In the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual Democracy Index published in early February, the world’s top five democracies are Norway, Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Canada. North Korea sits triumphantly at the bottom. India is classified …
Beijing has long understood that China has a water-security problem that could pose an existential threat. In 2005, China’s minister for water resources reportedly said, ‘To fight for every drop of water or die: that …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison may be forecasting ‘a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific’ with the arrival of the Quad meeting of Australian, Japanese, Indian and US leaders, but we would do well to remember the …
‘We strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values, and unconstrained by coercion.’ — Quad leaders’ joint statement, ‘The spirit of the Quad’, 13 March 2021 The leaders’ meeting of …
As countries scramble to secure Covid-19 vaccines, ugly expressions like ‘vaccine race’ and ‘vaccine nationalism’ have entered the global lexicon. But, at a time when global cooperation in sharing vaccines is minimal, and the World …




