Lowy Institute

On 29 May, in a lecture in our Distinguished Speaker Series, Dr Michael Green from the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington discussed America's position in Asia and the challenges for the next Administration. The presentation first looked at what the Bush administration's Asia policy is and what the approaching debates are in Washington, and beyond, over this policy, in the run-up to the US elections. Also, the presentation looked at the role of the US-Australia alliance in the present policy and what changes to this policy may mean for the alliance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The third Lowy Lecture on 'Australia in the World' was given in Sydney on 19 November by Lord May of Oxford. It deals with one of the most urgent problems we face - the consequence for the international system of the range of environmental challenges facing the planet. Informed by his deep scientific and public policy experience, Lord May's lecture, entitled 'Relations among Nations on a Finite Planet', warns us of the changes that are needed in the way world politics operate as we enter this 'post-Metternich' age. Lord May is one of the most distinguished scientists Australia has produced. His Lowy Lecture is a major contribution to the Institute's mission of informing and deepening the global debate about international policy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 18 October at a special Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, three Lowy Institute scholars spoke on the rise of China. Mark Thirlwell, Program Director, International Economy and author of a recent Perspective entitled 'Shaking the world?' talked about China and the world economy. Dr Malcolm Cook, Program Director, Asia and the Pacific and author of 'Regional Australia's China boom' spoke on China's Asia strategy. Dr Michael Fullilove, the Program Director, Global Issues, spoke on China and the United Nations, which is also the subject of an article he has published in the current edition of The National Interest.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 11 October 2006 at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, the Institute launched a Lowy Institute Paper entitled Pitfalls of Papua: Understanding the Conflict and its Place in Australia-Indonesia Relations. The author is Dr Rodd McGibbon, one of Australia's best young Indonesia analysts with a background in government, development aid and academia. The new Lowy Institute Paper boldly addresses these problems by carefully analysing the history of the Papuan conflict in Australia-Indonesia relations and the arguments of those in Australia advocating support for West Papuan self-determination. The paper calls on the government to actively engage in the public discussion of the Papua conflict and to focus more attention on the large strategic pay-offs of good relations with a stable and democratic Indonesia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch on 12 September, Dr Douglas Ramage led the discussion on the progress of Indonesia's political reforms triggered by the collapse of Suharto’s New Order. In the last decade, Indonesian politics have been fundamentally transformed as the world's fourth most populous country has shifted from a one-party, centralised political order to a multi-party democracy with a very significant transfer of funds and power to local governments. He discussed how the political system is changing and what this means for government accountability and social and economic development. Dr Douglas Ramage is the Asia Foundation's country representative in Indonesia where he directs the Foundation's governance, democracy, economic, and business policy reform programs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 1 August Dr Peter McCawley led the discussion on why Indonesia has largely fallen off the international radar screen in recent years. Despite being the largest country in Southeast Asia, Indonesia receives comparatively little international media coverage beyond stories linked with terrorism and Indonesia is often left out of discussion of East Asia's major countries. Australia's robust public debate about Indonesia and Jakarta-Canberra relations is very much the exception and not the rule. Dr Peter McCawley is the former Dean of the Asian Development Bank Institute and the former head of the Australian National University's Indonesia Project. He has worked on Indonesia and international development issues for close to four decades.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 6 February at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, John Garnaut, the Beijing-based Asia Economics Correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers, discussed how the question of how to divide profits from the conversion of rural land is one of the most contentious in China. Beijing is stepping up its pro-peasant, pro-equity rhetoric and yet China's enormous rural-urban wealth gap is getting wider and land disputes appear to be getting worse. John's presentation was entitled 'Peasant land disputes, viewed through the bars of a small town police station.'See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

US President Barack Obama has called himself ‘America’s first Pacific president’. On Monday the Lowy Institute and the United States Studies Centre endeavoured to flesh out this concept. How should we rate his presidency and, in particular, his policies towards the Pacific region? What looming challenges does he face in Asia and the Pacific?Dr Michael Wesley chaired a discussion with three experts: Dr Michael Fullilove, Program Director, Global Issues; Mary Kissel, Editorial Page Editor, The Wall Street Journal Asia; and Dr Geoffrey Garrett, Chief Executive Officer, United States Studies Centre, University of Sydney.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world faces two creeping threats to its food supplies. On the one hand, expanding populations and the changing diets that accompany growing wealth have put greater strain on lagging gains in food production. On the other hand, climate change and environmental degradation are slowly contaminating food supplies and eroding agricultural productivity. At the Wednesday Lunch on 24 February, these issues were examined by Julianne Schultz, Editor of the Griffith Review, which has just published its newest edition, Food Chain. She was joined by Mark Thirlwell, Director of the Global Issues Program at the Lowy Institute, and Annmaree O’Keeffe, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, who have both written on these twin challenges to food security.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 3 February, at the first Wednesday Lunch at Lowy for 2010, three Lowy Institute scholars discussed where the world and our region are headed after a tumultuous year in 2009. Will things be calmer or more uncertain?Mark Thirlwell, Program Director International Economy, assessed the post-GFC global economy. Michael Fullilove, Program Director Global Issues, looked at President Obama’s second year in office and the changing global outlook, and Jenny Hayward-Jones, Program Director Myer Foundation Melanesia Program, reviewed prospects for the Pacific, with a particular focus on Papua New Guinea, Australia’s closest neighbour, and Fiji.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.