A new dawn under cloudy skies

After the relief of Trump’s departure, each democratic ally in the Asia-Pacific region is assessing how the new American president will approach their bilateral relationship and the growing threat of Chinese aggression.

Australia’s incrementalist hedging in a fractured world order

Australia faces challenging circumstances. Its economic wellbeing is increasingly tied to a country, China, that is becoming the enemy of its security guarantor, the United States. The corrosion of liberal institutions reduces Australia’s options and constrains its scope for influence.

Assessing the Bishop era of Australian foreign policy

As time goes by, we will notice the opportunity Julie Bishop missed to make a decisive impact in charting Australia’s course during a period of historical importance.

Australia’s Rules-Based International Order

The ‘rules-based international order’ has become a rhetorical centrepiece of Australian international policy. One of the challenges in the current moment is that the rules and principles that were built on the foundation of American primacy are being questioned as power shifts.

Will Australia defend the ‘rules-based order’ in Asia?

The heated and polarised debate about the consequences of China’s increasing military assertiveness has raised doubts about the future of the ‘rules-based order’ in the region, as invoked by the Turnbull government in numerous speeches and policy statements.

Australia’s anti-climactic ASEAN Summit

The ASEAN Summit in Sydney offered many words but little action. If Australia wants to make Southeast Asia the ‘strategic fulcrum’ of its Indo-Pacific strategy, it needs to look well beyond ASEAN as its means.