Lowy Institute

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 25 May, Sir Richard Feachem summarised the history of aid over the past 60 years, the evidence on aid effectiveness, and the current controversies surrounding aid. Sir Richard proposed some building blocks for a new aid model, more suited to the geopolitical and economic realities of the 21st century. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

By 2015-16, Australia’s foreign aid budget is projected to double to $8 billion, an unprecedented expansion. In his Lowy lunch speech on 18 May, Federal member for Fraser Dr Andrew Leigh supported the importance of the Australian aid program, in terms of generosity, national security and promoting economic growth in our region. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The recent uprisings and revolutions in the Middle East represent one of the most dramatic global political developments since the fall of the Berlin Wall. At the Wednesday Lunch on 11 May, governance specialist David Arnold, whose international career has spanned both the Middle East and South Asia, shared his observations and insights regarding emerging democratic reforms in the Arab region. See...

As Australia awaits the results of an Independent Review into the Intelligence Community and debate over shared secrets rages after WikiLeaks, Dr Gregory Treverton, director of the RAND Corporation’s Center for Global Risk and Security, analysed how the collection and sharing of intelligence has changed since the end of the Cold War in a public lecture at the Lowy Institute on 3 May. See omnystudi...

At the Wednesday Lunch on 27 April, Dr Alexey Muraviev spoke about Russia's regional strategic policy and national defence priorities in the Far East and the Indo-Pacific. Dr Muraviev is a senior lecturer in International Relations and Strategic Studies and a strategic affairs analyst in the School of Social Sciences and Asian Languages at Curtin University. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...

Today’s global economic growth is decisively Asian. ADB’s Asian Development Outlook 2011 provides a comprehensive analysis of macroeconomic issues in developing Asia. The Asian Development Outlook 2011 includes this year’s special theme chapter on South-South economic linkages. At this Wednesday Lowy Lunch, the ADB's Principal Economist, Dr Donghyun Park and the head of ADB in Australia, Eugenue Z...

The Fukushima crisis has provoked a furious debate about the future of nuclear energy. Polling in Australia shows a return to a solid majority opposing nuclear power for Australia as part of our future energy mix. The Australian political leadership has declared the subject out of bounds. At a special Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 20 April, three expert industry panellists discussed the future of nuclea...

On 30 March, in the first of the Lowy Institute’s Food for Thought lectures for this year, Cate Sumner and Tim Lindsey discussed how the Indonesian Islamic courts have embraced reform within a judicial system notorious for corruption and incompetence, taking the lead in efforts to deliver decisions that are more accessible, transparent and fair, especially for women and the poor. Indeed the courts...

With the creation of the Northern Command in 2002 and the Africa Command in 2007 the US military became the first truly global military presence in history. US Combatant Commanders are often called ‘proconsuls’ in a worldwide network of US military bases. This situation poses many problems for a republic that is historically suspicious of military power. On 23 March, Professor Douglas Stuart addre...

Technology and the rapid spread of the internet and mobile phones are changing the way diplomacy is being conducted. Leading diplomatic services are adapting, but many are being left behind. New digital tools mean foreign ministries need to change the way they communicate, manage staff, pursue foreign policy goals and solve problems. Australia’s own Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has a lo...

On 16 March, as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series, Frederic S. Mishkin spoke on the global financial system after the Global Financial Crisis. Professor Mishkin is the Alfred Lerner Professor of Banking and Financial Institutions at the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At a lecture at the Lowy Institute on 10 March, World Bank Senior Economist Apurva Sanghi discussed a thought-provoking report by the World Bank and the United Nations. 'Natural Hazards, UnNatural Disasters: The Economics of Effective Prevention' will change the way we look at disaster prevention. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Climate change is real and a significant challenge facing humanity. In this event in the Lowy Institute’s Distinguished Speaker Series, Bjørn Lomborg and Michael Green, two world-leading experts on the subject of climate change, will addressed the need for innovative solutions to achieve significant results, and how our actions can affect related issues: poverty, disease and the lack of affordable...

The Lowy Institute was privileged to host Ms Joan Rohlfing, President of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), the world's premier non-government organisation addressing the dangers of nuclear weapons. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

International conflicts have declined dramatically over the past 60 years. At the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 23 February, Professor Andrew Mack examined the nature of these positive changes, their causes and their implications for international security policies. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 8 February, Mr Pierre Krähenbühl, Director of Operations of the International Committee of the Red Cross (the ICRC) addressed the Lowy Institute on the subject of how recent trends in integrated missions, the militarisation of aid and increasingly complex coordination challenges are impacting on the international community’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance and how we might help build...

On 2 February, the second half of the Wednesday Lunch series was launched with a discussion by three Lowy Institute scholars, Rory Medcalf, Annmaree O'Keeffe and Sam Roggeveen, on how Australia should be preparing for some of the big global and regional policy challenges in the second decade of the 21st century. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Wednesday 19 January 2011, as part of our Distinguished Speaker Series, The Rt Hon William Hague MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the United Kingdom, spoke at the Lowy Institute on opportunities for the Commonwealth in a networked world. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On Friday 10 December, the Lowy Institute brought together the Hon Dr Craig Emerson MP, Minister for Trade, and an expert panel including Alex Thursby, the Chief Executive Officer, Asia Pacific, Europe & America, ANZ Banking Group and Anwarul Hoda, the Chair Professor of ICRIER’s Trade Policy and WTO Research Program in New Delhi, for a keynote speech and an extended discussion on the forces shapi...

On Wednesday 8 December, Cate Sumner and Tim Lindsey launched their new Lowy Institute Paper, 'Courting reform'. Opening remarks on the paper were provided by the Chief Justice of the Family Court of Australia, The Hon. Diana Bryant, and Chief Justice of the Federal Court of Australia, The Hon. Patrick Keane. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In his new Analysis, 'The stakeholder spectrum: China and the United Nations', Michael Fullilove describes how China conducts itself in New York and the positions it takes on issues such as peacekeeping, Iran and North Korea. He lays out these approaches on what he calls a ‘stakeholder spectrum’. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In March 2011 the National Museum of Australia will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the opening of its building in Canberra. We are well used to the idea that the Museum has a role in explaining national identity. Yet the National Museum - like museums around the world - has to make a place for itself not only in a national context but in a global one. At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 1 Decemb...

On 30 November 2010, the Lowy Institute was pleased to host a major address on asylum policy by Scott Morrison, the Shadow Minister for Productivity and Population and Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship. In his speech, 'A real solution', Scott outlined a comprehensive global, regional and domestic approach to this complex and controversial issue. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...

On Friday 5 November, two leading commentators on US politics and foreign policy, Dr Michael Fullilove and Daniel Flitton, provided some immediate analysis of the mid-term results as part of the Lowy Institute’s ‘Food for Thought’ program in Melbourne. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 25 November, as part of the Institute's Distinguished Speaker Series, Ethan Nadelmann, Director of the US Drug Policy Alliance, argued that the 'war on drugs' has been ineffective, counterproductive and expensive, with dire consequences for national and international stability. He analysed the evolution of global drug control during the 20th century, the growing movement for reform, and potenti...