Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Gorbachev changed the world

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 …

Parliament and the Australian way of war

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 …

Ten rules of the Australian way of war

‘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: …

The Australian way of war

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 …

Abe changed Japan’s meaning for Australia

Before Shinzo Abe, Australia’s vital economic relationship with Japan had only small, slowly evolving defence, strategic and intelligence dimensions. By the time he finished as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Australia and Japan were quasi-allies. Before …

Myanmar’s wicked tragedy

Myanmar is both tragedy and wicked problem. For theorists, a ‘wicked problem’ is a complex dilemma with no single solution or natural end point. For Myanmar, ‘wicked’ also means evil. In both senses of wicked, …