The nuclear arms race nobody is talking about

The New START Treaty has expired, China is quadrupling its nuclear arsenal, and the Trump administration has yet to prioritise arms control. Rose Gottemoeller, a former chief US negotiator of New START and ex-Deputy Secretary General of NATO, speaks with the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen about the…

The West's systemic failure to learn from modern war

"On pretty much every measure, Putin is failing and he doesn't really have a lot of options moving forward."  Russia is losing ground, its defence industry has plateaued, and Ukraine is striking deeper into Russian territory than at any point in the war. So what does that mean for how the conflict…

Australia’s sports diplomacy playbook

Sport can be one of the great unifying forces in international affairs. But is Australia making the most of its opportunities off the field?  In this episode, Andrew Griffits speaks with Mark Falvo, Interim CEO of Netball Australia and one of Australia’s most experienced sporting administrators, a…

Myanmar at a crossroads: Five years after the coup

Myanmar has been in a state of violent upheaval since the military seized power in 2021, leading to a nationwide resistance and the collapse of vital state functions. Myanmar’s parliament recently convened for the first time in five years, with the former commander-in-chief Min Aung Hlaing appointe…

Trump-Xi summit: Has America abandoned strategic competition with China?

On the eve of the upcoming Trump-Xi summit, Donald Trump's approach to China looks less like strategic competition and more like a search for a deal. In this episode, Richard McGregor speaks with Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and former Biden White House official, Thomas Wright, about what the …

Catching up and pulling ahead: Inside America’s 2025 China report

For years, the conventional wisdom held that the United States retained a decisive lead over China in the technologies and industries that will define the 21st century. The 2025 report of the US–China Economic and Security Review Commission to Congress challenges that view, and its conclusions make…

The decline of the West: Samir Puri on “Westlessness” and the new global order

Samir Puri, former UK diplomat and author of Westlessness: The Great Global Rebalancing, joins Transnational Challenges Program Director Lydia Khalil to explore the long decline of Western dominance in world affairs. They discuss why the rise of the non-West is about far more than China's challenge…

Strait of Hormuz crisis: Iran, shipping, and Australia's strategy

When Iran deterred shipping from the Strait of Hormuz following Operation Epic Fury, it sent shockwaves through global energy markets and exposed uncomfortable truths about Australia's dependence on maritime trade.    Jennifer Parker, a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and former Royal Aust…

Globalisation always wins: Parag Khanna on the emerging world order, Iran, and Asia's multipolar future

Geopolitical strategist Parag Khanna joins the Lowy Institute's Sam Roggeveen to make sense of a world in flux. In a wide-ranging conversation recorded on the day President Trump declared the Iran war nearly over, the pair discuss what the conflict reveals about multipolarity, why Mark Carney's Da…

British MP Darren Jones on Labour, Brexit and the United Kingdom's place in the world

British Cabinet Minister the Rt Hon Darren Jones MP joins the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove AM for a wide-ranging conversation about politics, power and the transatlantic relationship. Serving as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Minister for Intergovernmental Relati…