On Monday 7 September, the Lowy Institute launched the latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House Australia, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the Struggle to Remake Indonesia, the first English-language biography of Indonesian President Joko Widodo. 

Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove spoke with author Ben Bland about what makes the president tick, his struggle to implement reform and tackle the COVID-19 crisis, and why outsiders keep getting Jokowi – and Indonesia – wrong.

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On Friday 28 August, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation event via live video stream with Ambassador Samantha Power, one of America’s leading foreign-policy voices, both as a scholar and a Cabinet member in the Obama administration. Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove spoke with Power about US foreign policy under President Donald Trump, Vice President Joe Biden’s worldview, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic and the future of the US-China relationship.

On Thursday 6 August, Dr Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, joined Dr Rodger Shanahan, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, for an in conversation event.

The United Arab Emirates has built an increasingly high profile in regional affairs in recent years. Long known for its resource riches and welcoming attitude towards Western expatriates, it has developed and diversified its domestic economy at great speed, and deployed its armed forces on operations in Afghanistan, Yemen and in support of the anti–Islamic State coalition. It also has strong links with Australia, hosting the largest overseas concentration of ADF assets, as well as nearly 20,000 Australian expats, three Australian universities and two Australian international high schools. It is Australia’s main trading partner in the Middle East; more than 300 Australian companies operate there, and the UAE invests more than $11 billion in Australia.

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On Wednesday 22 July, the Lowy Institute hosted an in-conversation event with Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove and Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. They discussed the extraordinary presidential election year, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and America’s looming cold war with China.

In the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, China is facing a sustained economic downturn for the first time in decades, a development with profound implications not just for Australia, but for global growth. On Wednesday 15 July, the Lowy Institute's Richard McGregor hosted a discussion with three eminent Chinese economists: Xu Xiaonian of the China Europe International Business School in Shanghai, Huang Yiping of Peking University and Wang Jiao of the University of Melbourne. They discussed the prospects for China’s economy and the debate inside the government on possible stimulus measures.

So close, but so far apart: only a few kilometres separate Papua New Guinea and Australia at the Torres Strait – but the coronavirus pandemic has made that close geography seem a world away. Travel between the two countries requires a substantial amount of time in quarantine and that has put business, tourism, education and the diplomatic relationship under pressure. While Australia is dealing with a pandemic flare-up, PNG tentatively hopes it has escaped the worst from the virus for now. Minds are now turning to what happens next: when relations can return to normal, what will have changed in the PNG-Australia relationship? What should be the priorities for two countries that share geography, history and economic interests? On Wednesday 15 July, Lowy Institute Non-Resident Fellow Annmaree O’Keeffe hosted a discussion with former Papua New Guinea High Commissioner to Australia Sir Charles Lepani and former Australian High Commissioner to PNG Ian Kemish.

On Wednesday 8 July, the Lowy Institute hosted an event discussing the findings of the recent Lowy Institute Annual Poll. The discussion was chaired by Alex Oliver, Director of Research, Natasha Kassam, Research Fellow in the Diplomacy and Public Opinion Program and Peter Hartcher, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and International Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. Topics covered included: how Australians' attitudes to the world and international relations are changing, important shifts in views of the United States, China and their respective leaders, and critical policy issues such as climate change, global cooperation, and the role of intelligence agencies.

On Tuesday 30 June, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an in conversation with Zanny Minton Beddoes, Editor-in-Chief of The Economist. Questions they addressed included - What have we learned from the pandemic about the state of globalisation? Has the US-China rivalry now become a fully fledged cold war? Is America too wounded to be the “leader of the free world”?

Zanny Minton Beddoes is the Editor-in-Chief of The Economist. Previously she was the business affairs editor, economics editor and The Economist’s emerging-markets correspondent. Ms Minton Beddoes joined the newspaper in 1994 after spending two years as an economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where she worked on macroeconomic adjustment programs in Africa and the transition economies of Eastern Europe. Before joining the IMF, she worked as an adviser to the minister of finance in Poland.

On Thursday 11 June, Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove hosted an ‘in conversation’ online event with Kurt Campbell and Michèle Flournoy. They discussed the US presidential election, Washington’s relations with Beijing, the global implications of the coronavirus pandemic, and the unrest on America's streets.

Kurt Campbell served as the Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs in the Obama administration, where he is widely credited as a key architect of the “pivot to Asia.” He is CEO of The Asia Group, and serves as Chairman of the Board of the Center for a New American Security.

Michèle Flournoy served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy in the Obama administration from 2009 to 2012. She is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors and Co-Founder and former CEO of the Center for a New American Security, where she serves on the board.