Articles | Lowy Institute

18 Dec 2018
North Korea

South Korea
Moon’s Eurasia: opening up North Korea, serving Seoul’s interests

Ramon Pacheco Pardo

South Korea has effectively been an island since the division of Korea, but Moon Jae-in has grand hopes for a change.
18 Dec 2018
Defence & Security
International law cannot save the rules-based order

Malcolm Jorgensen

Rising Chinese power is carving out a “geolegal” order, with reference to China, rather than international law, the key.
18 Dec 2018
Pacific Islands

Australia
What I missed this year: Australia waking up to the Pacific

Jonathan Pryke

Lowy Institute experts look back on what surprised them in 2018
17 Dec 2018
Global Economy

United States

China
US-China tensions: is this about economics or security?

Stephen Grenville

The challenge might seem to be China’s economic behaviour rather than old-fashioned power rivalry.
17 Dec 2018
Defence & Security
How much autonomy is too much when it comes to waging war?

Pat Griffiths

The use of autonomous weapons in war raises concerns on humanitarian consequences and the application of law.
17 Dec 2018
Diplomacy

Australia

Israel
Responses to Australia’s Israel capital decision

Daniel Flitton

How the world reacted to Scott Morrison’s decision to formally recognise West Jerusalem Israel’s capital.
17 Dec 2018
Populism, poison, and The Party: the big stories of 2018

The Interpreter

The year 2018 was a killer, here’s what came across The Interpreter’s desk.
15 Dec 2018
Weekend catch-up: Huawei arrests and Australia’s Iran policy

The Interpreter

Indian politics, drone warfare and encryption laws: the week that was on the Interpreter.
14 Dec 2018
Collective Rage: Gilets Jaunes in France and elsewhere

Daniel Woker

Inordinate hatred coming from seemingly ordinary citizens is indicative of a wider trend – and a bleak European future.
14 Dec 2018
Australia

Iran
Australia jostles over its Iran policy

Daniel Flitton

The Jerusalem embassy debate has overshadowed a potential shift in Australia’s longstanding independent stance on Iran.
14 Dec 2018
South Korea
Answering the question: should South Korea accept refugees?

Kaitlyn Bison , Timothy S. Rich

The arrival of hundreds of Yemeni asylum seekers in South Korea has produced a strange alliance in opposition.
13 Dec 2018
Taiwan
What went wrong? Taiwan fails to legalise same-sex marriage

Daniel Flitton

Foreign influence helped scupper a bid to be the first Asian nation to formally legalise gay marriage.
13 Dec 2018
China

Canada
Playing the hostage card: the Meng Wanzhou & Michael Kovrig cases

Kim Richard Nossal

China’s tit-for-tat diplomacy with Canada has a recent precedent, yet Donald Trump is hardly helping.
13 Dec 2018
India
Competing shades of saffron in Indian politics

Juhi Ahuja , Pravin Prakash

Recent strife in the city of Ayodhya must be seen as an omen of a shifting political agenda ahead of India’s elections.
13 Dec 2018
Terrorism

Cyber Security
Disruptors disrupted: Australia’s new encryption law

Dirk van Graver

Law enforcement and technology companies are battling over the privacy implications of contentious new laws.
12 Dec 2018
China
Meng Wanzhou: China’s “tantrum diplomacy” and Huawei

Elliott Zaagman

China’s technology firms are paying the price for its conduct.
12 Dec 2018
Global Economy

Australia
The true cost of fast fashion

Rachel Mason Nunn , Jack Kincaid

Moves by countries such as Australia to adopt modern slavery laws are a small start in tackling a big global problem.
12 Dec 2018
Pacific Islands
Pacific links: call to close bases, deep sea struggles, more

Alexandre Dayant

Plus money for regional infrastructure, Fiji election results, and links from the Pacific islands region.
12 Dec 2018
Australia

India
How Australia should deepen ties with India

Aarti Betigeri

From Kohli to coal exports, Australia is reconsidering India’s potential as a key economic and geopolitical partner.
11 Dec 2018
Defence & Security

United States
US killing by drone: continuity and escalation

Simon Frankel Pratt

The US use of drones in “targeted killings” has grown under Donald Trump, continuing Barack Obama’s legacy.
11 Dec 2018
European Union

United Kingdom
Brexit deal debate reveals dark side to EU diplomacy

Phil Radford

Reactions provoked by the mooted deal provide analysts with rich insight into some of the forces now at play in Europe.
11 Dec 2018
Philippines
Separating the Philippine state from the church

Malcolm Cook

Filipino Catholic voters separate the Church from the State and uphold this in political practice.
11 Dec 2018
China
Xi Jinping in 2018: Any closer to the truth?

