Zhou Enlai, China’s first premier, was arguably one of the best diplomats of the 20th century. Maintaining connections between the outside world and a revolutionary government that had thrown out the baby, the bathwater and …
Articles by: "Allan Behm"
The ramshackle character of public policy is most clearly on show when senior ministers go freelancing. Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton’s leap into the China fray might have felt good to a frustrated former policeman, …
Hugh White’s book How to defend Australia tries to square the circle that has become the global community’s critical security problem: reconciling China’s growing strategic power with the dramatic loss of US strategic authority. China …
Britain’s The Economist is renowned for its measure, sobriety and understatement. So when the lead editorial in its 16 March 2019 edition solemnly announced that ‘the country is lost … it is a laughing-stock’, clearly …
Originally published 16 November 2017. Sadly, hermeneutics—or exegesis as it was formerly known—is not much in vogue these days. Maybe that reflects the fact that most of us rely on translation for our glimpses into …
Sadly, hermeneutics—or exegesis as it was formerly known—is not much in vogue these days. Maybe that reflects the fact that most of us rely on translation for our glimpses into the texts written in ancient …
As the Trump bandwagon rolls down Pennsylvania Avenue and into the White House, the Australian government faces a number of policy conundrums, solutions to which will strain both its policymaking skills and its resolve. The …
Originally published 19 April 2016. For those privileged to attend the second day of ASPI’s Defence White Paper: from the Page to Reality conference on 8 April 2016, the address by the former President of …
…the tough get going—trite, perhaps, but appropriate in our current circumstances. 2016 ends in a much darker place than it started. The sense of reluctant resignation with which the year began has morphed into doubt …
If Heath Ledger could comment on the outcome of the US Presidential contest, he might suggest that, in politics and human commerce more generally, life imitates art. His portrayal of anarchy and disruption in The …
With the spectre of a Trump presidency on the wane, governments everywhere—especially the allies of the US—are breathing a collective sigh of relief. What they really need to do is to begin thinking about the …
Australia needs a forward-looking foreign policy to guide the efforts of our hardworking diplomats. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s intention, as reported recently, to commission a Foreign Policy White Paper is timely. As Graeme Dobell’s post …