Enough time has passed for the presumptions about the international environment, the strategic logic and the national objectives of the 2016 defence white paper (DWP 2016) to be assessed. This record of Australia’s strategic policy …
The Strategist on: "Australia’s security—a Plan B"
Open any report, article or blog piece on the contemporary strategic environment and you’re likely to find two contradictory statements. Uncertainty has never been higher, and yet we’re told the need for long-term planning has …
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. …
In the lead-up to each federal election, ASPI releases its Agenda for change: Strategic choices for the next government to help shape election platforms and public debate. This year the report contains 30 short essays …
The attack on Pearl Harbor is generally seen, by both Americans and Australians, as the most momentous event of December 1941. However, another event occurred three days later that is of much greater significance because …
Worry abounds. There are calls for radically new defence policies, a defence Plan B, a doubling of defence spending, a nuclear deterrent, a conventional one and, most recently, a national security strategy. However, before jumping …
There’s been a lot of talk on The Strategist lately about a Plan B for Australia’s defence. Much of the discussion has called for increased defence spending and greater action by Australia to support the …
Australia has long been ‘the lucky country’—basking in endless beaches, summer barbecues, democratic government, and mineral wealth. It’s also been lucky in terms of its strategic policy, able to ride the coat-tails of a global …
Bob Moyse’s recent piece for The Strategist raises a number of issues that are vital for the future of Australia’s security. He argues that debates about force structure have, until recently, largely been focused at …
Given that our relative wealth and strategic position in the region are diminishing, the aptly named ‘Asian century’ brings with it a challenge: Australia needs to get real, seriously real, on defence spending, especially in …
Almost a year ago, Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith wrote an important ASPI paper in which they acknowledged, for the first time, that China’s growing power and ambition constitutes a major shift in Australia’s strategic …
Australia’s international security outlook is starting to look very unpredictable and potentially threatening. Australian defence planners must now deal with a world which is very different from any they have known before. America is undermining …