Three important questions arise from the Australian government’s 2020 Defence Strategic Update in relation to Japan. How does Japan figure in the Update, how was the Update received in Japan, and how does the Update fit with Japan’s broader security strategy?

New Zealand Prime Minster Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party can govern alone. But the 2020 election was not just down to her successful leadership style, and electoral considerations may see Labour govern moderately over the next three years.

Last week, Europe’s Council of Ministers convened virtually.  Their meeting was hijacked by debate, the terrifying resurgence of the pandemic across the continent, and by a gritty and irritable discussion on Boris Johnson’s latest antics on Brexit.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: Australia to participate in naval exercises with India, the United States and Japan; more commercial flights back to Australia; the establishment of the Pacific Fusion Centre in Vanuatu; a statement on Dr Yang Hengjun; and more.

Among the many sad things you see working in violence prevention, one of the saddest is just how useless many violence prevention efforts really are. This is especially apparent in the domestic and gender-based violence spaces, where for all the sound and fury, a myriad of well-intentioned programs wind up signifying nothing.

Protests led by young, educated, urban people against the Thai government and “the Royal Institution” began in the middle of 2020. The protesters have yet to achieve their aims, but they have clearly exposed the disdain with which “the oligarchic establishment” regards them.

This year, the Nobel Peace Prize recognised the inextricable link between hunger and conflict.  With climate change as a further complicating factor, research, investment, and coordination with local farmers are critical for ensuring food security for all.

Strident anti-China political and media exchanges limit reasoned public debate on Sino-American relationship issues.  It is important to remember that many of the institutions that characterise China’s rise can trace their origins to the Asian Financial Crisis.

UN peacekeeping dangerously overlooks the reality that peace operations have both unintended and negative consequences. Any intervention into the politics and culture of a community is bound to create tensions between local practices and foreign peacebuilding practices.

When seen through the prism of technology, globalisation seems to be evolving rather than ebbing. This raises the question of what policymakers can do to prepare themselves for this new phase of globalisation.