Events

Join us for a discussion with esteemed archaeologist and historian Professor Ian Morris on the forces that drove the rise of the West to global dominance in the 16th–19th centuries and those that now propel China. The Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen will chair this conversation on the patterns of history and what they reveal about the future.
 

Effective engagement with the Asia-Pacific holds the key to Russia’s prospects in the 21st century world. Yet it is unclear how far Moscow is ready to move away from its traditional focus on the West. Bobo Lo assesses the commitment, and chances of success, of the Kremlin’s latest effort to project Russia as a significant player in Asia.
 

Join Dr Euan Graham, Executive Director of La Trobe Asia and Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow, for an in-conversation with Dr Bobo Lo, followed by a Q&A.

It is two decades since a bloody secessionist conflict on Bougainville was settled – first in a truce, and then in a peace agreement that deferred the question of the region’s future political status. 

In 2019, that question will be answered when the people of Bougainville vote on whether to become independent from Papua New Guinea.
 
Join us for this special event to hear from Ben Bohane on the prospects of a new nation being formed on Australia’s doorstep. 
 

The withdrawal by the Trump administration from the Obama-era nuclear deal (known as the JCPOA) and the subsequent campaign of ‘maximum pressure’ against Iran by the United States in an effort to get a better deal from Tehran, has raised regional tensions to near boiling point. Five ships have been attacked in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, a US drone shot down by an Iranian missile, and an Iranian and UK tanker seized. The war of words between Washington and Tehran has been escalating week by week. And the European states have been busy trying to keep the JCPOA alive rather than signing up to President Trump’s ‘maximum pressure’ campaign.
 
It is a difficult policy problem to resolve and even more difficult to gauge how the current American policy is seen by Iranians given the difficulty in gaining press access. In order to provide some insight into these questions, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Rodger Shanahan will hold a discussion with Dr Amir Mogadam from the University of Newcastle, Mahmoud Pargoo from the Australian Catholic University and Dr Gorana Grgic from the University of Sydney to discuss the current tensions in the Gulf from US and Iranian policy perspectives.

Hong Kong is facing the deepest political crisis since it was handed back to China by the United Kingdom in 1997. The partially autonomous Chinese territory has been shaken by weeks of huge democracy protests, and violent clashes between activists, the police and supporters of the Chinese Government. The spark for the latest tensions was a now-suspended bill that would have allowed Hong Kongers to be extradited to mainland China. But the protests are being driven by opposition to Beijing’s intensifying pressure on the freedoms and autonomy that were promised to the city for 50 years from 1997. 
 
Join our panel for a discussion about the causes of this crisis, the implications for this global financial centre, and the impact on China’s place in the world.

Australia, along with many other Western countries, has a strong interest in the ongoing stability of Afghanistan. Not only in the sunk cost in collective blood and treasure but also because we have seen how semi-governed territory provides opportunities for jihadists to plan and train for attacks against the West.

Join Lowy Institute Research Fellow Dr Rodger Shanahan for a discussion with Christine Fair about the future security prospects for Afghanistan and the challenges it faces not only internally but also externally from regional actors advancing their own strategic agendas.

Join us for the launch of the latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House Australia, Xi Jinping: The Backlash by Richard McGregor.

China’s president Xi Jinping has transformed China at home and abroad with a speed and assertiveness that few foresaw when he came to power in 2012. Finally, he is meeting resistance, both at home among disgruntled officials and disillusioned technocrats, and abroad from an emerging group of nations that are pushing back against China’s geopolitical and high-tech expansion. With the United States and China at loggerheads, Richard McGregor outlines Xi’s rise, and the backlash. 
 

Join us for the launch of the latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House Australia, Xi Jinping: The Backlash by Richard McGregor.

China’s president Xi Jinping has transformed China at home and abroad with a speed and assertiveness that few foresaw when he came to power in 2012. Finally, he is meeting resistance, both at home among disgruntled officials and disillusioned technocrats, and abroad from an emerging group of nations that are pushing back against China’s geopolitical and high-tech expansion. With the United States and China at loggerheads, Richard McGregor outlines Xi’s rise, and the backlash. 

Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute Senior Fellow, is a leading expert on China’s political system and Asian geopolitics. He is the award-winning author of The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers and Asia’s Reckoning: China, Japan and the Fate of US Power in the Pacific Century. 

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is the world’s most important military alliance. Now in its 70th year NATO remains a lynchpin of the liberal world order.

