The Lowy Institute

The Interpreter's Managing Editor Emma Connors talks to Lowy Institute Research Fellow Rodger Shanahan on the threat of foreign fighters leaving Iraq and Syria as Islamic State continues to weaken.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“A Trump presidency could open the way for China’s strategic dominance in Asia and elsewhere”, David Ignatius wrote recently in his Washington Post column. Ignatius, one of America’s most distinguished foreign-policy writers, is coming to Melbourne to discuss the upcoming presidential poll, and what it means for America’s place in Asia and the world. On 22 August the Lowy Institute hosted an address from David at the National Gallery of Victoria on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and America’s direction under a new president.David Ignatius is the Lowy Institute’s 2016 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow. David writes a foreign affairs column for the Washington Post and is one of America’s most respected foreign-policy commentators. David has also written eight spy novels. He joined The Post in 1986 and in 1990 he became foreign editor. He began writing his column in 1998 and continued even during a three-year stint as executive editor of the International Herald Tribune in Paris. David has received mult

On 16 August, the Lowy Institute hosted David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist and 2016 Telstra Distinguished International Fellow, for an address on the decay of the Middle East, the rise of a more assertive China, and America’s response to these challenges under a new president.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 11 August, at the 2016 Lowy Institute Media Awards dinner, the keynote address was delivered by Michelle Guthrie, managing director of the ABC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 10 August the Lowy Institute hosted an address from James Cockayne, a strategist, international lawyer and writer. A visiting lecturer at Columbia University, a Hauser scholar at New York University School of Law, and a University Medallist in government and public administration at the University of Sydney, Dr. Cockayne has worked in public service, academia and the advocacy arena. He was Co-Director of the Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation, leading their work in New York and Africa. Earlier, Dr. Cockayne served as Principal Legal Officer in the Transnational Crime and Extradition Units in the Australian Attorney-General’s Department; as Chair of the Editorial Committee of the Journal of International Criminal Justice; and also as a civil society member of the multistakeholder group that established an oversight mechanism for the International Code of Conduct for Private Security Providers.Dr. Cockayne has at various times been a consultant and adviser to the UN Department of Peacekeeping Oper

Sydney became the world’s infrastructure capital in 2014 with the establishment of the Global Infrastructure Hub by the G20. On 4 August, the Lowy Institute hosted Global Infrastructure Hub CEO Chris Heathcote in conversation with G20 Studies Centre Project Director Tristram Sainsbury. Heathcote and Sainsbury discussed the Hub’s work to unlock an additional $2 trillion in global infrastructure capacity to 2030. Chris Heathcote was appointed CEO of the Global Infrastructure Hub in June 2015. He has extensive international experience with large infrastructure projects. Previously, Chris was a Director of Macquarie Infrastructure and Real Assets in the United Kingdom. His additional, recent, private sector experience includes positions held with WestLB AG and Lloyds Banking Group. During his time with these companies, Chris was involved in infrastructure projects in the United States, Europe, Turkey, China, the Ivory Coast and Australia.Chris also served as head of project finance at Partnerships UK (a joint UK

In recent years China has been increasingly assertive, especially in its own Asia-Pacific neighbourhood. On 2 August RAND Corporation senior political scientist Dr Andrew Scobell explored what is China seeking and where Australia fits in this search.Dr Andrew Scobell is a senior political scientist at the RAND Corporation. Prior to this he was an associate professor of international affairs at the George H. W. Bush School of Government and Public Service and director of the China certificate program at Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas. From 1999 until 2007, he was associate research professor in the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College and adjunct professor of political science at Dickinson College, both located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Scobell is author of China's Search for Security (Columbia University Press, 2012) with Andrew J. Nathan, China's Use of Military Force: Beyond the Great Wall and the Long March (Cambridge University Press, 2003).See omnystudio.com/liste

