Diplomacy
A sign of the times: the resurgence of pacts, treaties, and alliances
There has been ongoing debate for several years now over whether the current era of “strategic competition” constitutes a “new Cold War”. Analogies have been cast about with…
Australia’s next challenge for Indigenous foreign policy
“The problem with media reporting on Indigenous Australians,” an Aboriginal leader told me more than a decade ago while I worked in the Canberra parliamentary press gallery, “is…
Pump up the volume: Music diplomacy as soft power
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the US Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, aimed at strengthening peace, democracy and the promotion of US values through…
Great expectations: Australia’s elusive Southeast Asia vision
Nicholas Moore’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy, a new government-commissioned report on Australia’s economic prospects in the region, is a detailed and comprehensive compendium…
Australia’s support for Bangladesh will bolster regional stability
Australia is in the process of enhancing partnerships in the Indian Ocean region, including with non-traditional partners such as Bangladesh. Australia has a significant stake in…
Can the Matildas waltz onto the world stage for Australia’s sport diplomacy?
Just at the pointy end of the Indian Premier League cricket finals in May, the University of Technology Sydney hosted a conference in New Delhi themed around “Cricket,…
Why the F word matters if we’re serious about gender equality in foreign policy
As Australia’s international development community awaits the highly anticipated new International Development Policy, another strategy is quietly being formulated. The Department…
Women belong everywhere and this World Cup proves football can be the great equaliser
For those who love sport as much as international policy, it’s a glorious moment when the two come together.
And right now, all eyes are on the FIFA Women’s World Cup in…
The vanishing options for Julian Assange
The weekend, AUSMIN talks in Brisbane have highlighted that Julian Assange’s ongoing legal and political battle challenging his extradition to the United States is about…
Opportunity lost with the Commonwealth Games
In the words of Oscar Wilde, “a fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing”.
The work of the iconic Irish poet appears not to have reached…