Abstract The current conflicts in Syria and Iraq have for the first time in many years brought to public consciousness the issue of war criminals in Australia. Australia has historically dealt with this issue in a reactive fashion and with varying success, through the domestic prosecution of offenders, immigration screening procedures and extradition. These approaches...

The personal network of Abu Gar, one man involved in last January's terrorist attack in Jakarta, shows how the communal conflicts in Ambon and Poso continue to haunt Indonesia. This latest report from the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict (IPAC), traces the violent trajectory of one man, Nazaruddin Mochtar alias Abu Gar, from his...

For military organisations, the aftermath of a war represents an opportunity to rest and refit, to think about the lessons so painfully learned and to preserve those of enduring value in education, training and doctrine. Arguably of even more importance, it is a time to reflect on and ask basic questions about the character of...

As experiences in Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Central African Republic, Iraq, Rwanda, South Sudan, Syria and Timor-Leste have all too clearly demonstrated, contemporary situations of armed conflict and other situations of violence can have a devastating impact on civilians. Today, armed conflict is more often taking place within states rather than between them, and civilians continue...

Foreign policy is typically a blandly bipartisan affair in liberal democracies like Australia and the United States. Although different slogans are employed by left and right, major political parties support broadly liberal foreign policy goals. Both sides of politics want to preserve peace and national security, promote trade and economic development, and protect individual rights...