Not since at least the end of the Cold War has it been so easy to paint a disturbing picture of the global strategic landscape. Ukraine’s sovereignty has been trashed by Russia. Large swaths of …
It’s budget week in Canberra. Politicians and influencers fly in to confab with stressed bureaucrats, complain about the cold and fog and watch autumn leaves falling faster than interest rates. At this time thoughts turn …
One of the topics at ASPI’s upcoming Army’s Future Force Structure Options Conference is ‘Land 400 and policy issues required for success’. A point of contention regarding LAND 400 Phase 2 is the estimated weight …
Every now and then a political earthquake shakes the land; an event that alters the frame of reference for years to come. Last week’s victory by British Conservative leader David Cameron is one such occasion. …
Dr Mark Thomson from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has authored a paper on The Strategist, analysing the recently released RAND report titled ‘Australia’s Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise – Preparing for the 21st Century.’ This memo …
The Asia Pacific is going through a vivid and significant rule-making tussle. It’s unusual because rule-making and norm formation usually involve inching through decades. Power hierarchies tend to shift gradually and thus rules, by definition, …
To help you delve deeper into the world of strategy and international security, here are this week’s reading picks and podcasts. Kicking off with Australia, channel your inner defence nerd with all Canberra papers published by ANU’s Strategic …
The Defence White Paper, to be released later this year, will set out how Australia will respond to its future strategic environment and will outline a strategy for securing Australia’s strategic interests in the period …
Recent developments in Ukraine are raising serious concerns about the credibility and trustworthiness of the Russian Federation as a member of the international community. The annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and Russia’s role in …
Sir James Plimsoll was a strategist. While his illustrious foreign service career might suggest that he was more an implementer than a crafter of policy, those of us who were privileged to see him at …
The Abbott government wants to accelerate the development of northern Australia. To advance that goal, Assistant Treasurer Josh Frydenberg recently announced a taskforce to explore options for reducing insurance premiums in northern Australia. The taskforce …
While China’s recent assertiveness in the South China Sea might shock and surprise today’s observers, its behaviour has actually been remarkably consistent over recent decades. China first exercised its power in the region in January …
The Beat AFP front the press following executions Following the executions of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran last week, the Australian Federal Police discussed their operations around the Bali 9‘s 2005 arrest. While the AFP …
With preparations for the 2015 Defence White Paper well underway, I’d like to offer some thoughts about how strategic policy is—ideally—made. I see strategy as the purposeful actions undertaken by an actor within a specific …
The cyber wrap is back after ICPC’s short break attending the Global Conference on Cyberspace in The Hague. Stay tuned for a series of blogs about the event soon, but in the meantime you can …
When Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao participated in the founding meeting of the Central and Eastern European (CEE)–China Summit in Warsaw April 2012, it seemed few in Canberra asked why Poland was chosen by China …
Under the banner of a new special relationship, we are currently witnessing a second evolution of Japan–Australia strategic relations. Looking back, the relationship’s evolution has had two distinct phases; the first phase of evolution started …
When Prime Minister Tony Abbott opened the Australian memorial at New Zealand’s Pukeahu National War Memorial Park, he declared that New Zealand defence force personnel deploying to Iraq would be ‘splendid sons of ANZAC’. In …
Sea State This week’s release of ministerial advice under freedom of information laws has revealed that by discussing the high likelihood of Japan winning the SEA 1000 contract last year, Prime Minister Abbott acted against …
Commissioned in September 2014 under a $2.5 million contract, the RAND report Australian’s Naval Shipbuilding Enterprise: Preparing for the 21st Century was released on 16 April 2015. The government says it’s developing an ‘enterprise-level Naval Shipbuilding …