Skip to main content
The Interpreter

Interpreter - Menu Links

  • Articles
  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • About

Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 8 Apr 2024
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Intelligence and Security
    • Defence & Security
    • The Biden Presidency
    • The Trump Presidency
    • United States
    • US Elections

    Beyond Biden vs Trump: The other US elections that matter

    Raymond La Raja
    In US foreign policy, the Congress can pack a punch against the president, and that reverberates all the way to Australia.
  • 5 Apr 2024
    • China
    • China's Military
    • Philippines
    • Australia and Asia
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Maritime Security
    • United States
    • US Navy

    What should Australia be doing about the South China Sea?

    Susannah Patton
    While Australia’s interests are clear, its contribution is ambiguous.
  • 15 Mar 2024
    • Australia
    • Australia and Climate Change
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia's Army
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Pacific Islands
    • China and the Pacific
    • Fiji
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Vanuatu

    A “climate defence force” for the Pacific

    Thomas Lonergan
    By harnessing human, environmental and resource security, Canberra can counter Beijing’s coercive tactics in the region.
  • 23 Feb 2024
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia's Economy
    • Australia's Trade
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Defence Intelligence and Security
    • Australian Development Assistance
    • Australian Diplomacy
    • Australian Foreign Aid
    • Defence & Security

    Economic diplomacy: Strategic funding comes in from the cold

    Greg Earl
    A new review may cast a revealing light on how the government uses third-party institutions to shape the country’s strategic thinking.
  • 29 Jan 2024
    • Australia and Climate Change
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Maritime Security
    • Review

    Why big projects fail: Climate change and AUKUS submarines

    Stephen Grenville
    Construction lessons – from the Empire State to the Sydney Opera House – can inform Australia’s most pressing problems.
  • 28 Sep 2023
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security
    • Review

    AUKUS: A debate after the fact is still worth having

    Georgina Downer
    Can Australia’s statecraft and alliances offer alternative security options in the Indo-Pacific?
  • 20 Mar 2023
    • China
    • China's Military
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • China-Australia Relations
    • Defence & Security

    Australia, China, AUKUS and the squandered advantage

    Sam Roggeveen
    Canberra appears to have overlooked the tyranny of distance as its chief asset in regional military deterrence.
  • 2 Mar 2023
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Defence & Security
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    AUKUS and intellectual property

    Naoise McDonagh , Sascha-Dominik Dov Bachmann
    In an era of economic entanglement, IP theft has the potential to threaten democracy. Governments need to be vigilant.
  • 24 Feb 2023
    • Australia
    • Australia and the Pacific
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australia-United States Relations
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Australia–New Zealand
    • China-Australia Relations
    • New Zealand

    The Australia-New Zealand alliance in a war with China

    Robert Ayson
    The potential for conflict in the region should have Canberra and Wellington thinking about shared strategic risks.
  • 31 Jan 2023
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Defence & Security

    Australia’s return to must-win wars

    Peter Layton
    The future is not the past. Australia needs to reset its strategic thinking and plan to win the wars it fights.
  • 28 Sep 2022
    • China's Military
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Defence & Security
    • Maritime Security

    Buying the wrong submarine

    Peter Layton
    Being able to sink ships doesn’t end a war. Australia should consider ballistic nuclear missile subs as an alternative.
  • 29 Aug 2022
    • South Korea
    • Australia in the World
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • Australian Diplomacy

    The merits of transactionalism

    Victor Abramowicz
    Seeking deeper relationships doesn’t always best serve the national interest.
  • 14 Apr 2022
    • Defence & Security
    • Cyber Security
    • Australia's Defence Challenges

    Australian cyber: What’s “Redspice” for?

    Ben Scott
    Canberra should explain why Australia needs a larger offensive cyber capability and how it will be used.
  • 28 Sep 2021
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Navy
    • Australia's Defence Challenges

    AUKUS and the nuclear non-proliferation regime

    Cathy Moloney
    Australia’s new trilateral agreement and its hard-won nuclear grand bargain. 
  • 20 Sep 2021
    • US Navy
    • Australian Navy
    • Australia's Defence Challenges
    • United Kingdom

    When you’re in a hole, stop digging: Australia and the nuke sub deal

    Albert Palazzo
    By the time Canberra’s subs roll off the dock, their capabilities will be obsolete, and there are bigger threats, too.
  • 30 Aug 2021
    • Australian Defence Force
    • Australian Defence Intelligence and Security
    • China's Military
    • Australia's Defence Challenges

    Sharpening deterrence

    Ben Scott
    The language around the who, what and how of Australia’s defence strategy needs an overhaul.
  • 2 Jul 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Australia
    • Australia's Defence Challenges

    Defence Strategic Update 2020: A first assessment

    James Goldrick
    A candid assessment of Australia's challenges, but will the planned measures be enough?

Stay informed with the latest commentary and analysis on international events from experts at the Lowy Institute and around the world.

Register

The Interpreter features in-depth analysis & expert commentary on the latest international events, published daily by the Lowy Institute.

© Copyright 2024 Lowy Institute

  • Debates
  • Contributors
  • Articles
  • About
  • Terms of Use
  • Log In
  • My bookmarks