Lowy Institute

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Panel Discussion: International Relations in the Online Age Apr 12, 2018

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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?

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Igor Yurgens on what the West needs to understand about Russia’s politics and economy Apr 11, 2018

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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 Institute address, one of Russia’s finest political commentators, Igor Yurgens, examined the West’s misunderstanding of Russia.
Igor Yurgens is Chairman of the Institute for Contemporary Development, a Moscow-based think tank dedicated to a modern Russia. He was one of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s closest economic-policy advisers. He graduated from Moscow State University with a PhD in Economics, worked in the trade union movement in the USSR for more than two decades, and served five years in UNESCO.

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In Conversation: Scott Snyder on strategic choices and South Korean foreign policy Apr 06, 2018

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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, including in partnership with Australia.
Scott Snyder is Senior Fellow for Korea Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), a contributor to CFR’s group blog Asia Unbound, and the author of several books about Korean security policy and regional relations in Northeast Asia, most recently South Korea at the Crossroads: Autonomy and Alliance in an Era of Rival Power (2018).

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Panel Discussion: Debating China’s Belt and Road Initiative Mar 28, 2018

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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 United States are reported to be considering an Asian infrastructure development plan of their own. Our panel considered the BRI’s implications for China’s role in the region, and for Australia’s interests going forward.
The Lowy Institute hosted a panel discussion with Dr Mathieu Duchâtel, Senior Policy Fellow and Deputy Director of the Asia and China Programme at the European Council of Foreign Relations; Professor Bates Gill, Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University; Dr Merriden Varrall, Director of the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute; and moderated by Dr Euan Graham, Director of the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute.
Dr Mathieu Duchâtel was in Sydney as a guest of the Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University. The Lowy Institute would like thank them for their involvement in this event.

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Panel Discussion: Shifting power In Asia Mar 14, 2018

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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.

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Yukio Okamoto on Japan’s evolving security role in the Indo-Pacific Mar 12, 2018

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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 respond to future regional security concerns.
Yukio Okamoto was a career diplomat in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including postings in Paris at the OECD as well as in Cairo and Washington. Since retiring in 1991, Mr Okamoto has directed a political and economic consultancy, and served in a number of senior advisory positions. He has worked on multiple Japanese Government committees, including as a Special Advisor to Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto (1996–98), Special Advisor to the Cabinet (2001–03) and Special Advisor on Iraq to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi (2003–04). He was Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Task Force on Foreign Relations, and until the end of 2008 was a member of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda’s Study Group on Diplomacy. He has written and published extensively on Japanese Foreign Policy, diplomacy, and government.

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In conversation: Hayder al-Khoei on Iraq and Islamic State Mar 05, 2018

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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 this, he was a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and an associate fellow of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Royal Institute of International Affairs (Chatham House).

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In conversation: Alyssa Ayres on how India is making its place in the world Mar 02, 2018

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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 relations with South Asia. In 2015 she served as project director for the CFR-sponsored Independent Task Force on US–India Relations, and from 2014 to 2016 as project director for an initiative on the new geopolitics of China, India, and Pakistan. She directs the US Relations with South Asia Roundtable series, blogs regularly for Asia Unbound, and is a contributor to Forbes.com. Her book 'Our Time Has Come: How India is Making Its Place in the World' was published by Oxford University Press in January 2018.
Alyssa Ayres served previously as deputy assistant secretary of state for South Asia, from 2010 to 2013, covering all issues across a dynamic region of 1.3 billion people (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) and providing policy direction for four US embassies and four consulates. Originally trained as a cultural historian, Dr Ayres has experience in the non-profit, government, and private sectors, and she has carried out research on both India and Pakistan.

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Winston Peters on New Zealand in the Pacific Mar 01, 2018

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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.

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In conversation: Manu Bhaskaran on Singapore's global hub model Mar 01, 2018

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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 Bhaskaran, the paper’s author and CEO of consultancy Centennial Asia, joined Research Fellow Matthew Busch to discuss what Singapore can do to find the policy mix and economic fundamentals to overcome these challenges.

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