On Sunday, the National People's Congress voted to extend the limit of Chinese presidential terms indefinitely. The vote was expected to go without a hitch and it did, with only two "no" votes and three abstentions. Xi Jinping’s hold over China is assured for many years to come.

Contrary to recent claims that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has become left-leaning and bureaucratic, DFAT serves the national interest in a way with which most Australians can be justly satisfied, and sometimes proud.

Australia can use its role on the Human Rights Council to provide leadership and take steps toward achieving the pillars on which it campaigned. 

After years of serving in and observing Russia from afar, a former diplomat explains the importance of understanding and respecting the nation and its leadership for what it is today and the prospects for East-West detente. 

How well did former diplomat Sir Keith Waller measure up against the three duties of the diplomat outlined by Arthur Balfour and the dictum of Talleyrand? An extract from his biography explains.

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.