Articles | Lowy Institute

29 Jan 2024
Europe
The powerlessness of the powerful

Marcus Colla

Geert Wilders’ victory might be a sign Europe’s populists are a far more diverse and supple group than their critics are willing to recognise.
26 Jan 2024
Administration
Public holiday: Australia Day

The Interpreter

We are off toasting marshmallows. Normal publishing will resume from Monday.
25 Jan 2024
Bangladesh
The squeeze on Bangladesh’s garment industry

Harris Amjad

Garment exports drive Bangladesh's economy but its compounding political problems might derail growth.
25 Jan 2024
Migration

Pacific Islands

Papua New Guinea
Practical steps to alleviate Papua New Guinea’s unemployment crisis

Natasha Turia

A good start is workable systems to ensure paperwork can be completed in a timely fashion.
25 Jan 2024
China

Energy

Sustainability
Can China use offshore wind to break its reliance on foreign LNG and coal?

Joseph Webster , Zoe Leung

And could that make Beijing more open to risk-taking, including vis-à-vis Taiwan?
24 Jan 2024
Pacific Islands
Drivers of change in the Pacific

Alexandre Dayant , Meg Keen

The year ahead holds big challenges, in politics, the economy and ensuring that local voices are heard.
24 Jan 2024
China

India
Cartographic aggression: Playing it the China way

Ved Shinde

By keeping the Himalayan dispute alive, China locks India on land to prevent it from going to the seas.
24 Jan 2024
Australia

Defence & Security
We need to talk about “strategic competition”

Michael Clarke

The narrow framing of Australian national security discourse has closed off the range of policy options available.
23 Jan 2024
China
China’s evolving approach to multipolar world order in 2024

Sophie Wushuang Yi

A new appointment along with a fresh role for an old hand appears to be sending a signal.
23 Jan 2024
Australia

The Americas
Australia and Brazil must seize the chance for closer green cooperation

Deborah Barros Leal Farias , Alexander M. Hynd , William Clapton , Elizabeth Thurbon

Distance should not be a barrier to recognising – and enhancing – shared interests.
23 Jan 2024
Australia

Ukraine
An Australian strategy for improved aid to Ukraine

Mick Ryan

More resources would be a good start – as well as diplomatic backing, better coordination, and a stronger statement about why democracy matters.
22 Jan 2024
Taiwan
Taiwan: To what good is the status quo?

Grant Wyeth

The global system is caught short while China enforces the absurdity that Taiwan cannot be considered a country.
22 Jan 2024
China

India

United States
India’s newfound assertiveness is a feature of the great game in South Asia

Saira Bano

Strategic competition is drawing out new challenges, with US-China competition at the centre.
22 Jan 2024
China

Philippines

South China Sea

Defence & Security
South China Sea: A formula for the Philippines

Richard Javad Heydarian

Manila should adopt a three-pronged response to Beijing's assertiveness.
22 Jan 2024
Australia

Diplomacy
Diplomacy: How to pick those who represent us

Mark Pierce

Australia’s top envoys can draw out the best, whether professionals or politicians.
19 Jan 2024
Australia

Pacific Islands

Papua New Guinea
Beyond the try line: What PNG’s NRL team means for development

Kingtau Mambon , David Poka , Maholopa Laveil

The plan is to spend big – but is this the right field?
19 Jan 2024
Australia

Defence & Security

Space exploration
Space surveillance and AUKUS: The power of awareness

Rebecca Connolly

A robust system for the surveillance of outer space, including through the use of space-based radar, is vital to national security.
19 Jan 2024
Australia in the World

Technology
The window (shade) seat

Samuel Bashfield

Watching the world go by from 40,000 feet is more than it’s cracked up to be.
18 Jan 2024
Australia and Asia

Australia's Economy

Australia's Trade

Australia-United States Relations

Australian trade, investment & economy

Free Trade

Trade

WTO
Economic diplomacy: To market, to market, with China

Greg Earl

New Cabinet papers reveal the origins of trade pragmatism and the Coalition’s embrace of communism with market characteristics.
18 Jan 2024
Pacific Islands

China and the Pacific
Nauru’s diplomatic switch to China – the rising stakes in Pacific geopolitics

Meg Keen , Mihai Sora

Australia is a player at the table but Pacific nations themselves hold the most important cards.
18 Jan 2024
Global Economy
Drought and war hit the choke points

Selwyn Parker

Trade through the Panama and Suez canals is slowing. Inevitably, costs are passed on.
17 Jan 2024
Aid & Development

Australia

Australia's Economy

Australia's Trade

Africa
Australia and Africa: Economic diplomacy is out of sync with investment ties

Ian Satchwell

While other partners are taking care of business, Australia lacks the trade support it needs to thrive.
17 Jan 2024
Indonesia

Indonesian Elections
Indonesia’s presidential frontrunner falters in debate but could win election

Warief Djajanto Basorie

Prabowo Subianto was tested in an area where he should be commanding – defence and international affairs.
17 Jan 2024
Myanmar
Three years on from the coup, what could help Myanmar’s opposition movement?

