The first US summit with South Pacific leaders offers symbolism and the chance of future substance. The US announces, ‘We’re back!’ The summit on Wednesday and Thursday is a statement that the US can no …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Since the modern South Pacific arrived in the 1960s and 1970s, the United States has handed significant regional responsibility to Australia and New Zealand. America would do the duties of the big external power in …
‘It is up to all of us to work towards a strategic equilibrium in the region.’ — Foreign Minister Penny Wong, Singapore, July 2022 The Asian century isn’t turning out how Australia had hoped. A …
‘The past decade has seen a huge turnaround in Australia’s attitudes towards China. Handling this relationship is unquestionably our biggest foreign policy challenge at present. China is our largest export destination. Approximately 1.4 million Australians …
Great powers don’t die in bed, the realist judgement goes. Empires fall amid flames and war. Not so, answered Mikhail Gorbachev, proving his greatness by achieving the gentle end of the Soviet Union. Gorbachev’s achievement …
Australia’s parliament has little chance to place legal limits on the profound prerogative of the prime minister and the executive to take the country to war. Instead of pushing against the constitution, look to build …
The way Australia goes to war needs new conventions to give parliament a greater role in the weightiest choice any nation can make. Creating parliamentary customs or conventions is the only realistic way to touch …
Australia’s prime minister has the power to launch a war. The almost unfettered right to take the nation into conflict is a stark and simple statement about our system and our history of wars. The …
‘For a century, Australian leaders have been engaged in the war game. And just as a game has rules, there are rules for effectively playing the war leadership game.’ — David Horner, The war game: …
In a span of nearly 90 years—from 1914 to 2003—Australia chose to go to war nine times. In the 100 years from 1914, Australian military personnel were on active service for nearly half the time—47 …
‘Brothers and sisters—our region has not faced a more vexing set of circumstances for decades. The triple challenges of climate, Covid and strategic contest will challenge us in new ways. We understand that the security …
Last week’s meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders celebrated the region while confronting deeply familiar regional pressures. The big questions rang out in Fiji as they have since the forum was created 51 years ago. …