Lowy Institute

Cyber issues are increasingly important — to governments, to businesses, to organisations and to individuals. Cyber affairs also play a significant role in Australia’s relations with other countries. In 2017 the Australian Government adopted the International Cyber Engagement Strategy to advance and protect Australia’s national security and national interests in cyberspace and to work with partners in the Indo-Pacific to improve cyber security and connectivity. The Lowy Institute hosted the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, and Australia’s Ambassador for Cyber Affairs, Dr Tobias Feakin, for a discussion of these issues. The discussion was chaired by the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove.Senator Payne has served as a senator for New South Wales since 1997. She served 12 years on the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, including a period as chair of its Human Rights subcommittee. She was Minister for Human Services from 2013 to 2015 when she assumed the Defence portfolio, becoming the first woman to hold the position of Minister for Defence. She was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs in August 2018.Dr Tobias Feakin is Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for Cyber Affairs. He was a member of the Independent Panel of Experts that helped develop Australia’s Cyber Security Strategy. He was Director of National Security Programs at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute from 2012 to 2016.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To mark International Women’s Day in 2019, the Lowy Institute in partnership with Telstra hosted a special event on the impact of authoritarian regimes on women.Today is the era of the “strongman”, as a new wave of authoritarianism spreads across the globe. In countries as diverse as Russia, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Poland, Brazil, Papua New Guinea, and the Philippines, macho leadership reigns. Even in contemporary western democracies such as the United States, the ranks of authoritarian populists have swelled. Aside from the grand displays of force, clampdown on minority rights and gagging of the press which typically characterise authoritarian regimes, another striking feature is the limits they impose on the freedoms and power of women.The panel featured:Dr Nicole Curato, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Deliberative Democracy and Global GovernanceLydia Khalil, Research Fellow in the Lowy Institute’s West Asia ProgramAlex Oliver, Director of Research at the Lowy Institute (moderator)Elaine Pearson, Australia Director, Human Rights WatchDr Rebecca Sheehan, Lecturer in the Sociology of Gender and Program Director of Gender Studies at Macquarie UniversitySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The latest Lowy Institute Paper published by Penguin Random House, America vs the West: Can the liberal world order be preserved? by Dr Kori Schake, was launched in Canberra on 5 March.Schake, one of America’s most respected foreign policy practitioners, argues that the success of the liberal order is not preordained. It will have to be fought for, compromised for, and rejuvenated. Whether it can be done without American leadership will depend on the strengths of the major challengers — Russia and China — but above all on whether the West’s middle powers are prepared to band together.Dr Kori Schake is the Deputy Director-General of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. She is a contributing editor at The Atlantic, the author of Safe Passage: The Transition from British to American Hegemony and editor with General James Mattis of Warriors and Citizens: American Views of Our Military. She has worked as Director for defence strategy and requirements on the National Security Council staff, as Deputy Director of policy planning in the State Department, and in both the military and civilian staffs in the Pentagon. In 2008 she was senior policy adviser on the McCain–Palin presidential campaign. She teaches in War Studies at King’s College London and has previously taught at Stanford University, the United States Military Academy, the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and the University of Maryland.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The United Kingdom faces a fast-approaching but possibly flexible deadline to leave the European Union on 29 March. What are the underlying reasons for the UK’s ambivalence about Europe? Why are both the main political parties split on this subject? Can Prime Minister Theresa May secure a deal acceptable to both Brussels and Westminster? Could there be a second referendum? What will other countries learn from this extraordinary period of British and European political history?Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove and eminent British academic Sir Adam Roberts discussed the state of British politics and the future relationship between the UK and its European neighbours. Sir Adam Roberts is Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for International Studies in Oxford University's Department of Politics and International Relations. He is also Emeritus Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, and Emeritus Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford. He is one of Britain’s leading scholars of international relations and is the author or editor of more than ten books.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The recent decision by United States President Trump to withdraw US forces from Syria has again focused attention on the ongoing Syrian civil war. The move has been heavily criticised by many in and outside the US, although others have questioned what purpose the forces were serving inside Syria on an ill-defined mission. Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow Anthony Bubalo moderated a panel discussion with Dr Rodger Shanahan, Research Fellow in the West Asia Program, and Lauren Williams, journalist, researcher, and analyst specialising in Syria and the Levant. The panel analysed the possible ramifications of the withdrawal and examined the military and political situation in Syria and the challenges of reconstructing the war-torn country.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lowy Institute hosted this popular annual panel discussion with Institute experts on the key issues likely to dominate the international agenda in 2019. Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove chaired the discussion in Sydney. Also on the panel were Director of Research Alex Oliver, Senior Fellow Richard McGregor, Director of the Southeast Asia Project Ben Bland, and Director of the International Economy Program, Roland Rajah.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Michael Fullilove and The New York Times editor and columnist Bari Weiss had a conversation about journalism, American politics and society, and the role of the United States in the world under President Donald Trump. Bari Weiss is an op-ed staff editor and columnist for The New York Times on culture and politics. Ms Weiss was previously an op-ed and book review editor at The Wall Street Journal before joining The Times in 2017. She is currently working on a book, The New Seven Dirty Words, for Henry Holt and Company. She is a native of Pittsburgh and a graduate of Columbia University. Michael Fullilove is the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute. He writes widely on global issues for publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Australian press. Dr Fullilove is the author of a number of books, including Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin D. Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary Men Took America into the War and into the World (Penguin).See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

China is holding hundreds of thousands of Uighurs in detention camps in Xinjiang, western China, in what appears to be a systematic targeting of an entire ethnic and religious group in the name of national security. After first denying their existence, China now claims the camps are vocational centres designed to combat extremism. The Uighur community, however, tell a different story – of detainees being forced to denounce their Islamic faith and swear allegiance to the communist party.The Lowy Institute's Richard McGregor hosted a discussion of the situation in Xinjiang, and how the scale of the camps was uncovered. The panel featured Nury Turkel, the Washington-based chair of the Uighur Human Rights Project, Dr Mamtimin Ala, President of the Australian Uighur Association, David Brophy, of Sydney University, and Lowy Institute researcher Kelsey Munro.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lowy Institute hosted the President of the Brookings Institution for a conversation about the world. John R. Allen and Michael Fullilove discussed US foreign policy, trends in international politics, and the transformative effects of technology on international affairs. John R. Allen was appointed President of the Brookings Institution in November 2017. He is a retired US Marine Corps four-star general and former commander of the NATO International Security Assistance Force and US Forces in Afghanistan. He served as senior adviser to the Secretary of Defence on Middle East Security and Special Presidential Envoy to the Global Coalition to Counter ISIL.Michael Fullilove has served as Executive Director of the Lowy Institute since August 2012. Over the past decade and a half, Dr Fullilove has played a central role in the establishment and development of the Lowy Institute. He previously served as Program Director, Global Issues at the Institute and has also worked as a lawyer, a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, and an adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating. He is a Nonresident Senior Fellow at Brookings. The Lowy Institute is grateful to the United Services Institute of the ACT for their support of this event.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator the Hon Marise Payne, delivered an address to the Lowy Institute. Senator Payne has served as a Senator for New South Wales since 1997. She served 12 years on the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, including a period as Chair of its Human Rights subcommittee. She was Minister for Human Services from 2013 to 2015 when she assumed the Defence portfolio, becoming the first woman to hold the position of Minister for Defence. She was appointed Foreign Minister in August 2018.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.