USSC Live

The Pacific Islands are increasingly an arena of strategic competition between global powers. Yet amid these geopolitical circumstances, the challenges the Pacific Island countries themselves face are often overlooked. While many nations provide important development assistance to the region, such efforts are often duplicative, poorly implemented and sometimes even counterproductive. How can regio...

Asia's extraordinary economic rise — powered by globalisation and supply chains — lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, increased the region’s global influence and reshaped the global order. Yet the same forces that drove that transformation define many of the tensions now threatening to undo it. Understanding Asia’s past, present and potential future has never been more critical to defining...

Errol Flynn was the first Australian to become a Hollywood icon. His portrayal of Robin Hood in 1938 is one of the most legendary performances on the silver screen. The US Library of Congress selected The Adventures of Robin Hood for preservation in the National Film Registry. From his childhood in Tasmania and London, to his time as a young adult in New Guinea, before he found fame in America, hi...

In February 2026, the United States and Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran, killing former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and triggering a wider conflict that now involves most of the Middle East. Missile strikes have killed hundreds of civilians across the region. The crisis has also caused severe economic disruption, with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz driving up consumer...

The Quad partnership between Australia, India, Japan and the United States has emerged as major pillar of diplomatic architecture in the Indo-Pacific with a sweeping agenda from maritime cooperation to economic security and disaster relief. In 2025, two Quad Foreign Ministers Meetings helped consolidate a refreshed agenda between the four countries. However, the lack of a leaders-level summit unde...

The Indian Ocean is fast becoming one of the world’s most geo-strategically contested maritime arenas. The region’s littoral and island states are grappling with how to respond to this strategic competition but also face multi-dimensional maritime security challenges. These, in turn, are exacerbated by climate change and other economic and social vulnerabilities. As the two largest maritime democr...

The last 10 months have seen the longest federal government shutdown in US history, the highest levels of US tariffs imposed in nearly a century, unprecedented actions by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and a dramatic reshaping of federal government departments. Meanwhile, USSC polling ahead of the successful Albanese-Trump summit showed that Australians had negative views of President Tru...

In the wake of recent Australia-India Defence and Foreign Ministers’ meetings, the United States Studies Centre and the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) co-hosted a webinar to explore this evolving bilateral relationship. Moderator Dr Lavina Lee, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the USSC, was joined by leading voices from India and Australia, including ORF’s Sayantan Haldar and Pratnash...

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, General David Berger (Ret’d), former Commandant in the US Marine Corps, Takashi Yamashita, Member of the Japanese House of Representatives, and The Hon Arthur Sinodinos AO, Chairman of the United States Studies...

Keynote address at the Sydney International Strategy Forum from General David Berger (Ret’d), former Commandant of the US Marine Corps on the topic of " Can allies shape US strategy? " About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Uk...

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr Jeffrey Wilson, Director of Research and Economics at the Australian Industry Group, Yoshiaki Wada, former Representative (2016–24) in the Japanese House of Representatives, and Olivia Shen, Director, Strategic Technologies at the United States Studies Centre. Moderated by Hayley Channer, Director, Economic Security, United S...

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr John Kunkel, Senior Economics Adviser at the United States Studies Centre, Bilahari Kausikan, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore, Jo Masters, Chief Economist at Barrenjoey Capital Partners, and Ziad Haider, Partner and Global Director of Geopolitics at McKinsey & Company. Moderated...

A keynote address at the Sydney International Strategy Forum from His Excellency the Hon Dr Kevin Rudd AC, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States. About the Sydney International Strategy Forum  President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturned days or weeks later. At the same time, the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have entered new...

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring Dr Lavina Lee, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre, Lisa Curtis, Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, and Professor Peter Dean, Senior Adviser for Defence Strategy at the United States Studies Centre. Moderated by Cameron Stewart, Chief In...

Panel discussion at the Sydney International Strategy Forum featuring General David Berger (Ret’d), former Commandant of the US Marine Corps, Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper, Partner at The Asia Group, Bilahari Kausikan, former Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Singapore, and Professor Nobukatsu Kanehara, Executive Director of the Sasakawa Peace Foundation. Moderated by Matthew Knott,...

Former Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines joined the Sydney International Strategy Forum live by video link to discuss with Chief Executive Officer of the United States Studies Centre, Dr Michael Green, the topic, "Is China winning in the Indo-Pacific?" About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck p...

Panel discussion featuring Lisa Curtis, Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at the Center for a New American Security, Dr Mira Rapp-Hooper, Partner at The Asia Group, Dr Kori Schake, Senior Fellow and Director of Foreign and Defense Policy Studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and Clay Lowery, Executive Vice President for Research and Policy at the Institute of International Fina...

To open the 2025 Sydney International Strategy Forum, former US Deputy Secretary of State, Chairman and Co-Founder, The Asia Group, Dr Kurt Campbell, spoke with Chief Executive Officer of the United States Studies Centre, Dr Michael Green.  About the Sydney International Strategy Forum President Donald Trump’s first 100 days featured norm-breaking policies at a breakneck pace, often to be overturn...

Russian disinformation and foreign influence campaigns have increasingly become defining features of today’s information landscape. Their reach extends beyond Ukraine, shaping debates around the globe, including in the United States, Southeast Asia, and Australia. With democratic trust and resilience under increasing strain, this event will explore: The tactics and narratives commonly used in Russ...

A panel of experts unpacked Japan’s National Security Strategy and explored the opportunities and challenges for Australia-Japan-US trilateral strategic cooperation under Trump 2.0. The panel featured two prominent strategic thinkers from the US and Japan. Few countries have done more to reorganise themselves for a new era of strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific than Japan. Building on the st...

Three years since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the second Trump administration has made sweeping changes to US foreign policy priorities and moved to limit US support for Ukraine. In the last six months, the world has seen an explosive Oval Office meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy, NATO states pledging to increase their defence spending to as much as 5% of GDP, and continued...

The transition to a new US Administration has sharpened Washington’s focus on the Indo-Pacific, while also exposing deep strategic and political tensions shaping the future of American foreign and defence policy. Competing pressures — between isolationism and interventionism, reassurance and burden-sharing with allies, and fiscal restraint versus demands for force modernisation and advanced capabi...

For more than five decades following the 1972 rapprochement between the United States and China, the two countries seemed to be steadily building a sound relationship, even accounting for periodic setbacks like the Tiananmen Square massacre. The last decade, though, has seen a sharp increase in tensions and a complete reorientation of US policies toward China — from “engagement” to “competition.”...

The future of the global economic order is in flux. Beijing's coercive economic policies, President Trump’s unprecedented tariffs, and the embrace of industrial policies around the world have cast doubt on the future of international economic rules. Globally, countries like Australia are being forced to contend with a more fragmented economic landscape that is affecting trade and technology flows,...

To launch USSC senior lecturer Dr Kathryn Schumaker 's new book, Tangled Fortunes: The Hidden History of Interracial Marriage in the Jim Crow South (Basic Books, 2025), Dr Schumaker was joined by scholars Dr Michael Green , Associate Professor Frances Clarke , and Dr Aaron Nyerges to discuss the themes of the book. Prior to the US Supreme Court’s 1967 ruling in Loving v. Virginia, most American st...