In this episode, the Lowy Institute’s Research Director Hervé Lemahieu talks with Ryan Neelam, the Institute’s Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program about the findings of the recently launched 2024 Global Diplomacy Index. What do diplomatic networks tell us about superpower rivalry, geopolitical competition, and a more multipolar world order? How do nations use diplomacy to build influence, and where are they targeting their investments? What does Australia’s relative underinvestment in diplomacy mean for its ability to advance its interests? In a broad-ranging discussion, Hervé and Ryan explore the often overlooked role of diplomacy in shaping the modern world. 2024 Global Diplomacy Index: https://globaldiplomacyindex.lowyinstitute.org/ 2024 Global Diplomacy Index – Key Findings Report: https://globaldiplomacyindex.lowyinstitute.org/key_findings America, take heed — China is winning the diplomacy race:  Financial Times opinion piece by Ryan Neelam: https://www.ft.com/content/2a63a19b-1fed-4c1a-9f75-e09f5708a8c6 Australia’s ‘diplomatic deficit’ harms our global presence: Canberra Times opinion piece by Ryan Neelam and Hervé Lemahieu:https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/australia-s-diplomatic-deficit-harms-our-global-presence Five surprises from Lowy’s Global Diplomacy Index: Lowy Institute Interpreter article by Jack Sato:https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/five-surprises-lowy-s-global-diplomacy-index

In this episode, the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen talks with his colleague, Research Fellow on Transnational Challenges Lydia Khalil, about her new research paper, Overcoming digital threats to democracy. The internet and social media are now our digital public square, yet these spaces are not governed that way. Lydia proposes that tech giants look to “deliberative democracy” practices — where small but representative groups of people make decisions after deliberating on issues in depth — to address issues of fairness and legitimacy in internet governance.

In this special episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of Research Hervé Lemahieu talks with three experts about the outcome of Indonesia's presidential election on 14 February 2024. Quick counts point to a landslide victory for Prabowo Subianto. What drove this result? Who is the 72-year-old Prabowo? And what kind of Indonesia can we expect under his presidency? Listen to the discussion with Professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute, Dr Fakhridho (Ridho) Susrahadiansyah Bagus Pratama Susilo, Senior Analyst at Bower Group Asia, and Dr Abdul Rahman Yaacob, Research Fellow in the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute.

During a brief visit to Sydney, Major General (Ret'd) Tamir Hayman, Managing Director of the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, offered the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen his unique insights on where momentum now lies in the Ukraine war, whether Iran will pursue a nuclear weapon or stop just short of building one, and the role of secret intelligence in an age of ‘information super-abundance’.

In May 2023, Thailand held a general election. Now nearly three months after the vote, there's no new prime minister, no new government and the largest party in parliament, Move Forward, won't lead the country. Dr Gregory Raymond at the Australian National University sits down with Lowy Institute Research Director Herve Lemahieu to discuss the murky state of affairs in Thai politics and what could happen next. 

In this episode of Conversations, Director of the Southeast Asia Program Susannah Patton talks with Thomas Parks, author of the recently published book, Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future: Averting a New Cold Warabout how Southeast Asian countries are navigating growing US-China rivalry and the roles of the region’s diverse external partners, including Japan, Australia and India. Parks is optimistic about the future of the region, but also highlights emerging risks that could threaten Southeast Asian countries’ ability to remain non-aligned and open to all partners. Thomas Parks has led research and managed aid programs across Southeast Asia with The Asia Foundation and the Australian government (DFAT) on geopolitics, security cooperation, ASEAN, economic development, conflict and governance. He is a graduate of Harvard and Johns Hopkins SAIS. His new book, Southeast Asia’s Multipolar Future, is published by Bloomsbury.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Nonresident Fellow Dr Bobo Lo speaks with International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen about the attempted coup by elements of the Wagner paramilitary group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin. They discuss the mutiny, the likely impact on Russia’s leadership, and what effect it will have on the future direction of Russia’s war in Ukraine.  Dr Bobo Lo is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and a Senior Fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) in Washington, DC, and an Associate Research Fellow at the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). Previously, he was Head of the Russia and Eurasia Programme at Chatham House, and Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Moscow. He is the author of a number of books including the Lowy Institute Paper A Wary Embrace: What the China–Russia Relationship Means for the World. He has an MA from Oxford and a PhD from Melbourne University. 

