Australia in the World

The members of AUKUS have laid out a more concrete plan for Australia to acquire a nuclear-powered submarine capability, and so Allan and Darren offer their views on progress to date, the merits of the overall plan, and what might be ahead. Next, following PM Albanese’s state visit to India, the two discuss the significance of the visit for the bilateral relationship, the two countries’ respective...

Marking one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Allan and Darren reflect on what they have learned, what surprised them, and how they each are thinking about the path ahead. We thank Walter Colnaghi for research and audio editing and Rory Stenning for composing our theme music. Relevant links “Ukrainian foreign minister responds to Amanpour's 'painful' question about war” (video), CNN, 21 Feb...

The “Chinese spy balloon” has dominated news for the past few weeks and thus Allan and Darren feel compelled to open the episode with their views. FM Penny Wong’s speech in the UK sparked controversy for her comments on colonial history, or did it? Meanwhile, a successful 2+2 with France highlighted how far the relationship has come since a low point in late 2020. DM Richard Marles spoke to parlia...

To kick off 2023, Allan and Darren continue their practice of asking how the events of previous year caused them to update their models of international affairs. But first they discuss PM Albanese's visit to Papua New Guinea and speech to the PNG parliament, and also a curious spat between the ambassadors to Australia from China and Japan, which leads to a larger discussion of different models of...

Allan and Darren welcome Tim Watts MP, Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs. This is a new role—what does it involve, and how does it contribute to the current global ‘race for influence’? On a personal level, what has the transition into government been like? Given the centrality placed by the Albanese government on identity in Australia’s foreign policy, Darren asks the Minister for his perspe...

Foreign Minister Penny Wong has delivered (yet) another speech, this time in Washington DC, and Darren thinks it’s a big deal. Is he overreacting? Meanwhile, Allan draws some interesting contrasts analysing the recent 2+2s Australia’s Foreign and Defence Ministers held with their US counterparts (AUSMIN) and then with Japan, and also summarises what we know about the Labor government’s foreign pol...

While the previous episode came after more than a month, this episode comes just a week later, with the G20 meetings setting the stage for a ground-breaking bilateral meeting between PM Albanese and President Xi, as well as Xi meeting with President Biden. Allan and Darren focus on those two meetings before considering whether the G20 can play a role in geopolitical issues. This past week has also...

After a month away, Allan and Darren try to make sense of a big month of news. They start with the Chinese Community Party’s 20th Party Congress, where President Xi Jinping secured an unprecedented 3rd term as leader, and (somewhat more surprisingly) was completely successful in elevating loyalists to the Party’s inner leadership circle. Is China just a ‘normal’ authoritarian country now? Next, in...

Ukraine has made significant battlefield gains in the past month, changing the dynamics of the Russian invasion, leading to a partial Russian troop mobilisation and threats by Vladimir Putin of tactical nuclear weapons use. Allan and Darren talk through these dynamics, in particular Putin’s decision-making calculus and what the rest of the world must do to deter nuclear escalation, including the u...

In this episode Darren picks up on a comment Allan has made several times on the podcast (including the previous episode) about the need for the Australian government to make a formal statement on China. To Allan this is a statement of the obvious, but the two find a surprising amount to disagree upon on the merits of the Prime Minister or Foreign Minister giving a major speech on Australia’s rela...

Taiwan represents possibly the most intractable issue in international affairs, but also one of the most important. Arguably, no theory or opinion on the biggest questions Australian foreign policy can be complete, or maybe even credible, until it grapples with the Taiwan issue. And so on this episode Allan and Darren use the occasion of US Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s controversial visit to the island...

For the 100th episode of Australia in the World, Allan and Darren welcome Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong. Allan begins by asking the Minister “why this job?” given her heavy additional responsibilities, and how she is able to carve out “thinking time” given the non-stop nature of her role. The hosts are thrilled to hear that Senator Wong listens to the podcast, and ev...

