In August 2023, the United States Studies Centre conducted a public opinion survey in Australia, the United States and Japan to understand the public sentiment in each nation on a variety of issues one year out from the 2024 US presidential election.  Jared Mondschein, Director of Research and Victoria Cooper, Research Editor at the United States Studies Centre discussed findings of the poll during a presentation to the Sydney International Strategy Forum. This is the second of two...

Moderated by Dr Michael Green, CEO at the United States Studies Centre, this session of the Sydney International Strategy Forum features panellists Professor Peter Dean, Director, Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre; Rep. Akihisa Nagashima, a member of the Japanese House of Representatives; Dr Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Dr Gorana Grgić, Senior Lecturer in US Politics and Foreign Policy at the United States Studies...

Professor Peter Dean, Director, Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre; Dr Zack Cooper, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute; and Hayley Channer, Director, Economic Security at the United States Studies Centre provided insights from an international strategy simulation that was hosted by the Centre to test how political thresholds, perceptions of risk, and national strategic assumptions might affect collective responses to a multi-faceted contingency in...

Moderated by Jared Mondschein, Director of Research at the United States Studies Centre, this session of the Sydney International Strategy Forum features panellists Michaela Browning, Vice President Government and Public Policy for Asia Pacific at Google; Dr John Kunkel, Senior Economic Adviser at the United States Studies Centre; and Hayley Channer, Director, Economic Security at the United States Studies Centre.  The Sydney International Strategy Forum brought together prominent thought...

Moderated by Victoria Cooper, Research Editor at the United States Studies Centre this session of the Sydney International Strategy Forum features panellists Ryan Lizza, Chief Washington Correspondent at Politico; Olivia Nuzzi, Washington Correspondent at New York Magazine; Associate Professor David Smith, Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy at the United States Studies Centre; and Bruce Wolpe, Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the United States Studies Centre.  The Sydney...

Minister for Resources and the Minister for Northern Australia the Honourable Madeleine King MP delivered a keynote address to the Sydney International Strategy Forum before joining Hayley Channer, Director of Economic Security at the United States Studies Centre, for a fireside conversation.  Ms King is the Minister for Resources and the Minister for Northern Australia. She has been the federal member for Brand since 2016 and in 2019 she was promoted to the role of Shadow Minister for Trade....

Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator the Honourable Simon Birmingham delivered a keynote address to the Sydney International Strategy Forum before joining Peter Dean, Director of Foreign Policy and Defence at the United States Studies Centre, for a fireside conversation. Mr Birmingham is Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. He has served as a Liberal Party Senator for South Australia since May 2007. Under the Morrison government, Mr Birmingham...

Moderated by Dr Michael Green, CEO of the United States Studies Centre, this session of the Sydney International Strategy Forum features panellists Michèle Flournoy, Co-founder of WestExec Advisors; Admiral Phil Davidson, former Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command; Dr Evan Medeiros, Professor and Penner Family Chair in Asia Studies in the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University; and The Hon. Kim Beazley AC, former Australian Ambassador to the United States.  The Sydney...

Michèle Flournoy is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of WestExec Advisors, and Co-Founder, former Chief Executive Officer, and now Chair of the Center for a New American Security. Ms Flournoy served as the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy from 2009 to 2012. She was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense in the formulation of national security and defence policy, oversight of military plans and operations, and in National Security Council deliberations. Ms Flournoy delivered a...

Dr Michael Green, CEO of the United States Studies Centre provides welcome remarks for the inaugural Sydney International Strategy Forum held at the Four Seasons Sydney on 1 November 2023. Jared Mondschein, Director of Research and Victoria Cooper, Research Editor at the United States Studies Centre then discussed the findings of a public opinion survey conducted by the United States Studies Centre In August 2023 in Australia, the United States and Japan. The poll measured public sentiment in...

Republican presidential candidates gathered in Milwaukee for the biggest event of the 2024 election cycle so far: the first Republican presidential debate. With the power to make or break the candidates jockeying to stand out in the crowded GOP field, the first debate is a critical step in deciding who will ultimately face off against likely Democratic nominee Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election. While the stage may be set, much remains unknown. Does anyone stand a chance to dethrone...

The past few years have seen an unprecedented use of economic coercion as a tool of international relations, from sanctions placed on Russia, Iran, and North Korea to the ongoing export control battle between China and the United States. How far will these tools go? Would sanctions work in China in the event of a Taiwan crisis? What would it mean for the private sector and businesses? To discuss this, USSC hosted a discussion with Adam Smith, a world-leading international trade compliance...