Andrew Selth

A range of practical measures could be taken. But the people of Myanmar seem destined to fend for themselves.
16 Jan 2024
Pacific Islands

New Caledonia
New Caledonia: France’s threat to impose change unilaterally weakened

Denise Fisher

A French State Council decision, quietly released just after Christmas, has set back Paris’ timetable.
16 Jan 2024
Development Assistance

Global Economy

Debt

Poverty

Trade

Coronavirus
Global economic prospects are the worst in decades but investing in the future could be the answer

Robert Walker

The World Bank reports on why global growth and poverty reduction are slowing but points to investment as a way forward.
16 Jan 2024
Nuclear Weapons

Technology
AI’s Oppenheimer moment: Establishing regulations

Muhammad Ali Baig , Anum A. Khan

Nuclear arms control is only one area that needs to catch up in the AI age.
15 Jan 2024
North Korea
A new year, same old story on the Korean Peninsula in 2024

Khang Vu

Kim Jong-un’s recent rhetoric reflects the status quo more than a radical departure.
15 Jan 2024
Vietnam
Vietnam’s pivot

Marina Yue Zhang

In navigating the US-China power play in Southeast Asia, Vietnam seem to have the right moves.
15 Jan 2024
Technology

Review
Manager of the internet, controller of the world?

Sam Roggeveen

Power is much more than GDP and tank numbers. But the US monopoly on the digital age is eroding.
12 Jan 2024
China

China's Government
An airliner with Chinese characteristics

Kazimier Lim

The country’s new homegrown narrow-body jet is a diplomatic ace up Xi Jinping's sleeve.
11 Jan 2024
Global Issues

Human rights

International law

Migration

United Nations
By default not design: the end of the asylum consensus

Khalid Koser

Ever since Australia adopted the “Pacific Solution”, norm busting has become the norm.
10 Jan 2024
Japan

Sex and Gender
“An awkward photo‑op”: Japan’s persistent gender problem

Tan Ming Hui

A summit blunder begs the question of how women can fight for equality when they’re not even at the table.
9 Jan 2024
Asia

Diplomacy
Navigating the strange minilateralverse of madness

Brendan Taylor

The vogue has seen a boom of small Indo-Pacific gatherings, but a hard look is needed to decide which are sustainable.
8 Jan 2024
Australia

Diplomacy
Five ideas from Allan Gyngell for a better foreign policy

Vafa Ghazavi

Gyngell saw “national interest” as a matter for democratic discussion, always valuing the search for solutions.
5 Jan 2024
Bhutan

China

India

Pakistan

Sustainability
Multilateral cooperation can improve South Asia’s water woes

Genevieve Donnellon-May

Transparency will help foster trust, which can lead to a common river management framework for the benefit of all.
3 Jan 2024
North Korea

Global Issues

Human rights

Review
Why do we travel to unsettling places?

Melissa Conley Tyler

Whether the DMZ or sites of historic atrocities, place carries a connection to remind us of the precariousness of life.
2 Jan 2024
Vietnam

Energy

Resource security

Climate change

Environment

Sustainability
Vietnam’s challenge to wean off coal

Trang Nguyen

Fossil fuels have driven rapid growth but the country has pledged – with global help – to be carbon neutral by 2050.
1 Jan 2024
Administration
New Year Holiday

The Interpreter

Monday is a public holiday in Australia.
29 Dec 2023
Australia

Papua New Guinea
Keeping languages alive in the family

Hannah Sarvasy

How many Australians can speak one of Papua New Guinea’s many Indigenous languages – even those who work there?
28 Dec 2023
China

Australia

Energy

Resource security

Technology
Lithium, lightest metal on earth, carries heavy geopolitical weight

Marina Yue Zhang

Instead of a source of great tech power competition, lithium should be key to a collective fight against climate change.
27 Dec 2023
China

Japan

Thailand

United States
Power in Asia: Six surprising facts

Jack Sato , Susannah Patton

Following the launch of the 2023 Asia Power Index, the authors dig into data that reveals how power is shifting in Asia.
25 Dec 2023
Administration
Where is that cheeky elf? Holiday time in Australia

The Interpreter

Monday and Tuesday are public holidays in Australia for Christmas and Boxing Day.
22 Dec 2023
India

United States
Plot claims expose India-US need a better mutual understanding

Ved Shinde

Delhi needs to reach out to constituencies outside the policy circles in Washington.
22 Dec 2023
Bangladesh
Bangladesh: An election like no other

Jyoti Rahman

Rather than settling a contest, the upcoming poll could make matters worse.
22 Dec 2023
Australia

Pacific Islands

Papua New Guinea

United States
Why did PNG sign a Defence Cooperation Agreement with the US?

Patrick Kaiku , Faith Hope Boie

For Port Moresby, this deal is mainly about modernising PNG’s Defence Force – not a geopolitical ploy.
22 Dec 2023
Administration
Your Top 10 on The Interpreter in 2023

Daniel Flitton

The most-read articles across the year as we head for a break. Publishing resumes 15 January.
21 Dec 2023
Australia in the World

Antarctica

Environment

International law

International Relations

Multilateral Institutions

Sustainability
A jurisdiction over the high seas

Bec Strating

Australia will be a key player in the new agreement governing the globe’s largest natural habitat.
21 Dec 2023
Philippines

Human rights

Review
Manila’s killing fields: Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on the poor

Richard Javad Heydarian

It’s best to not only take populists seriously, but also literally, especially when they threaten mass murder.
21 Dec 2023
Thailand
The changing face of Thai nationalism today

Pavin Chachavalpongpun , Patrick Jory

Over the last century, Thailand has swung between two forms of nationalism – one focused on the monarchy, the other on the people.