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Project Director and Research Fellow Dr Jennifer Hsu talks with Dr Max Grömping and Professor Jessica Teets to explore how lobbying by civil society organisations works in an authoritarian context. Using case studies from China, Russia, Belarus, Cambodia, Malaysia, Montenegro, Turkey and Zimbabwe, Lobbying the Autocrat explores how citizen advocacy organisations carve out niches in the authoritarian policy process, even influencing policy outcomes. Dr Max Grömping is senior lecturer at the School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University (Australia). His research interests include lobbying and advocacy in different political regime contexts, disinformation, and electoral integrity. He previously worked as lecturer at Heidelberg University (Germany), research associate at the University of Sydney (Australia), and instructor in international relations at Thammasat University (Thailand). Max is an affiliate of the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE), and associate editor for the journal Democratization. His work has been published in academic journals such as Political Communication, Governance, Party Politics, and Policy Sciences, among others. Professor Jessica C. Teets is Professor of Political Science at Middlebury College and Templeton Fellow for the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI). Her research focuses on governance in authoritarian regimes, especially the role of civic participation. She is the author of Civil Society Under Authoritarianism: The China Model (Cambridge University Press, 2014), editor (with William Hurst) of Local Governance Innovation in China: Experimentation, Diffusion, and Defiance (Routledge Contemporary China Series, 2014), and editor (with Max Grömping) of Lobbying the Autocrat: The Dynamics of Policy Advocacy in Nondemocracies (University of Michigan Press, 2023).

In this episode of Conversations, Susannah Patton, Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Program, talks with Dr Nguyen Hung Son, Vice President of the Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam. They discuss Vietnam’s foreign policy outlook, relations with external partners, including Australia, and how Vietnam sees key regional issues such as the South China Sea, Taiwan, and the conflict in Myanmar. Dr Son highlights Vietnam’s continued focus on diplomacy within ASEAN, as well as its interest in a regional balance of power that could lower the risk of conflict.

The World Bank recently released its “Evolution Roadmap”, aimed at responding more efficiently to growing poverty reduction needs and better addressing climate change challenges. While the roadmap provides a good starting point — outlining the evolution of the bank's mission, operations and financing model — it falls short in providing concrete and detailed strategies to achieve an ambitious reform. To discuss the roadmap and the future of the World Bank, Deputy Director of the Lowy Institute’s Indo-Pacific Development Centre Alexandre Dayant sat with Manuela V. Ferro, the World Bank Vice President for East Asia and Pacific. An economist and engineer by training, Ms Ferro has more than 25 years of hands-on and leadership experience in Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia. She has shaped creative development solutions for multiple and diverse countries, from post-conflict low-income nations to upper middle-income states.

