The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will launch its flagship publication, the Asian Development Outlook (ADO) 2018, with its focus on “How Technology Impacts Jobs”. The report examines how, as increased automation displaces some tasks, new occupations emerge to take their place. The displacement of workers due to technology is real, but with the right skills, training, and regulation, Asia can overcome this challenge. ADO also presents economic analyses of 45 economies, including the People’s Repub...
Apr 13, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Terrorists are recruited via social media, nuclear weapons programs are disrupted via computer viruses, world leaders communicate via Twitter, and some foreign affairs departments have larger online followings than traditional media outlets. What will global politics become in this digital age? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Apr 12, 2018•58 min
As Russian president or prime minister, for the last 18 years Vladimir Putin has been one of the most prominent but enigmatic figures on the global stage. He has led Russia’s evolution from a deep post-Soviet torpor to an authoritarian power which asserts itself abroad, is a key player in the Syria conflict, and faces allegations of interfering in the US presidential elections. But in the West, Russia remains shrouded in myths and stereotypes, its behaviour often misdiagnosed. In this Lowy Insti...
Apr 11, 2018•1 hr 1 min
The Korean Peninsula has historically been a battleground for the major powers. But with successful economic modernisation and transition to democracy, South Korea has sought to navigate rising tensions between the United States and North Korea, and to strategically benefit from China’s economic growth while relying on the United States for security. Dr Snyder discussed debates over South Korea’s strategic choices in the context of rising tensions in Northeast Asia and the wider Indo-Pacific, in...
Apr 06, 2018•58 min
Announced in late 2013, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is both a colossal infrastructure development scheme and a grandly ambitious undertaking of geostrategic proportions. Mixed responses to the BRI are now emerging as it begins to reshape economic and political decisions across Eurasia. In Europe, Germany’s foreign minister recently stated his view that the BRI is designed to promote a value system different to that in the West. In response to the BRI, Australia, India, Japan, and the ...
Mar 28, 2018•1 hr 2 min
Asia’s economic transformation is reshaping the global distribution of power, changing the way the region and the world operates politically and strategically. The Lowy Institute discussed the growing wealth, influence, and military might of new and reviving Asian powers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mar 14, 2018•1 hr
Following a period spent in Japan developing its national security apparatus and international security cooperation with partners from Europe to the Indo-Pacific, Yukio Okamoto, Adjunct Professor at Ritsumeikan University and former Japanese diplomat, addressed Japan’s evolving security role in the Indo-Pacific, with a focus on Japan–China relations. This was followed by a discussion with the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program Director, Dr Euan Graham, about how Japan will adapt and...
Mar 12, 2018•59 min
Now that Islamic State has been defeated militarily, what does the future hold for Iraq? Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute Anthony Bubalo discussed this and other issues, including Iraq’s forthcoming elections and evolving relations with its neighbours, in conversation with Hayder al-Khoei. Hayder al-Khoei is Director of the Centre for Shi’a Studies in London and a doctoral researcher at the University of Exeter, focusing on US foreign policy and ethno-sectarian politics in Iraq. Prior to th...
Mar 05, 2018•56 min
Alyssa Ayres, Senior Fellow for India, Pakistan, and South Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), joined Aaron Connelly, Research Fellow for the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, to discuss Alyssa’s latest book, 'Our Time Has Come: How India Is Making Its Place in the World'. Dr Ayres discussed how a fiercely independent India pursues its place as a leading power, and how the United States should respond. At CFR, Alyssa Ayres’s work focuses on India’s role in the world and on US ...
Mar 02, 2018•59 min
New Zealand’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Rt Hon Winston Peters, addressed his government's plans to work with its Pacific partners to meet the many strategic and development challenges facing the region. New Zealand’s place is in the Pacific. Culturally, geographically, and politically, New Zealand is a Pacific Islands country. But the Pacific is an increasingly complex strategic environment, with a broad range of external factors affecting its present and future. See...
