Lowy Institute

How is China trying to unseat the United States as the dominant power in Asia? What tactics are Beijing using and how is the US responding?The Lowy Institute hosted a panel discussion about China’s challenge to America’s military dominance in Asia, a phenomenon which is upending Australia’s longstanding assumptions about its strategic position in the region. The panel examined the entrepreneurial ways China has been building military power, how it may have lulled the US into inaction, and what it means for the future of security in the Indo-Pacific.The panel was hosted by Sam Roggeveen, Director of Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, with Oriana Skylar Mastro, of Georgetown University and the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), Brendan Taylor, of the Australian National University, and the author of ‘The Four Flashpoints: How Asia Goes to War’, and Professor Benjamin Schreer of Macquarie University.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The decision by the United Kingdom to withdraw from the European Union is more than two years old. What will happen on Brexit day on 29 March next year? What kind of deal, if any, will Britain negotiate? What will be the impact on the infighting in British politics and within Prime Minister Theresa May’s government? As the country nears the date set for the conclusion of negotiations with Brussels, join a panel of experts at the Lowy Institute to discuss the outcomes of either a ‘deal’ or ‘no deal’ scenario, the outlook for the United Kingdom after Brexit, and the consequences for Australia and its ties with both London and Brussels.Sydney's panel comprised Dr Annmarie Elijah, Associate Director, ANU Centre for European Studies; Ticky Fullerton, business journalist and anchor of the TICKY program on "Your Money", and Hervé Lemahieu, Director of the Lowy Institute Asian Power and Diplomacy Program, together with moderator Alex Oliver, Lowy Institute Director of Research.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We are now halfway through Donald Trump’s first term as president of the United States. With a polarised US public and a fraying international order, the president faces his first electoral report card since 2016 in the mid-term elections. The results will influence the trajectory of US politics and foreign policy for the next two, and possibly six, years. Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove gave an address on the Trump administration, the effect of the midterms on US foreign policy and what this means for Australia and the world order. The event was chaired by Lowy Institute’s Research Director Alex Oliver.Michael Fullilove has served as the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute since 2012. He writes widely on Australian foreign policy, US foreign policy and global issues in publications including The New York Times, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Australian press. In 2015, Dr Fullilove delivered the Boyer Lectures, which were published as A Larger Australia: The ABC 2015 Boyer Lectures (Penguin). Dr Fullilove has written and edited a number of other books, including Rendezvous with Destiny: How Franklin D. Roosevelt and Five Extraordinary Men Took America into the War and into the World (Penguin), which won the 2014 NSW Premier's Literary Award for Non-Fiction.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the global financial crisis and the elevation of the G20 to a leader-level forum. Ten years on, has the G20 fulfilled its promise of improving global economic cooperation, particularly in the current environment of rising geopolitical tension and trade frictions? With only a few weeks until the Buenos Aires Summit, Dr David Gruen, Australia’s G20 Sherpa, discussed the role of the G20 in the global economic order, including its progress since 2008 and prospects for the future.Dr David Gruen is the Deputy Secretary, Economic, at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and G20 Sherpa. Before joining the Department in September 2014, he was Executive Director of The Macroeconomic Group at the Australian Treasury.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Monday 29 October the Lowy Institute hosted the Hon Bill Shorten MP, Leader of the Opposition, for a major foreign policy address. Mr Shorten has served as the Leader of the Opposition since 2013. He was first elected as the Member for Maribyrnong at the 2007 Federal election. He served as a Cabinet Minister in the Rudd and Gillard Governments.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In an age of ubiquitous data, the “scarce factor is the ability to understand that data and extract value from it”. Google’s Chief Economist, Hal R Varian, and Lowy Institute’s International Economy Director Roland Rajah had a discussion on the economics of data, how data can drive innovation and improve our wellbeing, and the debate over its effects on competition and the appropriate role of government. Dr Varian is an emeritus professor at the University of California, Berkeley, in three departments: business, economics, and information management. He has also taught at MIT, Stanford, Oxford, Michigan and other universities around the world. Professor Varian has published numerous papers in economic theory, industrial organisation, financial economics, econometrics, and information economics. He is the co-author of a bestselling book on business strategy, Information Rules: A Strategic Guide to the Network Economy, and wrote a monthly column for The New York Times from 2000 to 2007.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the eve of the visit to Australia by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the Lowy Institute held an event on the issue of the republic and Australia’s place in the world. Constitutional monarchist Julian Leeser MP, Federal Member for Berowra, and Michael Cooney, National Director of the Australian Republic Movement, joined Alex Oliver, Lowy Institute Director of Research, for a panel discussion on whether Australia’s status as a constitutional monarchy affects the way the world see us – and how we see ourselves.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Professor Robert Cribb of the Australia National University (ANU) delivered a keynote address (30 minutes) on the place of minorities in Indonesia, as part of the 2018 Indonesia Update, presented in cooperation with the ANU. This was followed by a panel discussion (35 minutes) featuring Professor Cribb; Dr Sandra Hamid, the Asia Foundation’s country representative in Indonesia; and Associate Professor Charlotte Setijadi, Singapore Management University. Tim Johnston moderated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tom Power of the Australia National University (ANU) Indonesia Project delivered the 2018 political update (approximately 35 minutes), followed by a panel discussion on Indonesia’s upcoming April 2019 elections (approximately 40 minutes) featuring Power, ANU; Sidney Jones, the director of the Institute for Policy Analysis in Jakarta; and Aaron Connelly, the director of the Southeast Asia Project at the Lowy Institute. Ulla Fionna moderated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The international order is under strain. Rising powers want to rewrite the rules, Western leaders are turning inwards, and technology is breaking down barriers. What can middle powers do in response? Lowy Institute Executive Director Michael Fullilove moderated a discussion with Ralf Beste, Head of Policy Planning at the German Federal Foreign Office, Volker Perthes, Director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, and Gudrun Wacker, Senior Fellow in the Asia Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.