international relations

Australia and the Rise of Geoeconomics

In early 2015 a serious disagreement developed in the Australian Cabinet.

Obama's foreign policy legacy in three quotes

After the Bush administration, many believed that President Obama would bring stability to the global order with a fusion of eloquent rhetoric, a preference for multilateralism and a cautious approach to exercising the politico-military capabilities of the world’s sole superpower. For little more than that promise, it seems, Obama would be awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. Fast-forward to the end of the Obama era and the global security environment is more volatile than it has been in decades: Russian influence is surging in the Middle East and Europe, wars ravage civilian populations in Syria, Yemen and Iraq, waves of migrants are straining EU unity, while the jihadist threat has metastasised. It’s a legacy, fairly or otherwise, that may come to be defined by three quotes.

Finding a Way Forward: Strategic Diplomacy in Northeast Asia

Northeast Asia is rife with potential conflict, given US-China great power rivalry, ongoing differences over interpretations of history between Korea and Japan and between China and Japan, simmering maritime disputes in the East and South China Seas, and worries that tensions could escalate between Taiwan and the Mainland under the US presidency of Donald J. Trump. The articles in this cover package of Global Asia argue that now is the time for players in the region to embrace “strategic diplomacy.”

From the frontline to first-class Masters

James Garrison has been serving as an Officer with the United States Army for ten years. So when he received the General Wayne A. Downing Scholarship for postgraduate study, he leapt at the opportunity to pursue a Master of International Relations (Advanced).

US election: Donald Trump presidency is cause for real security concern

Julie Bishop has indicated that her Department of Foreign Affairs is looking at various scenarios for the outcome of the US elections tomorrow. She made it plain that a Donald Trump presidency would have to be persuaded to maintain a US presence in the Asia-Pacific region. “It will be up to our region, including Australia, to persuade a Trump administration to focus on the Asia-Pacific,” she said. In my view, Australia should be concerned, very concerned, about a Trump victory. And here’s why.

Professor Des Ball: The insurgent intellecutal

The Sydney Morning Herald publishes an article by Dr Nicholas Farrelly on the extraordinary life of Vale Professor Desmond Ball AO following his recent passing.

Jakarta bid queried

Indonesia's Defence Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu has urged Australia to rebuke Pacific states, in particular Solomon Islands, for raising Papua in global fora.

Jakarta pressures Julie Bishop on Papua

Indonesia has asked Australia to caution its Pacific Island neighbours against interfering in the West Papua issue and to urge them to withdraw support for West Papuan membership of the Melanesian Spearhead Group, warning that the issue could pose a “stumbling block” to closer bilateral ties.

Cultural Diversity and International Order

The modern international order is facing significant challenges. Power is shifting to non-Western states and diffusing to non-state actors, including transnational insurgents. This is more than a power transition, though: it is also about culture. Western states now share the stage with powers such as China who bring their own cultural values, practices, and histories. And new forms of transnational violence are justified not in the name of political ideology but religious identity and belief.

Raymond Aron and the Morality of Realism

Murielle Cozette, ‘Raymond Aron and the Morality of Realism’, IR Working Paper 2008/5, Canberra: Department of International Relations, Research School of Pacific and Asian Affairs