The lesson of a decade's state capture in South Africa may be that institutions are only as good as the people who respect them in letter and in spirit—and citizens and organised civil society should not limit active participation in political processes only to election time.

Tehran's 'Girl on Enghelab Street', silently waving her hijab above her unveiled head, has prompted a new round of protest against Iran's modesty laws. Is there the momentum for change?

What happens to international aid projects after the money is spent? A former aid worker revisited South Sudan, Iraq and East Timor to find out, and the results are not encouraging.

In Wednesday's State of the Union, President Trump was selling 'America First' to a home crowd. But when Trump addressed leaders from some of the world's other leading economies in Davos last week, did he silence some of his more challenging critics?

The decision that North Korea will send 22 athletes to compete at the Winter Olympics hints at a more positive 2018 after 12 months of threats, weapon testing and hostile tweeting. Could sport prevent nuclear war?

In 2017, Australians had to acknowledge that the global order that had shaped the world since the end of World War II was over. Not challenged. Not changing. Over.

As 2017 limps out and 2018 edges in, here’s Old Dobell’s almanac of the times, trends and twists of history.

Australia is commonly characterised by commentators as a middle power – a state with hard power characteristics below that of a super power […]

INTRODUCTION Recent seismic political events driven by a range of populist forces have made “fake news” an increasingly […]

In a dynamic Indo-Pacific region, what was once purely trade policy is now also security policy. But with Australia looking to continue profiting from Asia's economic surge while keeping its security ties to the US, can it have its cake and eat it too?

A number of high-profile scandals have recently pushed gender-based violence into the media spotlight, but International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women is a reminder that its most pressing among the world's most vulnerable.