Jens Stoltenberg is NATO’s Secretary General, the alliance’s chief civil servant, responsible for coordinating the work of the organisation. 

He served as Prime Minister of Norway from 2000 to 2001 and from 2005 to 2013. He was appointed NATO’s 13th Secretary General in 2014 and his term has been extended until 2022.

Join us for a public address by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the Lowy Institute on 7 August 2019.

Join us for the launch of the latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House Australia, Xi Jinping: The Backlash by Richard McGregor.

China’s president Xi Jinping has transformed China at home and abroad with a speed and assertiveness that few foresaw when he came to power in 2012. Finally, he is meeting resistance, both at home among disgruntled officials and disillusioned technocrats, and abroad from an emerging group of nations that are pushing back against China’s geopolitical and high-tech expansion. With the United States and China at loggerheads, Richard McGregor outlines Xi’s rise, and the backlash. 
 

On 30 May 2019, James Marape was sworn in as the eighth Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Securing the votes of almost 90 per cent of PNG’s Parliament, Mr Marape has a broad mandate for change following eight years of a Peter O’Neill-led government.
 
The challenges facing the Marape government remain the same. The economy is struggling, and expectations are high for curbing corruption and improving service delivery. With 16 months until a vote of no confidence motion can resume, and three years until a new election, Mr Marape has limited time to deliver on the expectations of his people.
 
Join us for an address by the Hon James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, to hear his vision for the new PNG government, and where the PNG–Australia relationship fits within it.
 
James Marape has served as a Member of Parliament representing the electorate of
Tari-Pori Open in Hela Province since 2007. He served as Education Minister from 2008 to 2011 and Finance Minister from 2012 to 2019.

Global wealth and power are shifting eastwards, changing the way the region – and indeed the world – works politically and strategically. Join Lowy Institute Program Director Hervé Lemahieu, the principal researcher behind the Asia Power Index, and Bonnie Bley, Research Fellow, for a visual and analytical journey through the changing distribution of power in Asia. The event will mark the Australian launch of the 2019 Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, the largest study of power in the region ever undertaken. Find out how countries in the region perform in terms of what they have, and what they do with what they have. This will be followed by a discussion of the Index’s findings and their implications for the changing political economy, military balance, and diplomatic networks of Asia. The event will conclude with a drinks reception.

Global wealth and power are shifting eastwards, changing the way the region – and indeed the world – works politically and strategically. Join Lowy Institute Program Director Hervé Lemahieu, the principal researcher behind the Asia Power Index, and Bonnie Bley, Research Fellow, for a visual and analytical journey through the changing distribution of power in Asia. The event will mark the Australian launch of the 2019 Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, the largest study of power in the region ever undertaken. Find out how countries in the region perform in terms of what they have, and what they do with what they have. This will be followed by a discussion of the Index’s findings and their implications for the changing political economy, military balance, and diplomatic networks of Asia. The event will conclude with a drinks reception.

Global wealth and power are shifting eastwards, changing the way the region – and indeed the world – works politically and strategically. Join Lowy Institute Program Director Hervé Lemahieu, the principal researcher behind the Asia Power Index, and Bonnie Bley, Research Fellow, for a visual and analytical journey through the changing distribution of power in Asia. The event will mark the Australian launch of the 2019 Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, the largest study of power in the region ever undertaken. Find out how countries in the region perform in terms of what they have, and what they do with what they have. This will be followed by a discussion of the Index’s findings and their implications for the changing political economy, military balance, and diplomatic networks of Asia. The event will conclude with a drinks reception.

Join us for a conversation with one of Australia’s most provocative public commentators, Professor Hugh White. Lowy Institute Senior Fellow Richard McGregor will chair a discussion on Professor White’s new book, How to Defend Australia. Over the past decade, Professor White has set the agenda of Australia’s China debate. This book will do the same for defence policy.
 
Hugh White AO is Professor of Strategic Studies at the Australian National University and author of The China Choice and the Quarterly Essay 39, Power Shift. He has served as an intelligence analyst with the Office of National Assessments, as a senior adviser to Defence Minister Kim Beazley and to Prime Minister Bob Hawke, and as a senior official in the Department of Defence, where from 1995 to 2000 he was Deputy Secretary for Strategy and Intelligence.

Myanmar is facing a daunting array of challenges, from soaring economic inequality, rising ethnonationalism and continuing armed conflicts to fragile state institutions, the impact of climate change and the rise of China next door.
 