Mar 01, 2018•50 min
Over the past fifty years, Singapore has become one of the world’s most prosperous countries and a dynamic node in the world economy. A new Lowy Analysis Paper examines not only what has driven Singapore’s success in establishing itself as a competitive base of high-value manufacturing and other value-added services, but also how the country, amid regional and global challenges, must adapt its model so as to retain its position at the centre of flows of trade, investment, and people. Manu Bhaska...
Mar 01, 2018•57 min
The Lowy Institute has conducted robust, independent polling on Australian attitudes to foreign policy issues annually since 2005. While the world has changed dramatically this century, how have Australian attitudes changed, and what has stayed the same? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 21, 2018•59 min
On 1 February, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove chaired a discussion examining the key issues likely to dominate the international agenda in 2018. Joining Michael was Deputy Director Anthony Bubalo, Deputy Research Director and Director of the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Program Alex Oliver, Director of the International Security Program, Dr Euan Graham and Nonresident Fellow Dr John Edwards. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 05, 2018•56 min
On 29 January, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Anna Kirk chaired a discussion on women's representation in leadership and politics with one of Australia's leading business executives, Ann Sherry; the highest polling female candidate in the 2017 PNG elections, Rufina Peter; and ANU academic Dr Kerryn Baker. The panelists addressed this critical issue shared between Papua New Guinean and Australian societies and discussed ways to overcome such gender inequality challenges. See omnystudio.com/listen...
Jan 31, 2018•1 hr 3 min
China is a rapidly ageing country. According to the World Bank, the working-age population is predicted to fall by 10% by 2040. While the size of the workforce is falling, the pool of over 65s is rising, and is predicted to reach 350 million by the same year. What are the economic effects of a shrinking labour pool and rising number of aged dependents, and how will the two-child policy limit these effects? The Lowy Institute convened a panel to explore how population dynamics will shape China’s ...
Dec 21, 2017•54 min
On 14 December Lowy Institute hosted the Hon Joe Hockey, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, for an address on the first twelve months of President Trump’s administration. The Hon Joe Hockey has been Australia’s Ambassador to the United States since January 2016. Prior to this appointment, he was a member of the House of Representatives for the seat of North Sydney from 1996 until 2015. He served in a broad range of ministerial portfolios including as the Minister for Human Services, Mi...
Dec 14, 2017•58 min
On 13 December, the Lowy Institute hosted an address by the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Defence Industry and the Leader of the House of Representatives. As Minister for Defence Industry he is responsible for Australia’s defence procurement and military capability including delivering the $200 billion worth of investment in Australia’s defence capabilities outlined in the Defence White Paper. Minister Pyne was first elected to Federal Parliament in 1993 at the age of 25, as the member f...
Dec 13, 2017•44 min
Mu Sochua, Deputy Leader of the recently dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party, speaks with Research Fellow Aaron Connelly on China's support for Prime Minister Hun Sen, the government crackdown on Cambodia's independent media and what Australia can do to encourage a return to democracy in Cambodia. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 11, 2017•12 min
At China’s recent 19th Party Congress, the Party and President Xi Jinping announced a ‘new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics’. What does this mean for China, both domestically and globally? On 7 December, the Lowy Institute’s East Asia Program Director Dr Merriden Varrall hosted Professor Anne-Marie Brady of the Wilson Center and Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Peter Cai for a panel discussion on how the ‘new era’ will shape China’s approach to its national policies, including soci...
Dec 07, 2017•1 hr 1 min
Over half a million Rohingya have fled Myanmar into neighbouring Bangladesh since 25 August, bringing with them accounts of crimes against humanity by Myanmar security forces and local mobs. On 5 December the Lowy Institute convened an expert panel for a discussion of the background to the current crisis, including the roles of State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s military, and an examination of what Australia and the international community can do to address one of Southeast Asia’s m...
