Lowy Institute

After postings in Washington and South Asia, Nick Bryant came to Australia determined to avoid all the stereotypes and clichés that still tend to inform the world's view of the 'land down under.' He found an increasingly consequential country – diplomatically, commercially, economically and culturally. Politics was heading in the same direction, as well, until the coup that ousted Kevin Rudd. The national conversation again became narrowly parochial, as Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott reinforced their own insularity. In our Food for Thought series in Canberra, Nick Bryant explored these two countervailing themes. After postings in Washington and South Asia, Nick Bryant came to Australia determined to avoid all the stereotypes and clichés that still tend to inform the world's view of the 'land down under.' He found an increasingly consequential country – diplomatically, commercially, economically and culturally. Politics was heading in the same direction, as well, until the coup that ousted Kevin Rudd. The national conversation again became narrowly parochial, as Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott reinforced their own insularity. In our Food for Thought series in Canberra, Nick Bryant explored these two countervailing themes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Lowy Lecture on Tuesday 4 October 2011, Professor Keith Jeffery reflected on the challenges, rewards and frustrations of writing an authorised history of the most secretive department of the British state. Keith Jeffery is Professor of British History at Queen's University Belfast and a Member of the Royal Irish Academy. He is author or editor of fourteen books, including a prize-winning biography of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson. His ground-breaking official history, MI6: The History of the Secret Intelligence Service, 1909–49, was published in September 2010.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the conclusion of the Australia-India Roundtable held at the Lowy Institute on 19-20 September 2011, four key participants - Ambassador Shyam Saran and Ambassador Ric Smith AO PSM as well as conveners Rory Medcalf and Navdeep Suri - discussed key ideas emerging from the dialogue. The Roundtable involved leading figures from diplomacy, business, media and think tanks, and is the most substantial such meeting yet held between the two countries.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Australia has experienced a turbulent ten years of enacting new anti-terror laws as a response to the UN Security Council and attacks overseas. These laws are of unprecedented reach, and provide powers and sanctions that were unthinkable prior to September 11. A decade on, George Williams AO, one of Australia's leading constitutional lawyers and public commentators, drew lessons from this experience both for Australia and the ongoing task of protecting the community from terrorism at the Lowy Lecture on 31 August 2011.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Lowy Lecture Series on 14 September 2011, Lowy Institute Non-resident Fellow Dr Rodger Shanahan examined the Arab Spring from the perspective of the region's Sunni-Shi'a divide, characterised by the competition for influence between Saudi Arabia and Iran.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Lowy Lecture on 25 August 2011, Michael Wesley outlined the components of Asia's stability and the different investments of the region's countries in that stability. He examined the several aspects of change in Asia's strategic order which are profoundly disturbing to the region's stability, and assessed the different options for preserving the region's stability amidst these epochal changes.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's world economy, the line between developed and emerging markets is growing ever more blurred. At the Food for Thought event in Melbourne on 18 August 2011, Mark Thirlwell, Director of the Lowy Institute's International Economy Program, described some of the forces driving this convergence process, and discussed whether this historic shift in global economic geography can be sustained.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How does China's government view its role in global governance? Would it like to change the basis of the present global order, and if so, how does it plan to go about doing so? These are questions which a prominent Chinese scholar of international relations, Dr Jia Qingguo of Peking University, addressed in the Lowy Lecture Series on 10 August 2011.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the Food for Thought event in Canberra on 8 August 2011, National Security Fellow Ellie Fogarty launched a report that analyses what Australia’s national interests in Antarctica are, and considers how they might best be protected and advanced in the future. She was joined in a panel discussion by Mr Brett Biddington and Professor Don Rothwell.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Obama Administration's April 2010 Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) combines nuclear force planning and arms control into a single document with a long-term goal of eliminating nuclear weapons. On Wednesday 3 August 2011, our distinguished speaker Dr Hans Kristensen, Director of the Nuclear Information Project at the Federation of American Scientists, reviewed the NPR and what it means for the Asia-Pacific.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.