Just why the concept of soft power has become such an accepted explanation for the spread of Chinese influence in the Pacific islands is something of a conundrum. (The term ‘Pacific islands’ is used here …
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 …
‘Relations with Indonesia have provided the crucible of modern Australian foreign policy.’ —Bruce Grant, 1972 The great Australian scribe, Bruce Grant, penned that thought about Indonesia–Australia tests and trials in the year of a seminal …
Australia is an important Indian Ocean power and it needs to start acting like one. As ASPI’s new report, Australia’s second sea: Facing our multipolar future in the Indian Ocean argues, it’s clear that the …
‘You may not be interested in war, but war is interested in you.’ — Leon Trotsky To shift Trotsky’s line a few degrees, Australians may not be interested in foreign affairs, but foreign affairs is …