These challenges have long been seen through the lens of democratic change and the contest between the military dictatorship and Aung San Suu Kyi. However, more recently these issues have been overshadowed by the extreme violence in Rakhine State, the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims, and Aung San Suu Kyi’s muted response to the humanitarian crisis. 
 
Join eminent historian Dr Thant Myint-U in conversation with the Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Project, Ben Bland, as they discuss the problems facing Myanmar and the urgent need for fresh thinking if the country is to escape its tragic past and prevent an even worse crisis in the future.

One year after the corruption-tainted government of Najib Razak was ousted in a stunning electoral upset, sentiment in Malaysia has turned from elation to frustration. The motley coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old former and now new prime minister, has been weighed down by in-fighting. There are growing fears that he is backsliding on promises to roll back draconian laws and reinvigorate the sluggish economy.
 
Is Mahathir really a changed man? Will his government be subsumed by internal battles? And how will he manage growing US–China rivalry and simmering tensions with neighbouring Singapore?
 
Join two leading experts on Malaysian politics, Professor James Chin and Dr Vilashini Somiah, and Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Project Ben Bland to discuss these pressing questions and more.

One year after the corruption-tainted government of Najib Razak was ousted in a stunning electoral upset, sentiment in Malaysia has turned from elation to frustration. The motley coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old former and now new prime minister, has been weighed down by in-fighting. There are growing fears that he is backsliding on promises to roll back draconian laws and reinvigorate the sluggish economy.
 
Is Mahathir really a changed man? Will his government be subsumed by internal battles? And how will he manage growing US–China rivalry and simmering tensions with neighbouring Singapore?
 
Join two leading experts on Malaysian politics, Professor James Chin and Dr Vilashini Somiah, and Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Project Ben Bland to discuss these pressing questions and more.

One year after the corruption-tainted government of Najib Razak was ousted in a stunning electoral upset, sentiment in Malaysia has turned from elation to frustration. The motley coalition led by Mahathir Mohamad, the 93-year-old former and now new prime minister, has been weighed down by in-fighting. There are growing fears that he is backsliding on promises to roll back draconian laws and reinvigorate the sluggish economy.
 
Is Mahathir really a changed man? Will his government be subsumed by internal battles? And how will he manage growing US–China rivalry and simmering tensions with neighbouring Singapore?
 
Join two leading experts on Malaysian politics, Professor James Chin and Dr Vilashini Somiah, and Director of the Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Project Ben Bland to discuss these pressing questions and more.

The Indian general election is the world’s biggest exercise in democracy, with 900 million eligible voters. The election has been held in seven phases since 11 April, and results were declared on 23 May. Prime Minister and leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party Narendra Modi has been elected for a second term.
 
India’s foreign policy under Prime Minister Modi has divided analysts. Some believe India’s foreign policy has undergone a remarkable transformation, others argue Modi has merely repackaged the policies of his predecessors. Under Modi, the quad alliance with Japan, Australia and the United States has been resuscitated, although he has pursued a ‘neighbourhood first’ focus in foreign policy. On the border with Pakistan, tensions have escalated to the level of nuclear threat. Bilateral relations with China are a balancing act.   
 
Join us for an address by Professor Harsh V Pant, Director of Studies and Head of the Strategic Studies Programme at New Delhi’s Observer Research Foundation, on the future of India’s foreign policy in the wake of Prime Minister Modi’s re-election.
 
Professor Harsh V Pant is an influential and prolific foreign, defence and strategic policy writer and thinker. His latest book, Indian Foreign Policy: The Modi Era, was launched in April 2019 by India’s former Foreign Secretary, Dr S Jaishankar. Professor Pant is a guest of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as part of its Canberra Fellowships Program.

The Lowy Institute is pleased to host the Hon Kevin Rudd for a discussion on Xi Jinping’s China and the new era of strategic competition with the United States across trade, technology, and geopolitics. Mr Rudd served as Australia’s prime minister and foreign minister, lived in China as a diplomat, has studied the country’s history, politics, and language over many years, and has dealt with the leaders of the ruling Communist Party at the most senior levels. 
 
Mr Rudd who now leads the Asia Society Policy Institute in New York, will be will be in conversation with Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute’s Senior Fellow for East Asia.

