Arrangements between sovereign states fall into one of two broad categories (putting colonialism and suzerainty aside): hegemony and balance of power. Is Australia facing a succession of hegemons or a world in which there is …
Articles by: "Mike Scrafton"
In 1918 prominent American philosopher James H. Tufts asked, ‘Is there, can there be, any ethics of international relations?’ In the turbulent century since, that question has inspired many attempts at an answer. Contemporary events …
The 2016 Defence White Paper stated that the nine new future frigates will be ‘optimised for anti-submarine warfare’. According to the Turnbull government, they will be ‘one of the world’s most advanced anti-submarine warfare frigates’. It …
Donald Trump is now expected to hold a summit meeting with Vladimir Putin possibly as early as next month. His self-assessment of the success of his meeting with Kim Jung-un is probably a factor. President …
Two coming elections will have massive implications for Australia’s external relations. The outcome of the US 2018 mid-term elections will determine the course of the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidential term. The result …
It should be the keen hope of everyone that Donald Trump’s engagement with Kim Jong-un in Singapore leads to denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. If Trump can untangle one of the world’s most obdurate security …
The increase in authoritarianism and illiberal democracy is a concern for those who see an indissoluble bond between capitalism and democracy. And it’s a worry for those who believe that international liberalism is required to …
The White House’s implacable hostility to the Iran nuclear deal—the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action—coupled with the administration’s policy lockstep with Israel and Saudi Arabia on Iran, just brings the Middle East to the brink …
Under Xi Jinping, China has a grand strategy to reshape the current geopolitical landscape. Xi has set out an integrated and coherent set of ideas about China’s ultimate objectives in the international system, and how …
There’s a problem now with Australia’s strategic logic. It isn’t a criticism of previous strategic guidance documents that they failed to anticipate seminal events that affected the international environment: the 1991 collapse of the Soviet …
The strategic competition between the US and China dominates the Australian security and foreign policy discourse because of the geographic proximity of East Asia. Naturally, developments and events in that region that affect Australian interests …
Yet another election poses problems for the European Union (EU). Whatever the outcome in the Italian poll on 4 March, the eurozone will be weakened, EU unity tested and Russia’s influence in Europe enhanced. The …