Lowy Institute International Security Program Director Euan Graham talks to RAND Corporation's Andrew Scobell on the US-China relationship, and where it leaves Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emma Connors speaks to Sir Lawrence Freedman the Chinese perspective of the South China Sea, and our particularly tumultuous time in history.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 27 July, Sir Lawrence Freedman, Vice-Principal and Professor of War Studies at King's College, explored the role of historical analogies in foreign policymaking. He also examined the importance of understanding the origins of contemporary events and the meaning of historical experience warning of the abuse of historical parallels and analogies, and the danger of stripping past events from their context. A member of the official inquiry into the United Kingdom's role in the 2003 Iraq War, Sir Lawrence is a world-renowned strategist. He has also held research appointments at Nuffield College Oxford, the International Institute for Strategic Studies and the Royal Institute of International Affairs. A Fellow of the British Academy, Sir Lawrence is a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and Knight Commander of St Michael and St George (KCMG).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 20 July at Paddington Town Hall, United States Vice President Joe Biden addressed the Lowy Institute and the United States Studies Centre on the Australia-US relationship.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 19 July 1916, the Australian 5th and British 61st Divisions attacked German positions near Fromelles. In less than 24 hours the 5th had suffered 5533 casualties, making the Battle of Fromelles one of the bloodiest battles in Australia’s military history and a costly introduction to the Western Front.On 18 July 2016, the Lowy Institute convened a panel of Dr Euan Graham, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program; Professors Hew Strachan from the University of St Andrews; Joan Beaumont from the Australian National University; and Jeffrey Grey from UNSW Canberra to reflect on the significance of Fromelles within the Allies’ strategy on the Western Front in 1916, and its wider social and national impact in Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Institute Research Fellow Aaron Connelly talks to Cornell University's Thomas Pepinsky on the state of Malaysia's domestic politics, how the world sees Malaysia, and how it will likely position itself in the context of rising US-China tensions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 30 June, the Lowy Institute hosted a panel discussion with Polling Program Director Alex Oliver, International Security Program Director Euan Graham, and International Economy Program Director Leon Berkelmans (moderated by Research Director Anthony Bubalo) to explore the repercussions of the 'leave' vote and discuss what Brexit will mean for Australia, our region and our international partners.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Malcolm Cook speaks to Emma Connors on the inauguration of president-elect Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines and what his leadership will likely mean for Philippine security policy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The International Organisation for Migration will publish its Global Migrant Smuggling Report in June 2016. On 30 June, Dr Frank Laczko, Director of IOM Global Migration Data Analysis Centre in Berlin, discussed current trends in migrant smuggling in Europe and Asia, its complex reality with human trafficking and asylum seeking. Dr Jiyoung Song, Program Director of Migration and Border Policy at the Lowy Institute, moderated the session.Frank Laczko is the Director of IOM’s recently established Global Migration Data Analysis Centre. He was previously based in Geneva, where he led IOM’s Migration Research Division. He is the co-chair of the Data and Research Group of the Global Migration Group, editor of IOM/Springer Global Migration Issues book series and co-editor of Migration Policy Practice, a journal for migration policymakers and practitioners.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In recent years Russia’s military adventures abroad have captured the most attention in the West. But as, if not more, important is what has been happening inside Putin’s Russia. On 28 June, Lowy Institute Deputy Director Anthony Bubalo hosted a conversation with two of Australia’s leading Russia watchers, Stephen Fortescue and Kyle Wilson, who discussed Russia's domestic political and economic developments and prospects.Stephen Fortescue is Honorary Associate Professor in Russian Politics at the University of New South Wales, and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for European Studies, Australian National University. His areas of research interest include the contemporary Russian policy-making process, business-state relations, and Russia's commercial involvement in the Asia Pacific. He received his PhD in Soviet Politics from the Australian National University Kyle Wilson is a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University. From 2004-2013 he was Senior Analyst for Russia and Central Asia at the Office of

It has been nearly two years since Joko Widodo was elected president of Indonesia. Though he has launched an ambitious domestic reform agenda, critics claim that Jokowi has overseen an erosion of Indonesia's international influence, and has strained relations with its neighbours through nationalist policies on drug trafficking and illegal fishing. Others argue that Jokowi is merely seeking to put Indonesia first after 10 years under SBY, a period during which Indonesia focused more on its image abroad than reform at home. On 21 June, the Lowy Institute hosted a conversation with Lowy Institute Research Fellow Aaron Connelly and Dewi Fortuna Anwar. Professor Anwar is among Indonesia's leading scholars and practitioners of foreign policy. She has served as the chief foreign policy advisor to both the current vice president and his predecessor. Professor Anwar previously served as a top foreign policy advisor to President BJ Habibie, and as the first director of the Habibie Center in Jakarta. She is a professor

On Monday, 20 June the Lowy Institute hosted the Hon. Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, as part of a series of lectures by political leaders in the lead-up to the 2016 federal election.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 31 May the Institute hosted the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Development, the Hon Tanya Plibersek MP, who spoke on how Australia can be a better international citizen.Elected to Federal Parliament as the Member for Sydney in 1998, Ms Plibersek’s ministerial appointments have included Minister for Health, Minister for Medical Research, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for Human Services, Minister for the Status of Women, and Minister for Housing.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.