Lowy Institute

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Channel • 7 Shows

Society & Culture

Society & Culture

Updated Biweekly
News Commentary

News Commentary

Updated 2d ago
News Commentary

News Commentary

Updated Jun 10
News Commentary

News Commentary

Updated Jun 16
Performing Arts

Performing Arts

Updated Monthly
News Commentary

News Commentary

Updated 2025-01-01
News

News

Updated 2022-11-11

2d ago

The trust deficit: Why Australians' attitudes towards America and China are shifting

Australians increasingly see China as an economic partner rather than a security threat — while still bracing for it as a long-term military risk. That's one of the striking findings from the 22nd Lowy Institute Poll, launched in Sydney. At the launch, Poll author Charlie Lyons-Jones joined Lowy Institute India Chair Shruti Pandalai and The Interpreter's Managing Editor Dan Flitton, moderated by Research Director Mihai Sora, to unpack a poll that shows record numbers of Australians feeling unsafe in the world, trust in the US at an all-time low, and the gap between how much Australians trust America and China narrowing to just three points. The panel covers Australians' growing sense of insecurity in the world, with 53 per cent now saying they feel unsafe, a record high for the poll. Trust in the US has fallen to a record low of 31 per cent, while trust in China has climbed to 28 per cent, narrowing the gap between the two powers to just three points. Support for AUKUS remains firm despite wavering confidence in Washington, and a majority of Australians still back the US alliance even as confidence in President Trump collapses. The panel also discusses Australian attitudes to India ahead of Prime Minister Modi's visit, and what that visit needs to achieve. They explore waning public support for Ukraine as the war drags on, rising concern that the risks of AI outweigh its benefits, and what the poll's findings on climate concern reveal about the mood driving Australian politics. Read the full 2026 Lowy Institute Poll at lowyinstitute.org. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2d ago

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1h 2m
4d ago

Southeast Asia in the crossfire: Can ASEAN hold the line?

Southeast Asia has always sat at the intersection of great power competition, but the pressures bearing down on the region today are testing its institutions, alliances and sense of common purpose like never before. Since the United States went to war with Iran and blockaded the Strait of Hormuz, soaring fuel and fertiliser costs have pushed several Southeast Asian nations into a state of emergency. Border tensions, the ongoing civil war in Myanmar, and an increasingly fierce rivalry between Washington and Beijing are all straining the region's capacity to hold together. In this episode, Lowy Institute Southeast Asia Program Director Hunter Marston speaks with two of the region's leading analysts — Dr Lina Alexandra from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta and Dr Ja-Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore — about what Southeast Asia needs to do to maintain its relevance, its unity, and its peace. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4d ago

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29 min
Jun 2

The West's systemic failure to learn from modern war

"On pretty much every measure, Putin is failing and he doesn't really have a lot of options moving forward." Russia is losing ground, its defence industry has plateaued, and Ukraine is striking deeper into Russian territory than at any point in the war. So what does that mean for how the conflict ends — and what can Australia learn from the battlefields of Europe and the Middle East? Lowy Institute Senior Fellow for Military Studies Mick Ryan joins International Security Program Director Sam Roggeveen to assess the shifting momentum in the Ukraine war, the emergence of a new theory of offensive operations, and why Western militaries — Australia included — are failing to absorb the lessons of modern warfare. Mick's latest Lowy Institute analysis paper, Modern war and the systemic learning deficit in Western military institutions, is available free on our website. More on this topic: Ukraine is turning the tables, Financial Times, Christopher Miller and Max Seddon More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 2

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28 min
May 25

A world with two Americas

The old international order is over, and a competition is underway to determine what comes next. In a discussion on his Lowy Institute Paper, Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order, former Biden White House official Thomas Wright explained how there are now two Americas — one internationalist and the other America First — competing with each other to shape the world. Dr Wright argued that nations will need to hedge against this dramatic fluctuation in US strategy for many years to come. The discussion was moderated by Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 25

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1h 5m
Jun 12

Pressure test: Can ASEAN meet the Indo-Pacific's security challenges?

