It’s now time for Africa’s third liberation, according to Greg Mills and Jeffrey Herbst in their positive and uplifting book, Africa’s Third Liberation. In their construct Africa’s first liberation was from colonial governments—in essence the …
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Drill deeply into most of the conflicts and civil wars of the past thirty years and you will find, underneath all the political, ideological, ethnic and religious divisions, people fighting over access to food, land …
Late last week US Vice President Joe Biden spoke at George Washington University In Washington DC about why and how the US was pursuing ‘its announced policy of elevated engagement in the Asia Pacific’. If …
Indonesian Foreign Minister Natalegawa has recently articulated his proposal for an Indo-Pacific Treaty at no less than three different conferences (including ‘Intersections of Power, Politics and Conflict in Asia’ in Jakarta in June) and it bears careful …
Over the past year, low-level but concerning brinkmanship has continued in the Asia Pacific, with China maintaining the pattern of provocation that emerged following the 2008 global financial crisis. As Ross Terrill put it recently, …
As Australia begins to take a greater role in African security issues, we must also begin to better scrutinise the role the international community has had in perpetuating the militarisation of political power in many …
The two year conflict in Syria has been shining a very bright light on divided great power attitudes to international leadership. It’s not a flattering picture. Despite appalling suffering, the deaths of tens of thousands …
One of the main features of the Indonesian President’s speech to last week’s Jakarta International Defense Dialogue was the concept of ‘strategic trust’. Admitting this was difficult to define, he referred to it as ‘an …
President Obama’s recent comments in an interview with an Israeli TV show about the Iranian nuclear program are a timely reminder that the issue hasn’t gone away. In the interview, which aired on 14 March, …
Recent media coverage of the Senkaku/Diaoyu stand-off has painted the picture of a powder-keg so dangerous it could force Australia to make stark Cold War-style choices; either helping to stare down or else bending over …
The Australian debate on the Senkaku/Diaoyu dispute is interesting for what it reveals, and what it omits. So far, very few are talking about Australia’s diplomatic strategy—and that’s a big problem. While the best strategy will probably involve elements of military balancing, it’s worth examining Australia’s potential diplomatic role in the peaceful de-escalation of Japan–China tensions. Australian foreign …
Rob Ayson’s dismay about the lacklustre summit of Australian and New Zealand Prime Minister’s last weekend is easily understandable. It produced so little of substance that one was left asking: why bother? What we got …