Global Issues
That Trump phone call to Australia and what it means to refugees today
When US President Donald Trump and former Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull held their infamous, protocol-smashing phone call in the president’s first week in office in…
The Pacific’s social politics
When the news broke that Peter O’Neill had finally resigned from PNG’s top job last Thursday, it spread instantaneously, lighting up mobile phone screens across the country.
It…
Episode 2 of Rules Based Audio, “The Terrorist’s Wife” out now
Episode 2 of the Lowy Institute’s brand new podcast, Rules Based Audio, is out today.
In The Terrorist’s Wife – the role of women in jihad, Lowy Research Fellow Lydia Khalil…
The relativity of the death penalty
Opposition to the death penalty has a long and quite public history in Australia. Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan of the so-called “Bali Nine” drug smugglers received…
Book review: unruly waters shape South Asia’s history
Book Review: Unruly Waters: How Mountains, Rivers and Monsoons Have Shaped South Asia’s History, by Sunil Amrith (Penguin, 2018)
As Sunil Amrith explains in…
Huawei and the decoupling dilemma
In two dramatic policy announcements this month, the Trump administration effectively barred US companies and government agencies from buying telecommunications equipment or…
Tackling the global danger of drug-resistance: how far have we come?
Nearly five years since an international call went out for a greater global effort to combat the threat of so-called “superbugs”, what is better described as antimicrobial…
China’s Digital Silk Road and stopping divergent technology standards
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is best known for big infrastructure projects such as train lines and ports, but in this age of omnipresence online, there is a communications…
Trash talk in the Philippines reveals waste trails in Southeast Asia
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is notorious for exhibiting an unconventional diplomatic style and in recent weeks, ahead of local elections, he has picked a new foe. Duterte…
Measles outbreaks are rising across the world: what can Australia do?
A recent surge of measles cases in the United States has seen outbreaks in 23 states and the declaration of a public health emergency in New York City. While measles was declared…