This event is presented in partnership with the Asia Society

Since September 11, Australia has enacted over 80 counterterrorism and national security laws. The laws are often controversial although usually passed quickly through Parliament.
 
The Independent National Security Legislation Monitor (INSLM) reports on whether such laws are necessary, proportionate to the threats that caused them to be enacted, and comply with human rights standards and international law obligations. The role has been described as “an important and valued component of Australia’s national security architecture”.

When Vladimir Putin was re-elected as Russian president in 2018, his position as the dominant personality of the post-Soviet era was enshrined. In his 15 years as president over two terms, he has established himself as the strongman of a resurgent great power. He has been unrelenting in the pursuit of core goals: the consolidation of political authority at home; and the promotion of Russia as an indispensable power.

Join eminent Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats in conversation with Director of the Lowy Institute’s Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, Hervé Lemahieu, for a discussion of Russian politics and what it means for the rest of the world.

The foreign policy of Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, has often been judged as beholden to Britain and the United States. Under Menzies, however, Australia took some steps towards a more independent role for Australia in foreign policy. Key initiatives include the signing of the ANZUS Treaty, the Colombo Plan and the Australia–Japan Commerce Agreement. Troy Bramston’s latest biography, Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics, reveals a wealth of new information about the Menzies years, including his role in the Suez crisis.

Join Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove in conversation with Troy Bramston, as they explore Menzies’ foreign policy successes and missteps and the lessons they may yield for Australian foreign policy in the future.
 
Troy Bramston is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian and is the author or editor of nine books on Australian politics and political biography. His new biography, Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics, was published in April 2019.
 

In Remaking the Middle East, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Anthony Bubalo argued that despite continuing turmoil in the region the future of the Middle East was not inevitably bleak. Amid the ferment the region has experienced over the past decade and a half he also pointed to ‘green shoots’ of change: from new forms of ‘uncivil’ society driving social and political change to ‘impious’ politics, making societies more tolerant and pluralist.
 
But one year on, are these green shoots maturing into more sturdy features of the region? Or are they being killed and uprooted by the region’s revived authoritarianism? Join us as Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil discusses these and other questions with the author.

Join us at the State Library of Victoria for our Aus–PNG Network Melbourne social evening. We’re hosting a panel with three experienced Pacific journalists – Caroline Tiriman, Mary-Louise O’Callaghan and Catherine Graue – on the challenges and opportunities of covering news in Australia’s nearest neighbour. We’ll be talking about how technology is changing the way Papua New Guinea gets its news and how Australians can better engage with emerging issues in PNG. Join us afterwards for drinks and a bite to eat, and the opportunity to chat to our panellists. 

The Aus–PNG Network is a Lowy Institute project aimed at strengthening people-to-people links between Australia and Papua New Guinea. We host professional workshops, public events and an annual Emerging Leaders Dialogue to connect the next generation of leaders in Australia and PNG. Find out more about our work at our website: auspng.lowyinstitute.org. The Lowy Institute acknowledges the ongoing support of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the Aus–PNG Network.
 

Through the course of Xi Jinping’s presidency, China has been working to shape an alternative version of the internet – one in which the party state asserts its cyber sovereignty through an extensive censorship apparatus. Many foreign news sources are blocked at the border, and sensitive topics are censored. At a time when open societies are grappling with how to manage the downsides of a free internet such as hate speech and extremist material, other nations are embracing China’s restrictive practices.

Join Hong Kong-based CNN International technology reporter and author of The Great Firewall of China James Griffiths, New York Times reporter Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, Lowy Institute Research Fellow and former Beijing-based diplomat Natasha Kassam, in discussion with Lowy Institute Research Fellow Kelsey Munro, to explore the history, politics and reality of online censorship in China, and the consequences of an authoritarian internet for the rest of the world.

Global wealth and power are shifting eastwards, changing the way the world works politically and strategically. Join analysts from the Sydney-based Lowy Institute through a visual and analytical journey of the changing distribution of power in Asia. The event will mark the global launch of the 2019 Lowy Institute Asia Power Index, the largest comparative study of power in the region ever undertaken. Find out how countries rank in terms of their capacity to influence international events using eight measures of power: military capability and defence networks, economic resources and relationships, diplomatic and cultural influence, as well as resilience and future resources. This will be followed by a panel discussion with Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy scholars on the implications of the Index’s findings for the global balance of power in the 21st century. The event will conclude with a drinks reception and an opportunity for participants to personally engage with the Asia Power Index digital interactive.