Programs & Projects

The International Security Program

The International Security Program

The International Security Program looks at strategic dynamics and security risks globally, with an emphasis on Australia's region of Indo-Pacific Asia. Its research spans strategic competition and the risks of conflict in Asia, security implications of the rise of China and India, maritime security, nuclear arms control, Australian defence policy and the changing character of conflict. The Program draws on a network of experts in Australia, Asia and globally, and is supported by diverse funding sources including grants from the MacArthur Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. It convenes international policy dialogues such as the 2017 Australia-ROK Emerging Leaders International Security Forum and has a record of producing leading-edge, influential reports.

Experts
Latest publications
News and media
NSS: The numbers don't add up
After 29 months of government, Wednesday's launch of the National Security Strategy was welcome yet well overdue. Although the strategy has been widely panned as disappointing and…
NSS is coherent, but pulls its punches
It may seem odd that Prime Minister Julia Gillard would use the occasion of the launch of the nation's first ever formal national security strategy to endorse the view that the …
Grand designs: Is the NSS necessary?
Robert Ayson is Director of Victoria University’s Centre for Strategic Studies in New Zealand. It's time for me to fess up. I used to be one of those sometimes annoying people…
Henderson's head-scratcher
Interpreter alumnus Andrew Carr does sterling work on Twitter today, drily recounting Gerard Henderson's 'scoop' in the SMH: Here are the opening two paragraphs of Henderson's…
Reader riposte: Rudd's Pax Pacifica
Luke Maynard writes: Hugh White's final blog post of 2012 was characteristic in its effort to sketch the boundaries of Asia's strategic future while remaining firmly rooted in…
Can social media calm the waters between Japan and China?
Commentary
Can social media calm the waters between Japan and China?
In an opinion piece in American Review magazine, Rory Medcalf analyses the effect social media has had on relations between Japan and China in the East China Sea.Rory Medcalf
Policy experimentation in Afghanistan
From Fred Kaplan's latest column: ...at the end of 2009, Obama sent an additional 33,000 troops to Afghanistan, a surge of nearly 50 percent above the 68,000 already there—and…
From privateers to a private navy
Simon Palombi is a Research Associate at the Lowy Institute. Earlier this week, Simon Murray, the chief of global commodities trading firm Glencore, announced the creation of a…
Defence 2013: Expect cuts to troops and JSF
Derek Woolner is a Visiting Fellow at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, ANU. He was Director of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Group in the Commonwealth Parliament's…
Chuck Hagel and US defence spending
James Brown's post about the nomination of Chuck Hagel as Obama's new Defense Secretary focuses on his views about the Asia 'pivot', but perhaps those views won't matter very…