The Lowy Institute

On 2 December, Deputy Director Martine Letts and members of our Lowy Institute research team wound up this year’s Wednesday Lunch at Lowy Club series with a review of 2009, and what it means for Australia. Director of Studies Andrew Shearer, Program Director for East Asia, Dr Malcolm Cook and blog editor Sam Roggeveen gave their perspectives on the year, what surprised them and what did not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 25 November a new Lowy Institute Analysis, 'Comprehending Copenhagen: A Guide to the International Climate Change Negotiations', by Dr Greg Picker and Fergus Green, was launched. The authors outlined the issues on the Copenhagen agenda – from carbon markets to adaptation, from avoided deforestation to emissions reduction targets – and highlighted the areas of dispute between the parties.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 7 October 2009, Ambassador Colin Keating, who was New Zealand Ambassador on the Security Council in 1993/94, and now the Executive Director of Security Council Report, gave an insider’s view of what it takes to get elected and what being on the Council could entail for Australia.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 22 July a Lowy Institute Policy Brief by Fergus Hanson, 'China: Stumbling through the Pacific', was launched. The Policy brief examines the shortcomings of China's current approach to aid-giving in the Pacific region. Fergus Hanson is a Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute and has written several reports and articles on Chinese development assistance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 27 May, the Lowy Institute was pleased to host, as part of its Wednesday Lowy Lunch series, Martin Indyk, who spoke on his new book 'Innocent Abroad: an Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East'.Ambassador Indyk has a distinguished career in United States foreign policy and the Middle East. He is a Senior Fellow in Foreign Policy Studies at the Brookings Institution in Washington, DC, and the Director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 4 November, the Honourable Kevin Lynch, the former Clerk of the Privy Council, Canada, addressed the significant role that public policy plays in responding to the global financial crisis, the most fundamental challenge to free-market orthodoxy since the 1970s, and what this might mean for the institutions of global economic governance such as the IMF, G8, and G20.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 13 March 2009, as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series, the Lowy Institute was pleased to host His Excellency Nuri al-Maliki, Prime Minister of Iraq. Prime Minister al-Maliki spoke about the future of his country and its prospects for political stability and economic development.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 25 October, Professor Michael Grubb addressed the audience on 'Climate change: business responses and international prospects'. Professor Grubb outlined the reasons behind the resumed urgency of business engagement on climate change, and the prospects for international developments over the next few years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 21 March, at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Dr Ziggy Switkowski spoke on the topic 'Australia and nuclear power: the road ahead'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 4 February, at the first lunch for 2009 in our Wednesday Lunch at Lowy series, three Lowy Institute scholars, Dr Malcolm Cook, Jenny Hayward-Jones and Rory Medcalf, discussed prospects for the Asia Pacific region this year, under the very challenging circumstances of the global financial crisis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 10 September, two prominent Australian Russia scholars, Professor Graeme Gill from Sydney University and Dr Robert Horvath from La Trobe University, examined the policy options for dealing with a newly assertive Russia.The Lowy Institute acknowledges the support of the Innovative Universities European Union Centre (IUEU) for facilitating Dr Horvath's participation in this Wednesday Lowy Lunch panel.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lowy Lunch on 28 February, Dr Geoffrey Hawker discussed the growing social and economic crisis in Zimbabwe. As hyper-inflation continues and Mugabe's regime intensifies its repression of critics, signs of dissent within the ruling ZANU-PF party are emerging and general strikes are spreading. If external actors are powerless or unwilling to act, does an internal settlement seem possible?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 20 September at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Professor Anthony Cordesman spoke on the topic of "Four crises in the Middle East". Professor Cordesman holds the Arleigh A. Burke Chair in Strategy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 23 October at a special Monday edition of Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Victor Mallet, Asia Editor for The Financial Times, spoke on the topic of 'China's hottest export: environmental destruction'.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 6 September 2006 at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Jose Blanco and Roger Frankel asked whether Latin America's move to the left, its resurgent populism, links with the Middle East and rapidly growing Chinese influence will affect Australian interests and investments in the region, and global security. Jose Blanco is the Chairman of the Australia-Latin America Business Council (ALABC). Roger Frankel is the Director of consulting company Frank Advice (international), and a former Australian Ambassador to Venezuela.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 2 July 2008 at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Lieutenant Colonel Mark O’Neill offered a contemporary personal perspective on the experience of moving from theoretical considerations of counterinsurgency to involvement with actual counterinsurgency practice. Mark’s presentation drew on his recent seven month experience as the Senior Adviser at the Multinational Force Iraq’s Counterinsurgency Center for Excellence, during which he worked in various parts of the country.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On 18 June 2008 at the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy, Dr Atul Khare, United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General for Timor-Leste discussed the challenges of nation-building in the post-conflict environment of East Timor and the role of neighbouring countries in meeting those challenges.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lowy Institute was pleased to host, as part of its Distinguished Speaker Series, the Commonwealth Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, who in his presentation, 'Human rights: a moral compass', outlined the Government's approach to human rights and upcoming reforms aimed at strengthening Australia's leadership in this area.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 8 August, Jim Ingram, head of the World Food Programme for ten years, argued in a presentation entitled 'Reforming the UN: an iconoclastic view from the inside' that the focus of UN reform should shift to the economic and social activity of the wider UN system where valuable work is done.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Westerners have presumed that China's rise will take a familiar trajectory incorporating first economic, then political and social development in a broadly liberal democratic, market-driven direction. The recent tensions with Australia underline the failure of that perspective to explain modern China and its rise. What is China today and where is it heading? At the Wednesday Lunch at Lowy on 12 August, Asia-Pacific Editor of The Australian newspaper, Rowan Callick, explored the dimensions of the party-state.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.