Dec 05, 2017•1 hr 1 min
The international order is experiencing turbulence, with liberal internationalism and democracy facing multiple challenges, globally and in the region. Australian and British senior officials and experts will explore new roles that Australia and the UK can play in this period of rapid change to uphold and strengthen the rules-based order in the Asia Pacific. On 29 November the Lowy Institute hosted an expert panel and interactive discussion with a specially invited audience, chaired by Lowy Inst...
Nov 30, 2017•1 hr 50 min
On 29 November, the Lowy Institute hosted a conversation between Financial Times columnist Gideon Rachman and Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove on Donald Trump, Brexit, and the future of Asia. Gideon Rachman has been chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times since 2006 following a 15-year career at The Economist. In 2016 he won The Orwell Prize for political journalism and the European Press Prize for political commentary. Mr Rachman is one of the most influential...
Nov 28, 2017•58 min
Using much new material, John Edwards’ vivid, landmark biography places John Curtin, Australia’s wartime leader, as a man of his times, puzzling through the immense changes in Australia and its region released by the mighty shock of the Pacific War. The biography locates the turning point in Australian history not at Gallipoli or the Western Front or even Federation, but in the Pacific War and Curtin’s Prime Ministership. On 27 November former Prime Minister Paul Keating launched the book at the...
Nov 27, 2017•1 hr 2 min
In the past two decades Indonesia has made great strides in improving access to education, as children begin school earlier and remain there longer than ever before. At the same time, however, quality and learning outcomes have been largely unchanged. A new Lowy Institute Analysis by the University of Melbourne’s Andrew Rosser explores how Indonesia’s underlying political and social relationships have contributed to this conundrum of access over quality. On 20 November the Lowy Institute hosted ...
Nov 27, 2017•57 min
On 21 November, the Lowy Institute hosted an address by the Hon Richard Marles MP, the Shadow Minister for Defence, who spoke on ‘Australia and the Pacific: A question of identity’. The Hon Richard Marles MP is the Federal Member for Corio. His previous appointments include Shadow Minister for Immigration and Border Protection, Minister for Trade, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs, Parliamentary Secretary for Innovation and Industry, ...
Nov 21, 2017•57 min
This morning the Australian Bureau of Statistics released the results of the same-sex marriage survey conducted earlier this year – of a turnout of 79.5% of eligible Australians, a total of 61.6% said 'Yes' to the question of whether the law be changed to allow same-sex couples to marry. The Lowy Institute's Executive Director Michael Fullilove, Senior Fellow Sam Roggeveen and Research Associate Bonnie Bley discuss the result and what it means for Australia's place in the world and its internati...
Nov 15, 2017•9 min
Donald Trump’s first trip to Asia as President, which began on 5 November, will bring his unique approach to diplomacy to our region for the first time. Over ten days, President Trump will visit five countries and attend two summits, and outline his Asia policy for the first time. How he responds to the pressures of these high-stakes meetings will set the tone of America’s relationship with Asia for the remainder of his presidency. On 10 November, the Lowy Institute hosted an expert panel to dis...
Nov 13, 2017•58 min
The relationship between China and the United States is central to security and prosperity in Asia. On 27 October Executive Director Michael Fullilove examined the future of this critical relationship in conversation with Managing Editor of The New York Times and long-time China watcher, Joseph Kahn. Together they explored issues such as the evolution of Asia policy under the Trump administration, the implications for Chinese foreign policy of this year’s 19th Party Congress in Beijing, and futu...
Oct 27, 2017•1 hr 3 min
In this edition of Canberra Conversations, Lowy Institute Senior Fellow Sam Roggeveen speaks with Gareth Evans, former Australian Foreign Minister. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Oct 20, 2017•34 min
In the early part of the twentieth century, the world turned inwards as fear shut down flows of people and goods across national borders. A century later, can we make a better choice? On 28 September the Lowy Institute launched of Choosing Openness, a new Lowy Institute Paper by the Hon Dr Andrew Leigh MP and published by Penguin Random House Australia, at the National Press Club in Canberra. Across the developed world, global engagement has become a major political fault line. Some say that tra...
Sep 28, 2017•57 min
