Australia’s prime minister has the power to launch a war. The almost unfettered right to take the nation into conflict is a stark and simple statement about our system and our history of wars. The …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
‘For a century, Australian leaders have been engaged in the war game. And just as a game has rules, there are rules for effectively playing the war leadership game.’ — David Horner, The war game: …
In a span of nearly 90 years—from 1914 to 2003—Australia chose to go to war nine times. In the 100 years from 1914, Australian military personnel were on active service for nearly half the time—47 …
‘Brothers and sisters—our region has not faced a more vexing set of circumstances for decades. The triple challenges of climate, Covid and strategic contest will challenge us in new ways. We understand that the security …
Last week’s meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders celebrated the region while confronting deeply familiar regional pressures. The big questions rang out in Fiji as they have since the forum was created 51 years ago. …
Before Shinzo Abe, Australia’s vital economic relationship with Japan had only small, slowly evolving defence, strategic and intelligence dimensions. By the time he finished as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Australia and Japan were quasi-allies. Before …
The central balance of international power this century will be set in the Indo-Pacific. So ends a 500-year stretch of history when the central balance was made in Europe and decided by the West. The …
Australia is to refashion defence policy with a force posture review, not a white paper. The policy the Labor Party took to the federal election on 21 May was for a ‘defence force posture review’. …
Myanmar is both tragedy and wicked problem. For theorists, a ‘wicked problem’ is a complex dilemma with no single solution or natural end point. For Myanmar, ‘wicked’ also means evil. In both senses of wicked, …
Australia is removing the qualifications from its quasi-alliance with Japan. The visit to Japan by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles is another step in the fading of the qualifiers: ‘quasi-alliance’, ‘small “a” …
A small proof that Australians live in interesting times (to borrow that apocryphal Chinese curse) is the interest directed at their country during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit. On his first trip as deputy prime …
The US and China came to Singapore’s Shangri-La security dialogue to argue and score points, to talk and to taunt. The face-off presented as drama and fight. As the reigning champ, the US got to …