Editors’ picks for 2019: ‘The new global technological divide’

Originally published 11 July 2019. This year is proving to be something of a watershed in technology. Government and professional bodies are considering or acting on controls around technologies such as artificial intelligence and encryption. The United States, like Australia and New Zealand, banned …

Merry Christmas from The Strategist

The Strategist team is taking a bit of a break. Starting on Boxing Day, we’ll be republishing some of our favourite posts from 2019. Thank you very much for reading and supporting The Strategist over the …

Not another Arab Spring

‘A spectre is haunting the rich world. It is the spectre of ungovernability’, began an editorial in The Economist earlier this year, paraphrasing the opening line of The Communist Manifesto. But it is not only …

Pragmatism, politics and the rise of China

It was a lively evening recently at Hurricane’s, the new Australian ribs joint in Beijing, with pin-up snowboarder Scotty James charming a large crowd of excited young Chinese as the snow swirled around outside—a seemingly …

The illusion of a rules-based global order

When the Cold War ended, many pundits anticipated a new era in which geoeconomics would determine geopolitics. As economic integration progressed, they predicted, the rules-based order would take root globally. Countries would comply with international …

Framing the islands: strategic denial and integration

‘The stability and economic progress of Papua New Guinea, other Pacific island countries and Timor-Leste is of fundamental importance to Australia.’ Australian foreign policy white paper, 2017 Australia’s deepest, oldest instinct in the South Pacific …

Free trade isn’t dead yet

Conflict over trade dominated the economic headlines in 2019, so it’s surprising that the year ended with significant progress on three trade agreements. Each tells a different story about the outlook both for the global …