On Monday 24 April 2023, Australia’s government published the public version of its Defence Strategic Review, a report it commissioned on coming to office to set the agenda for reforms to the posture and structure of the Australian Defence Force. Positioned alongside the government’s commitment to the AUKUS security agreement, the Review and the government’s response to it have signalled major changes to how Australia intends to invest in military technology, hardware and personnel over the next two decades. In this new episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, military strategist Mick Ryan discusses the Review with the Institute’s International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen. They discuss what the report reveals about Australia’s plans for its military, but also what is missing. They also talk about defence bureaucracy, the role of the Ukraine war in Australia’s strategic thinking, and challenges for the future leadership of Australia’s armed forces. Major General (Ret’d) Mick Ryan is a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute. He spent 35 years in the Australian Army. His operational service includes deployments to East Timor, Iraq and southern Afghanistan. His book, War Transformed: The Future of Twenty-First-Century Great Power Competition and Conflict, was published in 2022.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Hervé Lemahieu discusses the continuing threat of nuclear weapons, global efforts at arms control and Australia's interactions with the global non-proliferation regime around its proposed acquisition of nuclear submarine technology under the AUKUS agreement. He speaks with Australia's Ambassador for Arms Control and Counter-proliferation Ian Biggs, Program Officer for Nuclear Materials Security Jessica Bufford and Dr Geoffrey Shaw, Director-General of the Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office (ASNO). Ian Biggs was appointed Ambassador for Arms Control and Counter-Proliferation in January 2022 and leads Australia's international advocacy on global arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament. He has previously served as Australia's Ambassador to Iran (2016-19), Turkey (2011-14) and Saudi Arabia (2005-08) and has previously served in postings in Iraq, India, Austria and Syria. Ambassador Biggs has also served as Secretary of the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament, Chair of the Australia Group, Special Assistant to the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency and Chair of the Nuclear Suppliers Group's Dual Use Regime. He holds a Master of Arts (International Relations) from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney. Jessica Bufford serves as a program officer in the Nuclear Material Security team at the Nuclear Threat Initiative - a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity. Prior to joining NTI, she worked in the Division of Nuclear Security at the IAEA. She has also worked on materials management and minimization at the US Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration, and worked previously at NTI as a Herbert J. Scoville Fellow. She received a master’s degree in nonproliferation and terrorism studies, with a certificate in conflict resolution, from the Monterey Institute of International Studies and a bachelor’s degree in political science and French from Austin College. Dr Geoffrey Shaw was appointed to the position of Director General, Australian Safeguards and Non-proliferation Office (ASNO) in 2022. He is responsible for Australia’s implementation and compliance with regard to the Nuclear Non‑proliferation Treaty, Chemical Weapons Convention and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Prior to this appointment, Dr Shaw has most recently served as Australia’s High Commissioner to Pakistan, Australia’s Ambassador for People Smuggling and Human Trafficking and the Representative of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the United Nations. Previously, Dr Shaw served as the Special Assistant for Policy to the Director General of the IAEA and Australia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Susannah Patton talks to Amrita Malhi, senior development policy adviser and Honorary Senior Lecturer at Flinders History and the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University, about the political outlook for Malaysia following the November general election. The election saw victory for Anwar Ibrahim’s multi-racial coalition, which has now formed a national unity government. What drove this result, and will Malaysia see greater political stability than it has endured since the 2018 election? What kind of international role is Prime Minister Anwar likely to pursue?

