Public Diplomacy And International Broadcasting

In a piece extracted in Crikey today (from her original post on The Interpreter on 18 April 2012), Alex Oliver argues the Australia Network plays a fundamental role in Australia’s public diplomacy to the region. Crikey, 19 April 2012 The original Interpreter Blog post can be accessed 

This fact sheet accompanies the Lowy Institute report by Alex Oliver and Andrew Shearer, 'Diplomatic disrepair: rebuilding Australia's international policy infrastructure', released on 22 August 2011

In the Summer 2011 issue of Public Diplomacy magazine, Alex Oliver and Annmaree O’Keeffe describe the struggle by Australia’s international broadcasters for an effective voice in the Asia region, hampered by a volatile funding environment and government neglect of public diplomacy as a vital

Almost overnight, the world has become wired. A huge proportion of the globe’s population now have access to a mobile phone and a rapidly increasing proportion of them are smart phones. As the Arab Spring demonstrated, this makes for rapid and unpredictable change. For public diplomacy

Technology and the rapid spread of the internet and mobile phones are changing the way diplomacy is being conducted. Leading diplomatic services are adapting, but many are being left behind. New digital tools mean foreign ministries need to change the way they communicate, manage staff, pursue

In an opinion piece in The Sydney Morning Herald, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Alex Oliver argues that recent cuts to the BBC World Service and Voice of America indicate that the West is in danger of losing its voice to the world if damaging cuts to international broadcasting and public diplomacy

In an article in The Sydney Morning Herald, Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Wesley writes that the leaking of American diplomatic cables will only make governments more secretive.Sydney Morning Herald, 4 December 2010, p. 9

Australia’s military forces have often acted as effective agents of international policy. But while defence diplomacy has complemented Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade efforts, this has often been due to ad hoc coordination and personal initiative

Ediplomacy is no longer a boutique extra. Serious foreign ministries are embracing it to do their jobs more effectively and efficiently. Australia’s own Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a lot of catching up to do. It also has a lot to gain.  

Diplomacy should matter – particularly for anyone who prefers talking over fighting and dialogue over diktat. At the Wednesday Lunch on 24 March, Daryl Copeland argued that diplomacy has been sidelined by globalisation and is facing a crisis of relevance and effectiveness.Mr Copeland is an analyst

In an article in The Weekly Standard, Andrew Shearer reviews the tensions developing in Australia's economic and diplomatic relationship with China in light of recent incidents. The Weekly Standard, Volume 14, Issue 46, 31 August 2009

The Lowy Institute Blue Ribbon Panel Report, 'Australia’s diplomatic deficit: reinvesting in our instruments of international policy', is the first major public review of Australia’s diplomatic network in over 20 years. Here, members of the Panel speak at the launch of the report on Wednesday

Australia's Diplomatic Deficit is the report of a Blue Ribbon Panel convened by the Lowy Institute to examine Australia's overseas network – the first public review in over 20 years. The report argues that Australia's diplomatic network is seriously overstretched and hollowed out and recommends a

In this opinion piece, Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow Hugh White argues that the Government needs to cap community expectations of the kinds of help it can provide to Australians overseas, and send clearer messages about the need for individuals to take responsibility for their own wellbeing while

As the number of Australians travelling and living overseas continues to increase, Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has been forced to devote a growing proportion of its resources to providing consular services to Australian travellers

On 16 August 2006 at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Mr Les Murray from the SBS network discussed the broader social and cultural elements of the World Cup, and how our recent success has helped change perceptions of Australia around the world

Dr Michael Fullilove, Program Director for Global Issues at the Lowy Institute, argues that President Bush should call upon more special diplomatic envoys in his second term. Sydney Morning Herald, 28 February 2005, p. 9.