Lowy Lecture Series: The Middle East’s authoritarian (re)turn - Anthony Bubalo

In this talk, Research Director Anthony Bubalo will explore how the return of authoritarianism in the Middle East will profoundly and negatively impact upon the security of the West.

Anthony Bubalo is the Research Director at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. He is also the Director of the West Asia Program covering the Middle East, Central and Southwest Asia. His research focuses on Australian policy towards West Asia and the linkages between West Asia and East Asia. He has produced research on Islamism, democratisation and energy security, with a particular focus on Egypt, Israel and the countries of the Gulf. He comments regularly on Middle Eastern politics for the Australian and international media outlets. He has written for The Australian, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, the Financial Times, Ha'aretz and Asahi Shimbun newspapers as well as The American Interest and ForeignPolicy.com. He is the co-editor, with Michael Fullilove, of Reports from a Turbulent Decade (Viking), an anthology of the Lowy Institute's best work. Before joining the Lowy Institute Anthony was an officer in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for thirteen years. He served in Australian diplomatic missions in Saudi Arabia and Israel and was Senior Middle East Analyst with the Office of National Assessments from 1996 to 1998. From 2002-2003 he was director of the Policy and Coordination Unit of the Australian government's Iraq Task Force, and immediately prior to joining the Lowy Institute Anthony was DFAT's Senior Speechwriter.