In this episode of Conversations, Hervé Lemahieu talks with Xueyin Zha and Jennifer Hsu about the Chinese messaging app and the role in it plays in the democratic participation of Chinese-Australians. They discuss the inherent risks and drawbacks of WeChat, such as censorship, but also explore how it became a medium of outreach and civic engagement for Chinese-Australians during the 2021 New South Wales local elections. Xueyin Zha is a doctoral candidate at the Australian National University, researching the global governance of advanced technology. She is also a researcher at ANU's interdisciplinary research project: Humanising Machine Intelligence. Her current research interests span technology regulation, international politics of the digital economy, and technology's role in multiculturalism.   Jennifer Hsu is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute’s Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program. She works on the Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Nixi Cura to explore and assess some of China’s major soft power initiatives, including its successes and failures over the last five years. They discuss the role of Chinese visual culture, notably contemporary Chinese art as a medium of projecting China’s soft power. Nixi Cura read East Asian Studies at Yale University then specialised in Chinese painting, Buddhist art and Romanesque architecture at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. Nixi was the Director of the Arts of China programs at Christie’s Education in London. She is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Glasgow and has held the role of Senior Fellow in the Cultural Leadership program at the Royal Academy of Arts. At SOAS University of London she served as Senior Teaching Fellow in Art History & Archaeology, and as a Doctoral Researcher embarked on a project focusing on the tomb of the Qianlong emperor. Nixi’s publications and research interests range from Qing painting and material culture to modern and contemporary Chinese visual culture.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Sarah Tong to explore and assess some of the key stressors of the Chinese economy and major economic policies that have emerged in the last five years. They discuss the contradictory forces at play that are impeding economic structural reforms, the prospect of slower growth and how the international environment will shape domestic economic priorities. Sarah Tong is a Senior Research Fellow of the National University of Singapore’s East Asian Institute and leads its economics cluster. She previously worked at the Development Research Centre of China’s State Council. She obtained her PhD in Economics from the University of California at San Diego. Her research interests concentrate on the development and transformation of the Chinese economy, including trade and foreign investment, development of regions, financial sector reforms, reforms of state-owned enterprises, and China’s evolving industrial and technology policies. Her work has appeared in publications such as the Journal of International Economics and the Review of Development Economics.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Zhiqun Zhu to explore and assess some of China’s major foreign policy initiatives and priorities over the last five years. They discuss the driving forces behind these initiatives, including President Xi Jinping himself, and the major institutions that shape China’s foreign policy, namely the Chinese state, the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese people. Zhiqun Zhu is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Bucknell University, USA. He is currently a US Fulbright Scholar at Griffith University, Australia. He is the author and editor of more than a dozen books, including A Critical Decade: China’s Foreign Policy 2008­­­­–2018 (World Scientific, 2019). He is a member of the National Committee on United States–China Relations and is frequently quoted by international media on Chinese and East Asian affairs.

In this episode of Conversations, Susannah Patton talks to Greg Poling, Director of the Southeast Asia Program and Director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) about his new book, On Dangerous Ground: America’s Century in the South China Sea. The United States has strong interests in the South China Sea, including maintaining the freedom of the seas and supporting its regional allies and partners, especially the Philippines. How can the United States protect these interests and prevent China from making further gains in the South China Sea? And how would the situation in the South China Sea be affected by a further escalation in US-China tensions over Taiwan?

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu speaks with Jessica Teets about policy experimentation and diffusion at the local level in China, and the consequences for civil society. Jennifer and Jessica discuss local-level policy innovations that have taken place in the past five years, and also where space for experimentation has shrunk. They talk about what the Communist Party’s upcoming National Congress might mean for understanding long-term trends in policymaking in China. Jessica Teets is a Professor at Middlebury College, and Associate Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chinese Political Science. Her research focuses on governance in authoritarian regimes, especially the role of civic participation. She is the author of Civil Society Under Authoritarianism: The China Model (Cambridge University Press, 2014). Jessica is currently co-authoring a new book manuscript on changing governance under Xi Jinping. She has a forthcoming co-edited volume developing a theory of how to lobby dictators.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Natasha Kassam, Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, discusses Taiwan-Australia relations with Dr Chen Jie, Dr Sophie McIntyre and Dr Roger Huang. They discuss the emphasis on democracy for both Taiwan and Australia, the potential for more cultural and indigenous diplomacy, and the role that United States and China play in shaping Australia-Taiwan relations. Dr Chen Jie is an Associate Professor in Political Science and International Relations at the University of Western Australia. Dr Sophie McIntyre is a Senior Lecturer at the Queensland University of Technology and an established art curator. Dr Roger Huang is a Lecturer in Terrorism and Political Violence at Macquarie University.

Join the Lowy Institute’s Director of Research, Hervé Lemahieu, as he talks to the Institute’s head of polling, Natasha Kassam, about the 2022 Lowy Institute Poll and what Australians think about Russia, China and the threat of conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Natasha shares the process of developing the flagship Lowy Institute Poll over the past 18 years, why Australians are feeling unsafe and their thoughts about democratic systems of government in an election year.

