Lowy Institute

When Vladimir Putin was re-elected as Russian president in 2018, his position as the dominant personality of the post-Soviet era was enshrined. In his 15 years as president over two terms, he has established himself as the strongman of a resurgent great power. He has been unrelenting in the pursuit of core goals: the consolidation of political authority at home; and the promotion of Russia as an indispensable power.Eminent Russian journalist Yevgenia Albats had a conversation with the Director of the Lowy Institute’s Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, Hervé Lemahieu, about Russian politics and what it means for the rest of the world. Yevgenia Albats is a Russian investigative journalist, political scientist, author and radio host. She is Editor-in-Chief and CEO of The New Times, a Moscow-based, Russian language independent political weekly. She is also the host of Absolute Albats, a talk show on Echo Moskvy, the only remaining liberal radio station in Russia. She was an Alfred Friendly Press Fellow assigned to the Chicago Tribune in 1990, and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University in 1993. She graduated from Moscow State University in 1980 and received her PhD in Political Science from Harvard University in 2004.Dr Albats visited Australia with the support of the University of Melbourne.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The foreign policy of Sir Robert Menzies, Australia’s longest-serving Prime Minister, has often been judged as beholden to Britain and the United States. Under Menzies, however, Australia took some steps towards a more independent role for Australia in foreign policy. Key initiatives include the signing of the ANZUS Treaty, the Colombo Plan and the Australia–Japan Commerce Agreement. Troy Bramston’s latest biography, Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics, reveals a wealth of new information about the Menzies years, including his role in the Suez crisis.Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove had a conversation with Troy Bramston, where they explored Menzies’ foreign policy successes and missteps and the lessons they may yield for Australian foreign policy in the future. Troy Bramston is a senior writer and columnist with The Australian and is the author or editor of nine books on Australian politics and political biography. His new biography, Robert Menzies: The Art of Politics, was published in April 2019.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Counterterrorism expert Lydia Khalil discusses women who join violent Islamist groups; and the unprecedented role of women in the Islamic State caliphate. Rules Based Audio is a fortnightly podcast, hosted by Kelsey Munro and powered by the Lowy Institute, for anyone interested in making sense of a changing world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Remaking the Middle East, Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Anthony Bubalo argued that despite continuing turmoil in the region the future of the Middle East was not inevitably bleak. Amid the ferment the region has experienced over the past decade and a half he also pointed to ‘green shoots’ of change: from new forms of ‘uncivil’ society driving social and political change to ‘impious’ politics, making societies more tolerant and pluralist. But one year on, are these green shoots maturing into more sturdy features of the region? Or are they being killed and uprooted by the region’s revived authoritarianism? Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil discussed these and other questions with the author.Anthony Bubalo is a Principal at Nous Group, a Nonresident Fellow of the Lowy Institute, and a commentator on Middle Eastern politics and global affairs. Lydia Khalil is a Research Fellow in the West Asia Program at the Lowy Institute and Director of Arcana Partners, a political and security consulting firm. She is a specialist in Middle Eastern politics and terrorism and has published widely on her areas of expertise.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Through the course of Xi Jinping’s presidency, China has been working to shape an alternative version of the internet – one in which the party state asserts its cyber sovereignty through an extensive censorship apparatus. Many foreign news sources are blocked at the border, and sensitive topics are censored. At a time when open societies are grappling with how to manage the downsides of a free internet such as hate speech and extremist material, other nations are embracing China’s restrictive practices.Hong Kong-based CNN International technology reporter and author of The Great Firewall of China James Griffiths, New York Times reporter Vicky Xiuzhong Xu, Lowy Institute Research Fellow and former Beijing-based diplomat Natasha Kassam, had a discussion with Lowy Institute Research Fellow Kelsey Munro, to explore the history, politics and reality of online censorship in China, and the consequences of an authoritarian internet for the rest of the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China’s economic future is more uncertain than ever. Challenges have mounted on multiple fronts, including slowing growth, rising financial risks, and increasingly difficult external relations, not least with the United States.Lowy Institute International Economy Program Director Roland Rajah hosted a conversation with one of the world’s foremost experts on the Chinese economy, Dr Nicholas Lardy of the Peterson Institute for International Economics.Dr Lardy will present the findings from his latest book, arguing that China’s future growth prospects could remain as bright as they were in the past, but are overshadowed by the spectre of resurgent state dominance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

More than a decade since the global financial crisis, economic thinking has continued to evolve, shaped by the harsh realities of recent experience. With global economic governance also under pressure and potentially fraying, the kind of cooperation needed to contain potential crises and sustain global economic prosperity is vastly more difficult and uncertain. What are the key lessons from the 2008 crisis and what does this mean for managing future economic crises?Lowy Institute International Economy Program Director Roland Rajah and Professor Maurice Obstfeld, former Chief Economist at the International Monetary Fund and Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, discussed the latest economic thinking on the future of the global economy and where policymaking is headed.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first episode of Rules Based Audio, Kelsey Munro talks to Professor David Shambaugh from George Washington University about the shift to full-spectrum competition between the US and China, and what it means for the rest of the world.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a coup, a new constitution and a controversial election, Thailand’s political future remains as uncertain as ever. The general election in March, the first since the 2014 coup, was marred by allegations of irregularities and the election commission will not announce the final results until May. In the meantime, the commission has brought sedition charges against the leader of a pro-democracy party that did better than expected in the election.Thailand is stuck in a protracted seesaw between democracy and military rule. How will the final election results affect this balance? What role, if any, will King Vajiralongkorn play in determining Thailand’s future trajectory after his coronation in May? And how will the political impasse impact Thailand’s chairmanship of ASEAN this year?Leading Thai political scientist Professor Thitinan Pongsudhirak and Director of Lowy Institute’s Southeast Asia Project Ben Bland had a discussion on what happens next in one of Southeast Asia’s most volatile nations.Thitinan Pongsudhirak is Director of the Institute of Security and International Studies and Associate Professor of International Political Economy at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok.Thitinan’s visit to Australia is part of the ASEAN–Australia Visiting Fellows Program at the Lowy Institute, which is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia–ASEAN Council of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.This event was presented by the Lowy Institute at the NGVSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The attacks on Al Noor and Linwood Mosques in Christchurch, in which 50 people lost their lives, represent the deadliest mass killing in New Zealand’s modern history and the worst terrorist attacks ever carried out by an Australian. The events of 15 March have already prompted large-scale gun reform in New Zealand as well as a Royal Commission into the attacks. More broadly, the attacks have prompted reflection on violent extremism in all its forms – including the kind perpetrated by the far right – and on the nature of far-right extremism as a global movement.The Lowy Institute hosted a panel discussion which looked at what changes are required at the policy and law enforcement levels to reduce the risk of extremist attacks; whether the Christchurch attack is linked to other far-right and white supremacist movements around the world; the nature of reciprocal extremism and how jihadism and far-right extremism may amplify each other; how online environments contribute to radicalisation; and how the Australian far right fits into the global picture. The panel featured:Professor Michele Grossman, Research Chair in Diversity and Community Resilience, Alfred Deakin InstituteDr Kristy Campion, Lecturer in Terrorism Studies, Charles Sturt UniversityDr David Smith, Senior Lecturer in American Politics and Foreign Policy, United States Studies CentreLydia Khalil, Lowy Institute Research Fellow, Director of political and security consulting firm Arcana Partners, and specialist in Middle Eastern politics and terrorism (moderator)See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.