The Lowy Institute

Western militaries in the early 21st century find themselves busy with land-based stabilisation and counter-insurgency missions. Yet at the same time, many countries are embarking on major new investments in naval capabilities. Australia, for instance, recently announced its selection of three air warfare destroyers and two large 'strategic projection' transport ships. This week at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Dr Norman Friedman, a leading U.S. expert on strategic and naval affairs, explored why naval power still matters.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 5 December at a Tuesday Lunch at Lowy, Dr Ron Pundak, Executive Director of the Peres Center for Peace, spoke on the topic, 'The role of an NGO in the Middle East'. The Peres Center was founded in 1996 by Nobel laureate Shimon Peres with the aim of building peace by promoting socio-economic cooperation and people-to-people relations in the Middle East.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 23 October, as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series, the Lowy Institute for International Policy hosted a panel discussion with three of America's leading experts on terrorism, Marc Sageman, Steve Coll and Daniel Benjamin. They discussed future trends in global terrorism, providing unique insights into how this international threat is likely to evolve over coming years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 9 August, Dr Michael Fulilove launched his new Policy Brief, entitled Capital punishment and Australian foreign policy. In the wake of Van Nguyen's execution and with at least four Australians currently at risk of execution, the death penalty is a controversial topic in this country. In his Policy Brief, Michael examines how the Australian Government's abolitionist position plays out in its advocacy on behalf of Australians on death row and its work on comprehensive abolition. The Brief offers several strong policy recommendations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Fukushima crisis has provoked a furious debate about the future of nuclear energy. Polling in Australia shows a return to a solid majority opposing nuclear power for Australia as part of our future energy mix. The Australian political leadership has declared the subject out of bounds. At a special Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 20 April, three expert industry panellists discussed the future of nuclear energy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 21 June 2010, the Lowy Institute held a lecture by the President of the Federation of American Scientists, Dr Charles Ferguson, as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series. Dr Ferguson examined the links between civil nuclear energy and nuclear weapons proliferation. In light of the growing number of states which have signed peaceful nuclear energy cooperation deals, the lecture focused on the increasing risks of an attack upon, or sabotage of, civil nuclear facilities. Dr Ferguson was in Australia as a guest of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and this event was supported by the Lowy Institute’s partnership with the Nuclear Security Project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Following the sudden disappearance in the 1960s and 1970s of the familiar coordinates of the British world, Australians were cast into the realm of the unknown. The task of remodelling the national image touched every aspect of Australian life where identifiably British ideas, habits and symbols had grown obsolete. At the Wednesday Lunch on 26 May, James Curran examined the task of finding a stable, coherent policy basis for a 'more independent' footing for Australia’s foreign relations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 19 May, the Lowy Institute was delighted to welcome back Lord May of Oxford, a member of the Institute’s International Advisory Council, to speak on climate change as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series. Lord May argued that although it is beyond dispute that the burning of fossil fuels is thickening Earth’s greenhouse gas blanket (to levels not seen for tens of millions of years), there remain some uncertainties about the severity of particular adverse consequences and the timescales for manifestation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The global financial crisis is having a significant impact on international migration: for the first time in 25 years there has been a reduction in labour migration flows around the world; growing numbers of migrant workers are losing their jobs and returning home; the global value of remittances will reduce significantly in 2009; employment, living and working conditions are deteriorating for many migrant workers; and many states are adopting restrictive admission and work permit policies to protect the national labour market. This presentation by Dr Khalid Koser considers the implications of these changes for Australian domestic and foreign policy, considering lessons learned from elsewhere in the world as well as from responses to earlier economic and financial crises.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 21 February 2008, as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series, the Lowy Institute hosted a speech by Ira C. Magaziner, the Chairman of the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative and the Clinton Climate Initiative on the issue of 'Climate change: Converting words into action'. In his presentation Mr Magaziner focused on the importance of implementation of large-scale measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US presidential campaign is heating up, and the foreign policy credentials and plans of the various candidates are near the centre of the debate. On 15 January 2008, as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series, the Lowy Institute hosted a speech by a leading US foreign policymaker and scholar, the Honourable Mitchell B. Reiss. Dr Reiss talked about the campaign's implications for American foreign policy in a presentation entitled 'The presidential election and US foreign policy: what to expect'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 19 September at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Waleed Aly, in a presentation entitled 'Liquid terror: the dynamics of home-grown radicalisation', examined the contentious issue of radicalisation in Western Muslim communities. Waleed Aly was a board member of the Islamic Council of Victoria for over four years and comments frequently for the media on a range of issues relating to Islam and Western Muslims. In 2007, he was named one of The Bulletin magazine's 'Smart 100'. He is the author of the recently published 'People Like Us: How arrogance is dividing Islam and the West'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 20 June, Rory Medcalf, Program Director International Security, assessed the likely impacts of a powerful India on Australia's future strategic environment. He drew upon his experience as a diplomat in New Delhi to consider the sources of India's new confidence as a geopolitical player, the drivers of Indian strategic behaviour, and the prospects for security partnerships with New Delhi. He suggested that, for Australia, the hard decisions in engaging India lay ahead. This presentation was reported widely in the Indian press.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 21 February at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Anthony Bubalo launched the Lowy Institute's fifth and newest program, the West Asia Program, incorporating the Middle East and South Asia. In his presentation Anthony explored the reasons why, today, it makes less sense to view these two regions separately, at least from a strategic perspective. He argued that the issues that increasingly gave 'West Asia' coherence as a single region were the same issues that were making the region an enduring part of Australia's strategic calculus.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Tuesday 30 June the Lowy Institute was pleased to host a lecture in its Distinguished Speaker Series by the author and political adviser Graham Freudenberg AM. The title of the lecture was: 'Australasian Anxieties: How Winston Churchill shaped Australia's relations with Britain, Japan and the United States for six decades'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the past few weeks our TV news and newspaper front pages have shown us chaotic images from downtown Bangkok. These pictures and the violent political tensions they portray run counter to the touristic stereotype of Thailand as a relaxed country of smiles. On 9 June, Dr Milton Osborne, recently back from a trip to Thailand, discussed the present political situation in Thailand and its struggle between the Yellow and Red Shirts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 24 June, Rory Medcalf, Program Director International Security, drew upon recent consultations in the region to warn that efforts to reduce global nuclear dangers will founder if they do not account for the rising strategic concerns of North Asian powers, especially China and Japan. Mr Medcalf’s research for this presentation was supported by the Lowy Institute’s partnership with the Nuclear Security Project (www.nuclearsecurityproject.org).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 1 October 2008, Dr Marcus Noland, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, spoke about North Korea and how its nuclear ambitions and geographic position draw the attention of the other powers in Northeast Asia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 26 July at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Professor Hugh White addressed the challenges of modern armies and humanitarian missions. His presentation was entitled 'A force for good? Modern armies and humanitarian missions'. Professor White contended that armed forces are not very good at many humanitarian roles, and indeed they might be better off sticking to the job for which they are designed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 27 August 2008, rising terrorism specialist Dr Adam Dolnik looked at the successes and failures of the field of terrorism studies, and offered some explanations about why people become terrorists.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.