Join the Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, Sam Roggeveen, as he talks with economist and political scientist Chris Blattman about his latest book, Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace. Chis talks about the human propensity to violence, whether certain types of governments are more likely to go to war, and the unique perspective that an economist can bring to this subject.

In this episode of Conversations, Lowy Institute Research Director Hervé Lemahieu talks to Gabriele Visentin, EU Special Envoy for the Indo-Pacific, and Susannah Patton, Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s Power and Diplomacy Program, about the European Union's Indo-Pacific Strategy. How will Canberra’s burgeoning regional collaboration with Brussels and individual European capitals change in the wake of AUKUS, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a change of government in Australia? More detail: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/conversations-europe-and-australia-indo-pacific

In this episode of Conversations, Susannah Patton talks to Charmaine Willoughby, Assistant Professor at De La Salle University in Manila, about the foreign policy implications of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr’s election as president of the Philippines. The Philippines is a US treaty ally in Asia, but under the outgoing President Duterte, these ties were put to the test, with his administration keen to attract Chinese investment and downplay the South China Sea dispute. How will an incoming Marcos Jr administration handle its ties with the superpowers, and what should countries such as Australia be aware of when engaging the next administration?

In this episode of Conversations, Jennifer Hsu talks with Natasha Kassam and Richard McGregor about the results of the Being Chinese in Australia survey report. The second Lowy Institute’s Being Chinese in Australia poll, published in April 2022, finds a diverse range of experiences and perspectives across Chinese-Australian communities on topics such as political participation, security and foreign policy and Australia-China relations. How has the deterioration in bilateral ties affected Chinese-Australians, and is the relationship shaping Australia’s federal election campaign narratives? What might Chinese-Australians expect post-election in terms of Australia’s China policy?

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, journalist and biographer Troy Bramston speaks to Lowy Institute Director of Research Hervé Lemahieu about the foreign policy of Bob Hawke. In 1983, Australia elected a government quite unlike any it had seen before led by the charismatic former union leader Bob Hawke. In office, Hawke formed close personal relationships with some unlikely international partners – the US Republican President Ronald Reagan, the UK Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev, among others. Along the way, Hawke's government tackled international trade reform, oversaw an overhaul in relations with China and led the way in regional institution building. Does Hawke’s foreign policy legacy still have relevance for Australia today? Or is it a foreign policy tradition from a bygone era? Troy Bramston is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian newspaper, for which he has written since 2011. He was previously a columnist with the Sunday Telegraph. Troy is the author or editor of ten books, including Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics (2019) and Paul Keating: The Big-Picture Leader (2016). Troy co-authored The Truth of the Palace Letters (2020) and The Dismissal (2015) with Paul Kelly. He was the co-winner of the Australian Book Industry Award for The Dismissal. His biography of Paul Keating was a finalist for the Walkley Award, shortlisted for the National Biography Award and longlisted for the Australian Book Industry Award. He was awarded the Centenary Medal in 2001. More about this episode: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/conversations-foreign-policy-and-hawke-legacy

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, former Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans speaks to Executive Director Michael Fullilove about his new book Good International Citizenship: The case for decency. He argues that being, and being seen to be, a good international citizen is in a country's national interest. He sets out four benchmarks by which a country's performance can be judged: its foreign aid generosity, its response to human rights violations, its reaction to violence and mass atrocities, and its contribution to dealing with complex global issues such as nuclear proliferation and climate change. The Hon Gareth Evans AC QC was a Cabinet minister throughout the Hawke–Keating governments and served as foreign minister from 1988 to 1996. He was president of the International Crisis Group from 2000 to 2009, and Chancellor of the Australian National University from 2010 to 2019. He was co-chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty and the Australia–Japan International Commission on Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament. He has written or edited thirteen books, most recently Incorrigible Optimist: A Political Memoir. More about this episode here: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/conversations-gareth-evans-good-international-citizenship

