The newly-released National Security Strategy provides good coverage of broad security issues, but could have given a more expansive worldview. Previous Defence White Papers have shown our approach to national security interests has been narrow and reactive rather than broad and proactive. This four-page report suggests there are ways to avoid the trap that strategic...

This paper explores the effects of a successful third North Korean nuclear test on the Northeast Asian security dynamic. A successful test, of around fifteen kilotons, could bring to the fore a slew of serious strategic issues in Northeast Asia, creating problems for North Korea's neighbours and further afield. The paper considers the implications for...

This report provides a new assessment of the rise of Asia and its impact on Australian strategic policy. It provides an in-depth strategic assessment of a region where the dominant strategic condition is neither cooperation nor competition, but a strange blend of both—‘coopetition’. But within that coopetitive Asia-Pacific, the existing contours of reassurance and deterrence...

This paper considers the positions of US and Israeli leaders, the current negotiations, and the possible drivers for a military strike against Iran. Over the last six months, the prospects of an Israeli preemptive strike against the Iranian nuclear weapons program have been much discussed. The Iranian nuclear program is an important issue for Australia...

Japan will remain an introverted strategic player during the next decade, and for Australia, the challenge is how to partner with that inward-looking Japan. Japan has endured a difficult couple of decades, but probably confronts another. With its economy stalled, its political system still evolving towards a genuine multiparty system, and its population ageing and...