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On Friday 14 June 2024 we had our inaugural lecture in honour of Allan Gyngell, the first Executive Director of the Lowy Institute and one of Australia’s most respected foreign policy thinkers. Allan’s friend and contemporary, Ric Smith, delivered the Lecture on the subject of statecraft — a notion dear to Allan, and one that reaches beyond routine foreign policy and diplomacy and implies vision, a sense of history, and a strategic appreciation of a nation’s place in the world.Ric Smith AO joined the Department of External Affairs in 1969. He served in Australia’s diplomatic missions in India, Israel, the Philippines and Hawaii and then as Ambassador to China and Mongolia (1996–2000) and later Indonesia (2001–2002). He was Secretary of the Department of Defence from 2002 to 2006. From 2009 to 2013, he was Australia’s Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in 1998, and awarded a Public Service Medal in 2002 for his service in response to the Bali bombing. The Allan Gyngell Lecture honours Allan Gyngell AO (1947–2023), the first Executive Director of the Lowy Institute (2003–09). Allan was the Director-General of the Office of National Assessments, Australia’s peak intelligence analysis agency, from 2009 to 2013. He was later the National President of the Australian Institute of International Affairs and an honorary professor in the ANU’s College of Asia and the Pacific. Allan joined the Department of External Affairs in 1969, with postings in Rangoon, Singapore and Washington, DC. He headed the international division in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and served as international adviser to Prime Minister Paul Keating. ‍
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In this episode of The Director's Chair, the Lowy Institute's Executive Director Michael Fullilove is joined by The New York Times columnist Bret Stephens.

They discuss the forthcoming US election and why he thinks Donald Trump is likely to return to the White House. They also talk about the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, AUKUS, cancel culture, and why he changed his mind about the risks of climate change.

The Director’s Chair is a podcast by the Lowy Institute: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

X:@LowyInstitute@mfullilove

Host: Michael Fullilove Producers: Darcy Milne and Andrew Griffits Research: David Vallance
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Myanmar’s civil war has entered a crucial phase. While the junta remains firmly ensconced in the centre, a series of stunning victories by its opponents has severely diminished the reach of the military regime into the borderlands. A constellation of anti-junta forces has started delivering public services in “liberated areas” where they are in effect governing millions of people. 

On Monday 20 May 2024, we launched the Lowy Institute Analysis paper, Outrage is not a policy: Coming to terms with Myanmar’s fragmented state, by Dr Morten Pedersen. The paper calls for international assistance for “parallel state-building”, focused on strengthening the capabilities of a wide range of emerging political authorities and community-based organisations to carry out traditional state functions. 

This launch event was moderated by Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Research at the Lowy Institute.

Dr Morten B. Pedersen is Senior Lecturer in International Politics at the University of New South Wales Canberra (Australian Defence Force Academy) and former senior analyst for the International Crisis Group in Myanmar.
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In the new episode of The Director’s Chair, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Michael Fullilove is joined by US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

They discuss Kurt Campbell’s new role in the State Department, American policy towards China, the relationship between Moscow and Beijing, Xi Jinping’s recent visit to France, Dr Campbell’s aims for the AUKUS pact, and the things that make him optimistic when he looks at the world today.

The Director’s Chair is a podcast by the Lowy Institute: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

Twitter:@LowyInstitute@mfullilove@DeputySecState 

Host: Michael Fullilove Producers: Josh Goding and Andrew Griffits Research: David Vallance
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China is facing many economic problems, at home and abroad. The two are connected. Weak demand at home has contributed to a sharp rise in Chinese manufacturing exports, especially in green technologies such as electric vehicles. Surging Chinese exports have in turn prompted a backlash from the United States, Europe, and others who accuse China of exporting overcapacity and damaging their own green industrial ambitions.

In this episode, Roland Rajah, Director of the Indo-Pacific Development Centre (IPDC), talks with Dr Bert Hofman, one of the leading international experts on China’s economy and a widely respected development economist and practitioner. They discuss China’s development model, the idea of “Peak China”, whether China is exporting overcapacity, what this all means for developing countries, and Bert’s ideas for what the world should be doing in response.

Dr Hofman is currently an adjunct professor at the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore and before that was with the World Bank for almost three decades, most recently as director of the World Bank’s country office in China.
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In this episode, Michel Barnier, Europe’s former point man on Brexit negotiations, speaks with Hervé Lemahieu. Four years on, what lessons should the West draw from Brexit? How united is Europe in the face of populism at home and with new challenges on its doorstep, including the war in Ukraine? And are China and Russia two faces of the same threat?
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