There's been a significant escalation in the Ukraine crisis. The diplomatic pathway pursued by France and Germany - and backed up by the United States and Britain - was 'blown up' by a late-night televised address by Russian President Vladimir Putin. In this special edition of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Director Hervé Lemahieu speaks to Nonresident Fellow Bobo Lo about Russia's tactics and ambitions in Ukraine, and the West's options in response. Recorded: Wednesday 23rd February 2022

When he emerged as Australia’s 30th Prime Minister in 2018, Scott Morrison was not known for his diplomatic credentials and had never made foreign policy a big feature of his political career. Yet he has presided over one of the most consequential periods in Australia’s international relations: from a recalibration of ties with China, Australia’s primary trade partner, to the announcement of the AUKUS agreement. In this episode, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program Sam Roggeveen speaks to journalist and political commentator Paul Kelly about the factors and influences that have shaped Scott Morrison’s approach to foreign policy, which are detailed in Kelly’s new Lowy Institute Paper, Morrison’s Mission: How a Beginner Reshaped Australian foreign policy. Paul Kelly is Editor-at-Large at The Australian. He writes on politics, public policy and international relations and is a former Editor-in-Chief at the paper. He has written or co-authored 12 books on Australian politics and history including The End of Certainty (1992) on the politics and economic reforms of the Hawke-Keating era, The March of Patriots (2009), offering a re-interpretation of the Keating and Howard prime ministerships, and Triumph and Demise (2014), an account of the Rudd-Gillard-Rudd era. Morrison’s Mission follows his 2006 book for the Lowy Institute on John Howard’s foreign policy, Howard’s Decade.

In this episode, Mihai Sora is joined by Ruth McDougall and Ruha Fifita to discuss the 10th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT10) showing at the Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane from 4 December. They discuss how Pacific art is a powerful vehicle for building and maintaining connections across communities, the uniquely collaborative nature of Pacific art, and how to reframe art as less of an ‘industry’ and more as a meaning-making cultural activity that delivers new learning for artists and their audiences. Mihai Sora is the Project Director of the Australia-Papua New Guinea Network at the Lowy Institute, Ruth McDougall is curator for Pacific art for APT10 and Ruha Fifita is an interdisciplinary artist born and raised in the Kingdom of Tonga, who has exhibited throughout the Pacific and who has curated a number of projects for APT10.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Jennifer Hsu talks with Fan Yang and Fergus Ryan about Fan’s recent paper for the Lowy Institute, titled “Translating Tensions: Chinese-Language Media in Australia”. The paper is one of the first to provide insight into the published content of Chinese-language media organisations in Australia as it relates to Australia-China relations. Fan Yang is a PhD candidate at the School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University. She researches Chinese-language media on WeChat with a focus on human-technology mediation. Her doctoral thesis is entitled “News Manufactories on WeChat: The Word Business, Censorship and Pseudo-Journalism”. She has published in various outlets including Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies, Policy Forum, Media International Australia,The Conversation, and others. Fergus Ryan is a Senior Analyst with Australia Strategic Policy Institute’s International Cyber Policy Centre. He has worked in media, communications and marketing roles in China and Australia for close to a decade and has published widely on Chinese tech, entertainment and media industries. Most recently, Fergus was a journalist for The Australian.

Operation Ironside, led by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) between 2018 and 2021, brought together law enforcement agencies from across Australia and around the world to make a significant dent in global organised crime. As a result, more than 224 arrests were made, 3.7 tonnes of drugs and almost $45 million in cash and assets were seized. An ingenious encrypted app called Anom gave law enforcement agencies a remarkable insight into the global and insidious threat posed by organised crime. Warwick Jones, AFP Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute, talks with Assistant Commissioner Nigel Ryan, the AFP’s commander of Operation Ironside, about the challenges and threats posed to national security by organised crime and how an operation like this is conducted.

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.

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.

In this episode of Conversations, Jonathan Pryke speaks with Richard Marles, Deputy Leader of Australia’s Federal Opposition and Shadow Minister for National Reconstruction, Employment, Skills and Business. They discuss why the Pacific matters for Australia, and how Australia can play a more proactive role in its immediate region.