Strategic competition between the United States and China, Australia’s most important ally and largest trading partner respectively, means Australia must maintain a delicate balancing act. China has recently begun removing restrictions on Australian imports in signs of improved bilateral relations, even as it threatens economic coercion in other areas of the region. With an uncertain global economic outlook and rising tensions across the Indo-Pacific, questions of how Australia should engage...

While debt-ceiling negotiations required President Biden to call off the Australia leg of his recent trip to the region, this did not stop progress on a number of major initiatives across the Indo-Pacific. At the G7 in Hiroshima, Japan, key global leaders discussed a wide range of salient issues, from countering economic coercion and redoubling support for Ukraine to clean energy and nuclear disarmament. The leaders of all four Quad countries were also able to hold a rescheduled Quad Leaders...

In the era of strategic competition, debate about how to preserve the international rules-based order without provoking a catastrophic conflict continues unabated. Following the invasion of Ukraine, concerns around Taiwan have made the stakes in these debates only more tangible. To answer the critical question about how to avoid great power conflict, former White House staffer Dr William Inboden argues we should look to the past and, specifically, US President Ronald Reagan’s role in the...

Price tag aside, one of the biggest obstacles to the success of AUKUS is export controls. Stakeholders in all three AUKUS countries are increasingly concerned that the United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) present a significant challenge to the timely sharing of equipment, information, and technology between the three countries. These challenges are not new, but the stakes have never been higher. Realising the full potential of AUKUS hinges on timely ITAR reform....

The Quad partnership — Australia, India, Japan and the United States — represents a powerful grouping of Indo-Pacific states seeking to maintain stability and resilience in the world’s most dynamic region. What can the history of the Quad, which dates back to the George W. Bush administration, tell us about its future? How can the Quad successfully align the diverse views across the region to address shared challenges? To discuss these questions, the United States Studies Centre held a public...

The United States Studies Centre and the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) hosted a special event to hear from leaders across the region about the state of play for democracy and how aligned countries can work together. The event featured a keynote address followed by a panel discussion. Keynote address Australian economist Professor Sean Turnell spent much of his professional career studying the Myanmar economy and moved there to advise the State Counsellor of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi....

In an era of heightened economic and technological competition, the United States and Australia are rapidly recalibrating their strategic approach. The technology policy landscape is front-of-mind across all aspects of business and government. This conversation explored a range of technology issues facing Australia and the United States including, the role of AI and automation in jobs, innovation and inequality, data sovereignty, the CHIPS Act, decoupling and technology regulation.  The...

With the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines through AUKUS, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australia is on the cusp of “the single biggest leap in our defence capability in our history.” Now, 18 months since the original surprise announcement, the highly-anticipated AUKUS report shares the “optimal pathway” to acquire the nuclear-powered submarines. But the pathway is fraught with challenges and aligned intentions do not guarantee delivery. Where is the greatest daylight between...

The United States and Australia both followed circuitous routes to marriage equality. When US Ambassador to Australia John Berry (ret'd) first arrived in Australia in 2013, he was the first openly-gay US ambassador to a G20 country. However, not only was same-sex marriage not legal in Australia, it was not yet legal in all of the United States. In Australia, Qantas Group CEO Alan Joyce AC was one of the most influential voices in the marriage equality campaign. How have these influential...

At his inauguration more than two years ago, President Biden promised that America was back, ready to resume its leadership role in world affairs. But, as a multitude of crises present increasingly complicated policy problems for world leaders, how can the Biden administration hope to manage these tumultuous international relations? What is the United States trying to accomplish in its foreign policy? And why is it that the world seems so constantly unstable and in flux? Understanding US...

On 7 February, President Biden will make his State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress and his first appearance before the newly Republican-controlled House of Representatives. As directed by the US Constitution, the sitting president must deliver to Congress "information of the State of the Union". Less of a report card, the annual message has become an opportunity for the president to publicly tout their accomplishments and rally support for their policy agenda for the year...

Lin-Manuel Miranda’s widely acclaimed rap retelling of the story of America’s first treasurer, Alexander Hamilton, effectively scrubbed the moniker of “forgotten founding father” when it became one of the most successful Broadway musicals of all time. When Hamilton launched in Sydney in 2021, it was the only place in the world the musical was being performed. As Hamilton commences its final weeks in Australia, the United States Studies Centre welcomed Jason Arrow (Alexander Hamilton), Akina...