Commentary

Lowy Institute Non-resident Fellow Dr Rodger Shanahan contributed commentary to an article in The Sydney Morning Herald on Iran's nuclear progem.Sydney Morning Herald, 25 February 2012

In an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald, Dr Dave McRae, Research Fellow in the East Asia program at the Lowy Institute, writes that the Australian government must signal its opposition to all executions in Indonesia, even when it is unpopular at home.Sydney Morning Herald, 2 March 2012, p.

In an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review, Lowy Institute Professorial Fellow Warwick McKibbin writes that the Australian government must act to reduce the carbon price or face the economic fallout.Australian Financial Review, 7 March 2012, p. 63

In an op-ed for Ha'aretz Online, West Asia Program Director Anthony Bubalo considers whether the high cost of both a negotiated end to the crisis over Iran's nuclear program and of its alternative, a military confrontation, will leave all sides locked in an uneasy stalemate.Haaretz.com, 17

From Beijing's viewpoint, the appointment of Foreign Minister Bob Carr signifies the possibility for a fresh start for the present Labor government to strengthen relations with Beijing, writes Linda Jakobson, the East Asia Program Director at the Lowy Institute in an opinion piece for The

In an opinion piece in The Australian, Fergus Hanson argues that Australia's Foreign Ministry must be dragged into the modern world.The Australian, 28 March 2012, p. 10 

In an opinion piece in The Age, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Hugh White argues that allowing US bases on the Cocos Islands is a very worrying development.The Age, 29 March 2012, p. 15 

In this challenging essay, Program Director for Polling Fergus Hanson looks at the quirky history of scientific opinion polling and the role polls play in foreign policy. He suggests two key functions: to subtly serve the stability of the international system and to function as a mirror to our

Dr Michael Wesley, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, sent an end of year message to friends and supporters of our work in 2011, and offered some thoughts on what to watch out for in 2012

In an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald, Linda Jakobson, Program Director East Asia at the Lowy Institute, writes that Kim Jong-un is unlikely to be prepared for the task ahead.Sydney Morning Herald, 21 December 2011, p. 11

In an opinion piece in The Australian, Rory Medcalf, Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program, writes that with the death of North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il, Asia will be bracing for instability. A key question is whether his successor feels compelled to take assertive action

In an opinion piece in The Australian Financial Review, Jenny Hayward-Jones, The Myer Foundation Melanesia Program Director at the Lowy Institute, argues that the younger generation is fed up with old-style politics in Port Moresby.Australian Financial Review, 15 December 2011, p. 55

In an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald, Lowy Institute Military Associate James Brown writes that the timeline for withdrawing Australian troops from Afghanistan is largely out of the Government's hands.Sydney Morning Herald, 13 December 2011, p. 9

In an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Hugh White argues that the U.S. plan to take on China recalls Harry Truman's containment of the Soviet Union.Wall Street Journal, 25 November 2011

In this opinion piece in the Indian Express newspaper, published on the eve of the Australian Labor Party’s historic policy change allowing safeguarded uranium exports to India, the Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf examines what an obstacle this issue had become to a trust-based Australia-India

In this opinion piece in The Age newspaper, the Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf addresses the common non-proliferation criticisms of possible Australian uranium sales to India. He writes that, on balance, a policy change at the December 2011 Australian Labor Party conference would build a new

In December 2011, the Australian Labor Party changed its policy platform to allow uranium exports to India, following an intense debate. The Lowy Institute’s Rory Medcalf had analysed this issue closely over the preceding years, and on the eve of the Labor conference published this paper,

As part of a major new project exploring how three key states in the Middle East and Central Asia - Saudi Arabia, Kazakhstan and Iran - approach their relations with China, the West Asia program is releasing a short video previewing some of the project's research issues and themes. The nine-minute

In an Economic Briefing column in The Australian Financial Review, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Stephen Grenville writes on how recent financial choas has revived old roles.Australilan Financial Review, 21 November 2011, p. 23

On the day of US President Barack Obama’s visit to Darwin, Australia in November 2011, Andrew Shearer writes in the Wall Street Journal about the Obama/Gillard announcement of plans to base US marines in Darwin, and examines the controversy surrounding this significant expansion of America’s

In an opinion piece in The Age, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Hugh White argues that Australia should tell Obama we take a different view on China.The Age, 16 November 2011, p. 21

In an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald, Lowy Institute Military Associate James Brown argues that it's time we started caring more about soldiers who are alive, than those long dead.Sydney Morning Herald, 11 November 2011, p. 13.Also published in The Age, 11 November 2011, as The Diggers

In an opinion piece in The Daily Telegraph, Dr Michael Fullilove, Program Director Global Issues, reflects on the good news out of President Obama’s visit to Australia.The Daily Telegraph, 14 November 2011, p. 26

In an opinion piece in The Age, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Hugh White writes that young Australians in their thousands should be sent to Asia to learn the languages.The Age, 8 November 2011, p. 13