Racism has emerged as a security issue—yet again. This has been brought home dramatically by the attack in Christchurch and the responses. Like many nations, Australia has had to deal with deadly violence from residents …
Articles by: "Mike Scrafton"
President Emmanuel Macron’s address to the ‘citizens of Europe’ is directed at the upcoming European Parliament elections. The European Parliament is a directly elected EU body with legislative, supervisory and budgetary responsibilities, and in the …
In a series of contributions to The Strategist over the past few months, Senator Jim Molan has been making the case for Australia to develop a national security strategy. It’s a notion that has merit. …
The proper use of military force in international relations is the indispensable subject of strategic policy. The national interests that could be promoted, protected or secured by the use or threat of military force, and …
The recent announcements about Australian and US investment in a base at Lombrum on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea has elicited positive, yet guarded, support. Putting aside the real value to PNG of being …
Violence by white supremacists presents a far more insidious policy problem than other forms of violent extremism. White supremacists find their intellectual, psychological, emotional and social bearings in a complex and sustaining ideological, cultural and …
In March 1950, Australia’s external affairs minister Percy Spender set out the Menzies government’s appreciation of the international situation in a parliamentary speech. The aims of Australian foreign policy, he declared, ‘are essentially the preservation …
Being seen as the global champion of democratic values has underpinned US global leadership as much as its economic and military preponderance. As this perception ebbs, the accompanying erosion of domestic support among European allies …
Were fascism to ascend again in Europe, international security would be menaced and the liberal international order be even more imperilled. However, Europe’s current far-right parties fail to meet the minimum fascist criteria. Just as …
Al-Qaeda’s destruction of the Twin Towers on 11 September 2001 brought the wrath of the world’s greatest military force and its allies down on the perpetrators, their sponsors and supporters, and any fraternal organisations or …
The Irish border is a potent symbol and evidence of how innovative policy can resolve seemingly intractable problems. The extreme political violence that plagued Northern Ireland and Britain only ended with an adjustment to thinking …
Good policymaking, including strategic policymaking, requires a number of steps. There has to be an objective reason why the government should or shouldn’t act. The options then need to be identified and assessed for efficacy, …