2024
What I’ll be watching for in 2025
Lowy researchers gaze at their crystal balls – with questions, more than answers, for the year ahead. -
18 Dec 2024
What makes a remarkable political oration?
A confessed speech snob explores the complex anatomy of the perfect address. -
18 Dec 2024
Votes of no confidence at a time of permanent contest: A Pacific Islands year in review
With so much global attention on the region, little shifts can have big ramifications. -
17 Dec 2024
Jake Sullivan on leadership that changes history
The US National Security Adviser reflects on the central role of the United States in the inaugural Lowy Interview. -
17 Dec 2024
Donald Trump and the “crypto capital of the planet”
Bitter experience shows a “global” crisis can result from failures of domestic governance and regulatory oversight in the United States. -
17 Dec 2024
China’s panda diplomacy is cute politics but with fuzzy results
While popular with the public, there is little evidence that these “envoys of friendship” will reshape Australia’s ties with China. -
17 Dec 2024
Indo-Pacific: A blueprint for democracy in the digital age
From political activism to cyberattacks, the rise of technology is changing the face of regional engagement. -
16 Dec 2024
Romania’s presidential election triggers uncertainty for Europe, Ukraine and its allies
Allegations of Russian interference in a surprise result has led to an election re-run and a reminder of political ghosts. -
16 Dec 2024
Taiwan and Ukraine: Learning the right lessons
The Ukraine experience has turbocharged Taiwan's learning about modern war. -
16 Dec 2024
Southeast Asia’s death penalty laws: The ultimate political game
The region’s diverse policies on executions are about more than the war on crime. -
13 Dec 2024
Diplomacy the Southeast Asian way
How ASEAN, Australia and New Zealand are making progress through informal dialogue. -
13 Dec 2024
Two steps up in Australia’s Southeast Asia engagement
The detail is starting to emerge for the government’s big ticket spending initiatives in the region. -
13 Dec 2024
Ignoring the real biowarfare threat
The sudden renovation at an old Soviet biological weapons site needs to be better explained. -
12 Dec 2024
The trouble with Australia’s best friends in Asia
Political turmoil in Japan and South Korea cannot be insulated from relations with the region. -
12 Dec 2024
US tariffs are nothing new – history should be our guide
With a change of guard in the White House, Australia could take its lead from Chifley’s art of the deal. -
12 Dec 2024
Peru’s new megaport reveals a refined Belt and Road
China’s gain is America’s loss as deal wraps up control of key Latin American port for more than half a century. -
11 Dec 2024
Australia’s new chequebook diplomacy in the Pacific
The potential for a bidding war should be acknowledged. -
11 Dec 2024
The new energy shock: Complacency in oil markets could ignite a global crisis
The cascading effects of even minor disruptions are too often ignored. It’s time to reassess the risk. -
11 Dec 2024
An ounce of prevention: Nauru deal puts defence spending in a different light
Australia’s Nauru deal is a victory for preventive diplomacy, closing off any possibility of a Chinese security presence. -
11 Dec 2024
Korean turmoil: What the North thinks looking South
A “main enemy” suffering disarray at home and ridicule from abroad, Pyongyang might suddenly warm to Yoon Suk-yeol… -
11 Dec 2024
Indonesian foreign policy is still free, more active
Equating Jakarta’s moves with either a “pro-Beijing” or “pro-US” orientation indicates a fundamental misreading of the concept of non-alignment. -
10 Dec 2024
New treaty ties Nauru to Australia via banks, security and telecommunications
But the “permanent state of contest” in the Pacific appears set to continue. -
10 Dec 2024
Bashar al-Assad is gone, but is the Syrian civil war over?
Regional geopolitical dynamics remain in flux. -
10 Dec 2024
A wonky memento and a China metaphor
A scale model kit offers an insight into Chinese manufacturing. -
10 Dec 2024
China’s EV manufacturing and Australia’s connected vehicles conundrum
Canberra faces complicated trade-offs between competing domestic and foreign policy objectives. -
9 Dec 2024
Explaining North Korea’s silence amid South Korea’s political turmoil
Pyongyang has made plain that its attention is firmly elsewhere. -
9 Dec 2024
Beyond Assad: Jihadist strongholds and the threat to the West
The rebel offensive needed a safe base from which to operate – and bitter experience tells of the wider dangers involved. -
9 Dec 2024
The opportunity wasted to advance a global plastic treaty
Negotiations have stalled and that’s a rubbish result for countries of the Indo-Pacific. -
9 Dec 2024
Australia is out to lunch on disaster diplomacy
Despite multiple strategies, frameworks and partnerships, Canberra still lags on regional disaster relief. -
6 Dec 2024
Agartala attack strains India-Bangladesh ties
The breach at a diplomatic compound tells of wider troubles between the neighbours. -
6 Dec 2024
First Nations diplomacy: A foreign policy approach that benefits all
First Nations participation and leading on international engagement should be considered for its substantive contribution, not relegated to ceremony. -
6 Dec 2024
Hans Blix: The arms control Einstein who turned 96 this year
A consensus-builder who believes nuclear weapons are never in safe hands, no matter who holds them. -
5 Dec 2024
The unilateral trading system: US trade policy for Trump, again
Trump wants systemic changes and his recent tariff threats show that no issue is off limits. -
5 Dec 2024
Loyalty over competence: A historical novel for the modern age
Malcolm Knox’s dark comedy about power and paranoia in Stalin’s Russia carries an enduring wisdom. -
5 Dec 2024
Location, location, location: Why Ream Naval Base is not the real estate China needed
Artificial islands in the South China Sea have more strategic value than a backwater base. -
5 Dec 2024
The murky waters of Cambodia’s Funan Techo Canal
A 180-kilometre waterway to criss-cross the country, but who pays? -
4 Dec 2024
South Korea’s President must resign
The plotters apparently gave no thought to how South Korea’s liberal international partners would respond. -
4 Dec 2024
Understanding the South Korean crisis and its global implications
The lessons of a self-styled strongman leader overreaching should be a warning to democracies everywhere. -
4 Dec 2024
“Narco-subs” in the Pacific demonstrates need for effective maritime security cooperation
Criminals are always looking for an edge. Listening to what the Pacific needs and coordinating maritime security responses will help blunt the threat. -
4 Dec 2024
Australia’s chance to align global efforts against “hostage diplomacy”
A new senate report has set out sensible recommendations for a fresh approach on wrongful detention of Australians overseas. -
4 Dec 2024
A chip off the Berlin Wall, Bollywood stars and a MAGA hat: Confessions from the collection of a foreign policy nerd
Hopefully, if I embarrass myself, a couple of colleagues will share their wonky mementos, too.