Great power competition, maritime expansionism, and disruptions to global supply chains are heightening geopolitical tensions in the Indo-Pacific. Many observers question whether the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is capable of responding to a crisis or conflict in the region. The Lowy Institute hosts three leading experts to discuss traditional and non-traditional security challenges in the Indo-Pacific, existing crisis coordination mechanisms and gaps in regional response capabilities. The conversation features Dr Bec Strating, Don McLain Gill, and Murni Abdul Hamid and is moderated by Dr Hunter Marston, Director of the Southeast Asia Program. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 12

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1h 1m
Apr 16

Strait of Hormuz crisis: Iran, shipping, and Australia's strategy

When Iran deterred shipping from the Strait of Hormuz following Operation Epic Fury, it sent shockwaves through global energy markets and exposed uncomfortable truths about Australia's dependence on maritime trade. Jennifer Parker, a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute and former Royal Australian Navy warfare officer, joins Research Fellow Charlie Lyons-Jones to explain what a naval blockade means for the crisis. They also unpack Australia’s new National Defence Strategy and discuss why Australia’s surface combatant fleet is the smallest it's been since the 1950s. This episode was recorded on Wednesday 15 April 2026. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Apr 16

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29 min
May 13

Trump-Xi summit: Has America abandoned strategic competition with China?

On the eve of the upcoming Trump-Xi summit, Donald Trump's approach to China looks less like strategic competition and more like a search for a deal. In this episode, Richard McGregor speaks with Lowy Institute Nonresident Fellow and former Biden White House official, Thomas Wright, about what the Trump–Xi summit reveals, why the 2025 tariff war ended badly for Washington, and how the Democratic Party is reckoning with its own foreign policy legacy. Wright also makes the case that the world now faces not one American foreign policy, but two — and must plan accordingly. You can access Tom Wright’s Lowy Institute Paper Inflection Point: Biden, Trump, and the Future World Order here: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/inflection-point-biden-trump-future-world-order More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 13

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25 min
Jun 10

The nuclear arms race nobody is talking about

The New START Treaty has expired, China is quadrupling its nuclear arsenal, and the Trump administration has yet to prioritise arms control. Rose Gottemoeller, a former chief US negotiator of New START and ex-Deputy Secretary General of NATO, speaks with the Lowy Institute’s Sam Roggeveen about the growing risks of a three-way nuclear stand-off, what the wars in Ukraine and Iran reveal about the future of warfare, and why she will always be a believer in arms control agreements. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 10

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29 min
Jun 16

Whose rules, whose order? Southeast Asia and China’s growing power

Southeast Asia’s economic and geostrategic significance is on the rise, but China’s expanding dominance and a more transactional United States are challenging the region’s future. As Washington and Beijing force unwanted choices on Southeast Asia, regional states are struggling to defend the open and interconnected order that undergirds their security and prosperity. Hear from international experts about how Southeast Asian countries are navigating China’s growing power, increasing uncertainty from the United States, and a more fragmented global order. Featuring Lowy Institute Research Director Dr Hunter Marston, Dr Lina Alexandra from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies Indonesia, and Dr Ja-Ian Chong from the National University of Singapore, and moderated by Senior Fellow Richard McGregor. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jun 16

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1h 2m
May 7

After the unravelling: Confronting the new world order

The post–Cold War international order hasn't collapsed from a single shock. It's been deliberately unwound. Thomas Wright, a former Senior Director for Strategic Planning in President Biden's National Security Council, argues that China, Russia, and the United States have each adopted foreign policies that broke the foundational restraints holding the system together. By historical measures, what's emerged has the hallmarks of a pre-war environment. Drawing on his time inside the White House, Dr Wright diagnoses how we got here and what may come next. From Xi Jinping's strategy of asymmetric economic dominance, to Putin's war of conquest in Europe, to Trump's redefinition of American alliances as transactional arrangements. This event was hosted by Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program, in Melbourne on Wednesday 6 May 2026. More episodes of the Lowy Institute's podcasts are available on your favourite podcast apps, including Spotify, YouTube and Apple. Follow the Lowy Institute on our website, X, Instagram or LinkedIn. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

May 7

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1 hr

The Lowy Institute is a leading international think tank that looks at the world from Australia’s perspective.

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