The Lowy Institute

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) process has focused on commitments of developed countries with an exclusive goal of emission reductions from historical base year emissions. However, these baseline emissions trend vary widely, and achieving similar targets can require very different efforts by different countries at different times. These differences have greatly hampered climate cooperation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 9 July, Professor Margaret MacMillan, Professor of International History at the University of Oxford and the Warden of St Antony’s College, discussed how history casts a shadow over the present in more ways than we realise, in a presentation entitled 'Dangerous games: The uses and abuses of history'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 28 September 2009, as part of the Institute's Distinguished Speaker Series, the Lowy Institute was pleased to host H.E. Prof. László Sólyom, the President of the Republic of Hungary, who discussed how the experiment in Central and Eastern Europe started twenty years ago offers parallels and transferable experiences which may be relevant for the planning, launching and leading of a peaceful global transition to social and environmental sustainability.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 14 November 2007, Mr Peter Beck, Executive Director of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, spoke on the plight of a large number of ordinary people who have fled the hardship of life in North Korea to a precarious existence in China. His presentation was entitled 'Perilous journeys: the plight of North Korean refugees in China and beyond.'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 18 July, the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute, Allan Gyngell, addressed the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy about his new Policy Brief, entitled Design faults: the Asia Pacific’s regional architecture.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Wednesday Lunch on 24 September, Non–resident Fellow Lydia Khalil shared her recent experiences traveling and working in Iraq and Afghanistan and discussed how commonalities can be applied to successful stability operations in these and any other potential conflict zone.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For more than half a century the view that radiation represents an extreme hazard has been accepted. At the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 20 October, Professor Wade Allison challenged that view by facing the question "How dangerous is ionising radiation?"See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 13-14 November, Japan hosted the 18th APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Yokohama. Mark Johnson, who was at Yokohama as one of the three Australian representatives on the APEC Business Advisory Council, provided a report card on the Yokohama meetings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 23 June, Mark Thirlwell, Director of the Institute’s International Economy program, discussed the entanglement of international economics, geopolitics and security, and assessed whether we are headed for a new age of geo-economics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday 16 July, Australia's Defence Minister, Senator John Faulkner, spoke at the Lowy Institute to discuss Australia's commitment and contribution to the ISAF effort in Afghanistan, in the context of Australian strategic objectives, operational developments and the challenge of capacity building.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2010 Dr John Gee Memorial Lecture, 'Can we eliminate nuclear weapons?', was presented by Joseph Cirincione, who has devoted a long career to the study of nuclear non-proliferation and nuclear disarmament. He is currently the President of Ploughshares Fund.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Lecture Series - Dr Alexey Muraviev and Professor Graeme Gill At the Lowy Lecture on 12 April 2012, Russia experts Dr Alexey Muraviev and Professor Graeme Gill discussed what a Putin presidency will mean for the world and the Asia-Pacific region.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Lecture Series - Dr Donghyun Park and Emma Veve presentations The Asian Development Bank unveiled its 2012 Asian Development Outlook at the Wednesday Lowy Lecture on 11 April 2012. The Asian Development Outlook is the ADB's annual flagship economic report which provides a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic issues in developing Asia and Pacific.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, the Lowy Institute convened a panel on 7 March 2012 to discuss how Japan's government, society and economy have responded to the tragedy, and whether its effects will continue to shape Japan's internal and external policies into the future. The panellists were Manuel Panagiotopoulos, Professor Jenny Corbett, Greg Earl and Dr Michael Fullilove (moderator).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index is a ground-breaking project to publicly benchmark nuclear materials security conditions on a country-by-country basis. The Index, prepared with the Economist Intelligence Unit with guidance from international experts, was created to spark an international discussion about priorities required to strengthen security, and encourage governments to take actions to reduce risks. On 5 March 2012, the Lowy Institute held a special briefing about the NTI Nuclear Materials Security Index followed by a Q&A session with co-lead of the NTI Index project, Deepti Choubey, the NTI Senior Director for Nuclear and Bio-Security. Lowy Institute Visiting Fellow John Carlson, an expert panellist for the Index, acted as discussant.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 29 March 2012, in the Lowy Lecture Series, Professor Alan Dupont launched his a new Lowy Institute Policy Brief, 'Inflection Point: The Australian Defence Force after Afghanistan', which suggests that as the ADF transitions from involvement in the Afghanistan conflict the risks of failing to adjust and adapt to new security circumstances are especially high.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The issue of refugees and asylum-seekers provokes heated public debate in many countries around the world, including in Australia. On 14 February 2012, in an address in the Lowy Institute's Distinguished Speaker Series, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, examined emerging developments and trends in forced displacement around the world and the complex, inter-related factors which cause people to flee their homes in search of safety, security and protection. He gave his vision as to how States, working with UNHCR and the United Nations, can more effectively address the humanitarian protection and human security imperatives of forced displacement in ways that also respond to States' legitimate concerns about their own security and that of their people.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Scientists, and experts more generally, have choices about the roles that they play in today's political debates on topics such as global warming, genetically modified foods, and food and drug safety, just to name a few. On Tuesday 7 February 2012, in the Lowy Lecture Series, Professor in Environmental Studies at the University of Colorado, Roger Pielke, discussed how we can understand these choices, their theoretical and empirical bases, what considerations are important to think about when deciding, and the consequences for the individual scientist and the broader scientific enterprise.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Lowy Lecture on 14 December 2011, Dr Khalid Koser reviewed and assessed the Australian government's efforts to reduce unauthorised boat arrivals over the last year. He provided a roadmap to more effective policy over the next year, drawing on lessons learned from European experiences of reducing flows of asylum seekers and irregular migrants.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Lowy Lecture on 2 November 2011, Dr Albert Palazzo from the Australian Army's Directorate of Research and Analysis contrasted the US and Australia's success in achieving their strategic objectives in going to war with Iraq. He argued that in Iraq the United States failed to achieve its purpose in going to war, but by contrast the war proved a victory for Australia – an outcome determined by the two countries' different strategic objectives. He assessed how Australia, as a minor coalition partner, orchestrated this success, and whether it was worthwhile.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.