Allan and Darren begin this episode by stepping back from a very busy first two months of foreign policy for the new government. If one were to build a model of the making of Australian foreign policy, what could we learn from from this particular case study and how would it stand out? Turning to events, the analysis begins with PM Albanese’s trip to Europe for the NATO summit, then turns to the t...

The new Labor government has begun its term with a whirlwind of activity for Australia in the World. Allan and Darren begin their analysis with the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, where Defence Minister Richard Marles gave his first major speech and met with his Chinese counterpart. Next comes Prime Minister Albanese’s visit to Indonesia, Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s visits to Fiji, Samoa and T...

With Australia's federal election results (mostly) known and a new Prime Minister and Foreign Minister sworn in, Allan and Darren examine the meaning of the election and what lies ahead for Australia in the world. As they first discussed in 2019 (episode 19), it is the practice of all government departments to prepare an “incoming government brief”: a document presented to the new (or returning) m...

With Australia’s federal election to be held this Saturday, Allan and Darren conduct a quick discussion of the role foreign policy has played over the past month during the campaign, and what we can learn regardless of who will form government. Then, to finish, eyebrows are raised in response to reporting detailing secret conversations between very senior Australian and US national security offici...

Foreign policy has been thrust to the forefront of the Australian election campaign, with the announcement this week that Solomon Islands and China have officially signed a security agreement. Allan and Darren talk through the background, logic, politics and implications of the deal. Their core focus is on Solomon Islands itself – the interests of the government in entering this agreement and the...

Both Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Leader of the Opposition Anthony Albanese delivered pre-election foreign policy speeches this month, and this episode analyses them together. Relevant links “An address by PM Scott Morrison”, Lowy Institute, 7 March 2022: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/address-prime-minister-scott-morrison Scott Morrison, “Virtual address, AFR Business Summit”, 7...

With the world watching in shock at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Allan and Darren describe how the crisis, and in particular the world’s response, are (and are not) causing them to reconsider their priors about how politics and international affairs works. Allan describes how impressed he has been with Europe’s response, while Darren is completely surprised at the speed and magnitude of the econo...

Australia will have a federal election in a few months, but Allan and Darren are sceptical that substantive foreign policy debates will feature during the campaign. Accordingly, this episode they decide to have their own debate to try to help listeners think through some of the important issues that will (probably) be ignored. They consider four central questions that will shape the future of Aust...

Allan and Darren venture far outside their comfort zones this week to give some thoughts on the escalating crisis between Russia, Ukraine and NATO. This is an interesting and important issue because it brings together so many of the central questions in international relations. These include: the use of military coercion and other forms of deterrence; the behaviour of great powers, the role of dip...

For their first episode in 2022, Allan and Darren look back over the past 12 months, starting with the international landscape and then focusing on Australia. First up, what big lesson did 2021 teach them? Interestingly, both focus on the United States in their answers--but how much is domestic dysfunction in the US actually affecting Biden’s foreign policy? Second, did the world’s experience with...

In their final episode for 2021, Allan and Darren kick things off by discussing President Biden’s “Summit for Democracy”. Having debated the merits of democracy as a foreign policy organising principle in Episode 77, they now ask: was the actual summit a net positive, despite controversies prior to and during proceedings? It seems clear Beijing was displeased, but Allan and Darren partially disagr...

This week Allan and Darren open their discussion with the Biden-Xi virtual meeting. It went for a long time, the atmosphere seemed cordial – is this enough for (some) optimism about the trajectory of US-China relations? Allan thinks so, while Darren cannot resist the temptation to offer an IR theory perspective and explain that the game theoretic concept of “deadlock” might best capture the bulk o...

Allan and Darren cannot resist focusing on the escalated and seemingly personal spat between Australian PM Scott Morrison and French President Emmanuel Macron over Australia’s cancellation of the French submarine contract, then followed by the launch of AUKUS. During Morrison's recent international trip, Macron called him a liar, to which the Australian side responded by leaking details of private...