Kerry Brown

Are we misinterpreting this figure and seeing a mirage of great power rather than the real thing?
10 Dec 2018
Pacific Islands

Technology
Dimly lit renewable energy initiatives for the Pacific

Alexandre Dayant , Michael Nguyen

Population, technical capacity and economies of scale stand in the way to renewable energy in the region.
10 Dec 2018
China
China takes off for the Moon, tethered by politics at home

Morris Jones

A special space mission would usually get blanket coverage, but the timing is awkward for Beijing to showcase science.
10 Dec 2018
Russia
The distant fate of Russia’s Far East

Dmitry V. Shlapentokh

Demonstrations in Vladivostok a decade ago were quelled, but an attitude of independence from faraway Moscow remains.
8 Dec 2018
Weekend catch-up: Abe in Darwin, the Trump-Xi truce & more

The Interpreter

Manus Island Naval base, Australia and Japan's anxiety, and Indian air pollution: The week that was on The Interpreter.
7 Dec 2018
United States

China
US-China competition is all about us

Peter Layton

Everybody else will be the objects of China-US competition, called upon to make choices in favour of one or the other.
7 Dec 2018
Australia

Indonesia
Indonesia has a stake in Australia’s Lombrum plans too

Evan A Laksmana

The Australian debate over the Lobrum naval base almost entirely ignores Indonesia.
7 Dec 2018
Economic diplomacy: Mahathir, BRI and Payne

Greg Earl

Australia's economic diplomacy agenda, the underestimated ASEAN Economic Community, and the indefinable Mahathir.
6 Dec 2018
Australia

Japan
Steady but slow in Australia-Japan security cooperation

Ian Hall , Michael Heazle

Abe’s recent visit to Darwin indicates that Canberra and Tokyo acknowledge the common security challenges they face.
6 Dec 2018
South Korea
Rap song sparks a gender conversation in South Korea

Nicole de Souza

The lyrics criticise the #metoo movement and question why women aren’t required to enlist in the military.
5 Dec 2018
Australia
Australia’s new foreign-influence laws: Who is targeted?

Kelsey Munro

Australia is leading the democratic push-back against quiet intrusions from authoritarian states.
5 Dec 2018
Asia

United States

China
How the US can prevent a China-dominated Asia

Brendan Taylor

America should stop spreading itself far and wide in the pursuit of improbable power balances.
5 Dec 2018
China-Australia Relations

China
Uighur: Australia needs to end “business as usual” with China

Michael Clarke , Nury Turkel

Taking action would be consistent with Australia’s democratic values and core security interests.
4 Dec 2018
India

Pakistan
The India-Pakistan corridor of peace

Stuti Bhatnagar

The neighbours have proposed a visa-free corridor but this is not an indication of a renewed friendship.
4 Dec 2018
Russia
Violence, confusion, and conspiracy theories in the Kerch Strait

Victor Abramowicz

Both Moscow and Kiev have pointed fingers at the other as the cause of the crisis in the Kerch Strait – who’s to blame?
4 Dec 2018
Afghanistan
Dilemmas in Afghanistan’s paradoxical peace drama

Abbas Farasoo

How can peace talks with the Taliban lead to a durable peace when there is no domestic or regional consensus?
3 Dec 2018
United States

G20

China
Xi and Trump at G20: A tariff truce

Merriden Varrall

The risk of damage to the global economy is just as real as last week.
3 Dec 2018
Defence & Security

Australia
Veterans fight back against the marketing enemy at the gates

Rodger Shanahan

Veterans respond to the call for the public to thank them for their service.
3 Dec 2018
Nuclear Weapons

North Korea

South Korea
Why denuclearisation is less important for South Korea

Robert E Kelly

South Korea has lived under direct North Korean threat for decades and not just because of the North’s nuclear weapons.
3 Dec 2018
India
Taking the air in north India

Robin Jeffrey

Smog and haze pollution in India might be just bad enough to bind the will for action – although the odds aren't good.
1 Dec 2018
United States
George H W Bush: the internationalist president

Tony Walker

Marshalling an international force to turn back the illegal invasion of Kuwait proved the high point of his career.
1 Dec 2018
Weekend catch-up: G20, journos in China & shirtfrontasi revisited

The Interpreter

Trump and Xi meet in Argentina, Taiwan's election fallout and Asia's space race: the week that was on The Interpreter.
30 Nov 2018
Australia in the World
Marise Payne: charting the battle lines for Australian security

Alex Oliver

The Foreign Minister’s speech follows a run of major foreign and defence policy speeches ahead of the poll that matters.
30 Nov 2018
Iraq War

Australia
Review: lessons for Australia and Britain from Iraq War

Garry Woodard

A new book demonstrates Britain’s decision to go to war in Iraq was one of politics with unintended consequences.
30 Nov 2018
United States

North Korea

South Korea
North Korea’s emerging blackmail strategy

Khang Vu

A deadlock in negotiation between the US and South Korea leaves Pyongyang to make all the gains.
30 Nov 2018
China
Wang Qishan and China’s charm offensive against US trade war

Stuart Lau

China’s vice-president and right-hand man to Xi Jinping is known as “China’s firefighter” and is playing a key role.
29 Nov 2018
Europe

United States

Russia
Russia-Ukraine: soggy response to Kerch aggression

John Besemeres

It is not tensions that are escalating but the relentless Russian acts of aggression against Ukraine.
29 Nov 2018
China
China, where not all media are created equal

Elaine Jeffreys

A rare official apology hints at the delicate calculations and constraints that frame journalistic freedom in China.