Book Review: China–North Korea Relations: Between Development and Security Reviewed by John West — Reading room 23 June 2020China’s developmental peace approach to North Korea reads like a soft carrot and stick approach. The intensity can vary according to the actor, the issue, and the moment for fostering peace, security, and development. Read More
Book Review: A Bigger Picture Reviewed by Richard Broinowski AO — Reading room 10 June 2020In his early career, Malcolm Turnbull showed brilliance as a lawyer, entrepreneur, and investment banker. These should have earned him respect as a politician among his liberal peers, but he also carried into office progressive credentials for which he was relentlessly attacked by right-wing back- benchers and a conservative commentariat. Read More
Book Review: Iran Reframed: Anxieties of Power in the Islamic Republic Reviewed by Vishal Rajput — Reading room 03 June 2020Regime leaders in Iran are adept at using media and popular culture to foster support. Narges Bajoghli helps readers understand the contemporary position of the Islamic Republic by examining the four decades since the Islamic revolution. Read More
Book Review: Haunted by Chaos: China’s Grand Strategy from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping Reviewed by John West — Reading room 25 May 2020By most accounts, China has behaved badly through the COVID-19 pandemic. Fascinating insights can be derived about China’s present behaviour by looking into its past. Read More
Book Review: US Invasion of Granada: Legacy of a Flawed Victory Reviewed by Diego Bolchini — Reading room 12 May 2020The Caribbean geopolitical area has been quite neglected in the study of international affairs. The area was a crucial site of Cold War confrontation and it can be of interest to study past events to understand current scenarios. Read More
Book Review: The Dragons and The Snakes: How the Rest Learned to Fight the West Reviewed by Will Leben — Reading room 28 April 2020The US and its allies have engaged in multiple conflicts over the past three decades. This has given adversaries plenty of opportunities to learn how to fight back. Read More
Book Review: The Strategic Use of Force in Counterinsurgency: Find, Fix, Fight Reviewed by Dr Mariam Farida — Reading room 21 April 2020Counterinsurgency has become a tool for interventions of one state to “rescue” another state from insurgency. In this book, Miles Kitts fuses two major conventional theories of counterinsurgency to create a new comprehensive approach that can inform future counterinsurgency actions. Read More
Book Review: Contest for the Indo-Pacific: Why China Won’t Map the Future Reviewed by Professor Mark Beeson — Reading room 07 April 2020The idea of the Indo-Pacific has rapidly become a major part of policy and analytical discussion in Australia. Few people in Australia can claim to be more enthusiastic or influential advocates of the Indo-Pacific idea than Rory Medcalf. Read More
Book Review: Changing Fortunes: A History of the Australian Treasury Reviewed by John West — Reading room 25 March 2020The Australian Treasury’s initial purpose was to be a bookkeeper and budget manager for the new commonwealth government. A couple of decades later, the inadequacy of Treasury in providing meaningful economic policy advice to the government during the Great Depression was a catalyst for the development of a more substantive policy role. Read More
Book Review: Trumped: Emerging Powers in a Post-American World Reviewed by Professor Ian Hall — Reading room 02 March 2020Trump’s “America First” policies have paved the way for regional powers to assert their own local agendas. Sreeram Chaulia examines how four of these regional powers are faring. Read More