In this special episode of Conversations, Herve Lemahieu speaks with Lowy Institute Middle East specialists Lydia Khalil and Rodger Shanahan on the capitulation of the Afghan government, the decisions and policy failures that led to this outcome, and what to expect from the Taliban back in power.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow Alexandre Dayant talks with Professor Jeffrey Sachs, one of the world’s leading experts on economic development, global macroeconomics, and the fight against poverty. They assess the state of global cooperation in the time of COVID-19, and the role the United States and Australia must play to foster worldwide inclusive economic recovery. They also discuss the impact of a possible intellectual property waiver for vaccines, as well as the responsibility of Australia in the face of the adverse consequences of climate change, especially in the Pacific. Jeffrey D. Sachs is a world-renowned professor of economics, leader in sustainable development, senior UN advisor, bestselling author, and syndicated columnist whose monthly newspaper commentaries appear in more than 100 countries. He is the co-recipient of the 2015 Blue Planet Prize, the leading global prize for environmental leadership, and has twice been named among Time magazine’s 100 most influential world leaders. He is widely considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on economic development, global macroeconomics, and the fight against poverty.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Research Fellow, Jennifer Hsu talks with Sophie McNeill, Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch and formerly an investigative reporter with ABC TV’s Four Corners program. They discuss how the Chinese government, despite being thousands of kilometres from Australia, has sought to influence and censor Chinese international students studying at Australian universities, especially those who express support for democratic movements. Sophie McNeill is the Australia researcher for Human Rights Watch. She was formerly an investigative reporter with ABC TV’s Four Corners program. She is the winner of three Walkley Awards. In 2020, she was the co-winner of the Lowy Institute’s Media Award for the ABC Four Corners episodes ‘Rebellion’ and ‘Tell the World’, about Hong Kong’s fight for democracy and China’s treatment of its Uyghur population.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Natasha Kassam talks with Michelle Grattan, Chief Political Correspondent at the Conversation, and Katharine Murphy, Political Editor of Guardian Australia. They discuss how Australian foreign policy has played a changing role in Australian politics, how Prime Minister Scott Morrison has moved from ‘negative globalism’ to being a multilateralist, Australia’s response to COVID-19 and ‘Fortress Australia’, and the fraught politics of climate change. Michelle Grattan is one of Australia’s most respected political journalists, who has been a member of the Canberra parliamentary press gallery for more than four decades. She has written for all the major Australian newspapers, including as editor of The Canberra Times. Michelle is currently Chief Political Correspondent at The Conversation and has an academic appointment at the University of Canberra. Katharine Murphy has been Guardian Australia's Political Editor since 2016, working in Canberra's parliamentary press gallery for 23 years. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Canberra in October 2019 and holds an academic appointment there. Katharine's latest publication is her 2020 Quarterly Essay, The End of Certainty: Scott Morrison and Pandemic Politics.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Herve Lemahieu, the Director of the Institute’s Power and Diplomacy Program, talks with Lord Adair Turner, former Chairman of the UK Committee on Climate Change and chair of the Energy Transmissions Commission, on the global climate agenda leading up to the November 2021 Glasgow climate summit.

In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Ben Bland, the Director of the Institute’s Southeast Asia Program, sits down with author Elizabeth Becker to talk about the pioneering – but often overlooked – contributions of women war correspondents in Vietnam and beyond. Elizabeth Becker is a veteran foreign correspondent who has worked for the Washington Post, the New York Times and National Public Radio, reporting from Asia, Africa, South America and Europe. After covering the war in Cambodia in the 1970s, she wrote an award-winning history of the rise of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge. Elizabeth’s new book, You Don’t Belong Here: How Three Women Rewrote the Story of War, explores how three intrepid journalists – Frances FitzGerald, Catherine Leroy and Kate Webb – changed the way the Vietnam War was seen and understood.