Lowy Institute

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Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on the United Nations, China and climate change. Sep 30, 2021

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In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the former Jordanian diplomat, UN High Commissioner for  Human  Rights and think tank president  Dr  Zeid  Ra’ad  Al Hussein. Zeid served as Jordan’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States, and served as UN High Commissioner for  Human  Rights between 2014 and 2018. Zeid is the CEO and President of the International Peace Institute in New York and a professor of the practice of law and human rights at the University of Pennsylvania.

Zeid and Michael speak about global efforts to address climate change, the situation in Afghanistan, and China’s record on human rights. Zeid reflects on his time as High Commissioner and his lifelong association with the UN, and discusses what the pandemic reveals about the international community.

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Aiding the Pacific’s economic recovery Sep 30, 2021

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The Covid-19 pandemic has delivered one of the most severe global economic shocks since the Great Depression. In the Pacific, as in the rest of the world, economic activity has collapsed as a result of lockdowns to contain the virus. Without a strong domestic and international response the Pacific faces the prospects of a lost decade of economic development.
Alexandre Dayant, Research Fellow and Project Director of Development Economics in Asia and the Pacific, discusses these issues, the response to date, and the economic support still needed, with a panel of Lowy Institute and regional experts. This event will coincide with the release of the fourth edition of the Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map and will showcase the map’s new features and findings.
Recorded on 29 September 2021

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Australia's submarines: The world reacts Sep 30, 2021

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Australia’s decision to cancel its French submarine contract in favour of partnering with the US and the UK on nuclear-powered boats has provoked local and international controversy. The decision has implications for US, Chinese, European and Southeast Asian diplomacy and defence policies. Richard McGregor, the Lowy Institute’s Senior Fellow for East Asia, talks with three experts: Bilahari Kausikan, the former head of the Singapore Foreign Ministry, Yun Sun, of the Stimson Centre in Washington DC, and Nadège Rolland, of the National Bureau of Asia Research in the United States.

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Bob Zoellick on the World Bank, China, and the Republican Party. Sep 29, 2021

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In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the long-time public official, policymaker, and former President of the World Bank, Robert Zoellick. Bob served in the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations. He is the author of America in the World: A History of U.S. Diplomacy and Foreign Policy.

Bob and Michael talk about Xi Jinping’s China, the Biden administration, and the AUKUS pact. Bob reflects on his mentor James Baker, why he decided to go into public life, and comments on the current direction of the GOP.

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Richard McGregor speaks with Desmond Shum, the author of Red Roulette Sep 22, 2021

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In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Senior Fellow Richard McGregor speaks with Desmond Shum, the author of Red Roulette: An Insider’s Story of Wealth, Power, Corruption and Vengeance in Today’s China. Shum’s book has been acclaimed as a rare and revealing tell-all about how business is done at the top of the ruling communist party. Shum recounts his dealings with his business partner and former wife, Whitney Duan, and Zhang Beili, the wife of Wen Jiabao who was Premier – effectively number two in the party – from 2002 to 2012. Shum and Duan were divorced five years ago, and Whitney all but disappeared in 2017 after being detained in China. She had not been heard of until the book’s publication, when she called Shum out of the blue and asked that he withdraw it. The book was published in September. Shum now lives in the UK with his son.

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In Conversation with Shirley Scott Sep 17, 2021

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In this episode of Rules Based Audio, Ben Scott talks to Professor Shirley Scott, Professor of International Law and International Relations at UNSW, Canberra. She is the immediate past president of the Asian Society of International Law and was the first Australian to hold that position. Shirley has pioneered an understanding of international law as ideology and is the author of many books as well as the influential 2018 essay, The Decline of International Law as a Normative Ideal. They discuss the complex relationships between the rules-based order, international law, power and ideology.

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Margaret MacMillan on history’s lessons, Richard Nixon, and China’s rise Sep 14, 2021

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In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with the distinguished Canadian historian and award-winning author, Professor Margaret MacMillan. Margaret has written a number of books including Peacemakers, Nixon in China, and The War that Ended Peace. She has been a history professor at Ryerson University, the University of Toronto and the University of Oxford, where she served for a decade as the Warden of St Antony’s College.

Margaret and Michael discuss how leaders should learn from history, the future of US-China relations, and the results of the recent Canadian election.

Margaret talks about how she approached the task of writing about her great-grandfather David Lloyd George, Western approaches to war, and the differences between Canada and Australia.

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Dr Julia Kim on Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Sep 12, 2021

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In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Alexandre Dayant speaks with Dr Julia Kim, the Program Director of the Gross National Happiness (GNH) Centre Bhutan. The country has developed the concept of 'Gross National Happiness' as a means of assessing and understanding its national prosperity. Dr Kim explains the GNH methodology, how it has been used to evaluate the country's response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and discusses how the concept of 'happiness' can be expanded to broaden understanding of a country's wellbeing.
Dr Julia Kim is the Program Director of the Gross National Happiness Centre Bhutan. She joined the GNH Centre in 2013 after serving as a member of the International Expert Working Group for a New Development Paradigm, convened by the Royal Government of Bhutan. Prior to living in Bhutan, she worked as a physician and HIV researcher in Africa and Asia, before serving with the United Nations in New York.

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The end of the 9/11 era Sep 08, 2021

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The withdrawal of the US military forces from Afghanistan marks the end of the 9/11 era of US foreign policy. Yet in many ways, the world still lives under the long shadow of the September 11 attacks and the consequences of the War on Terror.
In conversation with Dr Meghan O’Sullivan, the former special assistant to President George W Bush and later Deputy National Security Adviser on Iraq and Afghanistan. She spoke with Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil about how September 11 has shaped America’s foreign policy stance in the two decades since the attacks - and how it will define global affairs into the future.
Recorded Wednesday 8th September 2021
Dr Meghan O'Sullivan is the Kirkpatrick Professor of the Practice of International Affairs and the Director of the Geopolitics of Energy Project at Harvard University’s Kennedy School. Dr O’Sullivan was special assistant to President George W. Bush and served as Deputy National Security Adviser for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Lydia Khalil is Research Fellow in the West Asia Program at the Lowy Institute and manages its partnership with the Global Network on Extremism & Technology. She was international affairs fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and served as a political advisor for the US Department of Defense in Iraq. She is the editor of the Lowy Institute feature digital debate Did 9/11 change our world?

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John Howard on Australia-China relations, the Afghanistan War, and COVID Aug 30, 2021

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In this episode of The Director’s Chair, Michael Fullilove speaks with John Howard, Australia’s 25th Prime Minister. John Howard was Treasurer from 1977 to 1983 in the Fraser government and served as Prime Minister between 1996 and 2007.

Michael and John discuss how China has changed in the last twenty-five years, Australia’s relationship with East Timor, and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan.

John recounts watching Prime Minister Menzies eulogise Sir Winston Churchill, talks about being in Washington on 9/11, and reflects on Australia’s relations with Indonesia.

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