On Monday 18 November 2024, we hosted Australian and American scholars at the Lowy Institute to assess the aftermath of the tense, high-stakes US election. Our panellists discussed the outcome of the poll and the implications for Australia and the region, including trade, national security, and China and Asia policy.Richard McGregor led the conversation with the Australian Financial Review’s International Editor James Curran, and visiting scholars Charles Edel and Kathryn Paik from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The 2024 Lowy Lecture was delivered by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel. ‍The Lowy Lecture was held on Tuesday 26 November 2024 at the Sydney Town Hall. President Petr Pavel is one of Europe’s most influential, interesting and articulate leaders. He has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, leading calls for a strong and united response by Western nations to Russia’s aggression. He believes that - facing the current challenges - democracies across the world must work closely together. He was inaugurated as the fourth President of the Czech Republic in March 2023. Prior to entering politics, Mr Pavel spent 35 years in the Czech military, culminating in his service as the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces. Mr Pavel also chaired the Military Committee, NATO’s senior military authority, from 2015 to 2018. The Lowy Lecture is the Institute’s flagship event and one of the world’s leading lecture series. Past Lowy Lecturers have included leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as four sitting Australian prime ministers, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2023.‍The Lowy Institute is grateful for the support of our event partners Mercer and AWS.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each year, the Lowy Institute updates is Pacific Aid Map – the most comprehensive database tracking aid and development flows to the Pacific Islands region ever assembled. In this episode of Development Futures, lead authors Alexandre Dayant and Riley Duke join Dr Jessica Collins to unpack the key insights from this year’s report and explore key questions.  How is the international community supporting the Pacific as it recovers from the pandemic? What role is China playing in the region?  And how is geopolitics shaping the allocation of development finance? These questions and more are explored in this episode.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jo Masters, Chief Economist at Barrenjoey Capital Partners, brings 25 years of economic insight, while Ben Samild, Chief Investment Officer at the Future Fund, leverages his extensive hedge fund expertise. Hervé Lemahieu, Director of Research at the Lowy Institute, dives into strategic geopolitics. They explore rising geopolitical tensions, the implications of U.S.-China relations, and the impact of political shifts on global markets. The discussion also covers inflation, decarbonization, and the significance of geopolitical risk in shaping investment strategies.

Less than a week after Donald Trump’s historic election victory, world experts gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan, for COP29, the UN’s annual summit on climate change. The Hon Chris Bowen MP, Australia’s Minister for Climate Change and Energy, holds a central role at this year’s summit, as co-chair of negotiations on a new global climate finance goal. He speaks to the Lowy Institute’s Ryan Neelam about global climate action in the age of Trump, Australia’s climate ambitions, and the challenges facing the world in a new, more turbulent era of geopolitics. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A wide-ranging conversation with The Economist’s defence editor, Shashank Joshi, which will cover the Ukraine war, the Middle East, China’s nuclear ambitions, tensions between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea, the implications of the US presidential election for international security, and much more, including questions from the audience. Shashank Joshi is The Economist’s defence editor. Previously, he served as Senior Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and Research Associate at Oxford University’s Changing Character of War program. He has published books on Iran’s nuclear program and India’s armed forces, written for a wide range of newspapers and journals, and appeared regularly on radio and television. Sam Roggeveen, Director of the Lowy Institute’s International Security Program, hosted the conversation.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode, we explore what might happen at COP29, the upcoming UN climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan. With global emissions at record highs and climate impacts intensifying, this year’s conference will focus on setting a new climate finance goal to drive global climate action. The Lowy Institute’s Alexandre Dayant is joined by Indo-Pacific Development Centre climate experts Dr Melanie Pill and Georgia Hammersley, who will be hosting side events at the Pacific and Australian pavilions at COP29, as well as Ryan Neelam, Director of the Public Opinion and Foreign Policy Program at the Institute. Together, they dive into key issues on the agenda, potential sticking points, the global context, and what COP29 might mean for the future of global climate action.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of Conversations, the Lowy Institute's Dr Michael Fullilove and Hervé Lemahieu discuss Donald Trump's remarkable political comeback. What will a second Trump presidency mean for America's allies, adversaries, and the fence-sitters? And how should Australia deal with Mr Trump in the Oval Office? You can also read our special feature on Trump 2.0, as well as Dr Fullilove’s essay for The Atlantic.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the eve of the US election, Lowy Institute experts review the culmination of a tumultuous 2024 presidential election season.  Michael Fullilove, Ryan Neelam, Richard McGregor and Susannah Patton examine the beliefs and policies that animate both presidential contenders – Kalama Harris and Donald Trump – and their teams of advisors.  They also discuss the consequences of this election for Asia and the world.vSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Democracies around the world are being challenged by socio-economic pressures, rising inequalities, and rapid technological developments, as well as growing polarisation and diminishing trust in institutions. Safeguarding democracy by addressing these challenges has become a national priority, but it also has clear geopolitical implications for Australia and its democratic allies. With non-democratic powers such as China and Russia acting to blunt the influence of the international rules-based order, the health of democracies will play a significant role in the future of this order and its institutions.An in-person conversation with the head of Australia’s Strengthening Democracy Taskforce, Dr Jeni Whalan, to discuss how Australia fares in terms of the broader global trends impacting democracies and what renewing democracy at home means in an era of geopolitical competition.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.