Diplomacy

Back to the future for the US State Department?
Back to the future for the US State Department?
Former US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis once quipped that, “if you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition”. In assessing the wrangling over the…
From global to regional: Australia’s focus narrows
From global to regional: Australia’s focus narrows
Writing in The Interpreter last week, Andrew Carr suggested that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade should reorganise itself around the principle of solutions to problems…
Putting dollars behind “all tools of statecraft”
Putting dollars behind “all tools of statecraft”
During an address to the Lowy Institute this month, Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke of “the need for unprecedented coordination and ambition in our statecraft, harnessing all…
Between the two worlds of an Indian diplomat
Between the two worlds of an Indian diplomat
Book Review Cosmopolitan Elites: Indian Diplomats and the Social Hierarchies of Global Order, by Kira Huju (Oxford University Press, 2023) Kira Huju places Indian…
The rise and endurance of minilaterals in the Indo-Pacific
The rise and endurance of minilaterals in the Indo-Pacific
Minilateralism has enjoyed a golden age with the advent of the Indo-Pacific. The evolution of the Quad as well as the establishment of AUKUS and other trilateral groupings over…
The Translator: “Like-minded countries”
The Translator: “Like-minded countries”
Heard diplomats or analysts using a new turn of phrase only to wonder, “What does that mean?” Today we ask … What are “like-minded countries”? Commentators and academics use…
Reflecting Australia as a career ambassador
Reflecting Australia as a career ambassador
After 29 years of service, last week I retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I am an unlikely Australian diplomat, having joined DFAT as a graduate trainee in…
Economic diplomacy: Politics rules in Korean envoy row
Economic diplomacy: Politics rules in Korean envoy row
Prosecutorial democracy South Korea has a curious habit of investigating, often jailing, and then pardoning former presidents since it embraced two-party democracy with…
Grand strategising: The view from outside
Grand strategising: The view from outside
Leaders make history, but not in circumstances of their choosing. One of us is a former Pentagon insider during the years of the Barack Obama presidency and knows that even well…
Five surprises from Lowy’s Global Diplomacy Index
Five surprises from Lowy’s Global Diplomacy Index
One of the Lowy Institute’s flagship research projects is the Global Diplomacy Index – an interactive map that allows users to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of diplomatic…