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Begin New Search Political Geography Australia/Pacific Publishing Institution Lowy Institute for International Policy

1. Instability in the Pacific Islands: A Status Report

Author:
Stewart Firth
Publication Date:
06-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Domestic developments in the Pacific Island states matter more than ever to Australia. The challenges to internal resilience in the Pacific Islands are both structural — in the form of issues arising from population growth, urbanisation, land, immigration, health, and gender relations — and particular to the political situation in each Island nation. The inability of Pacific states to match service provision in cities with their growing populations is a major challenge to resilience. Of all political issues in Papua New Guinea, loss of customary land is the most likely to provoke protest and conflict.
Topic:
Politics, Political stability, State Formation, and Services
Political Geography:
Australia, Australia/Pacific, Solomon Islands, Asia-Pacific, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Melanesia

2. Beyond Access: Making Indonesia's Education System Work

Author:
Andrew Rosser
Publication Date:
02-2018
Content Type:
Commentary and Analysis
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Indonesia’s education system is low in quality and the underlying causes are political. Indonesia’s education system has been a high-volume, low-quality enterprise that has fallen well short of the country’s ambitions for an “internationally competitive” system. This outcome has reflected inadequate funding, human resource deficits, perverse incentive structures, and poor management but has most fundamentally been a matter of politics and power. The political causes of poor education performance include the continued dominance of political, bureaucratic, and corporate elites over the education system under the New Order and the role that progressive NGOs and parent, teacher, and student groups have had in education policymaking since the fall of the New Order, making reform difficult.
Topic:
Education, Government, Politics, Children, Youth, and NGOs
Political Geography:
Indonesia, Asia, Australia, and Australia/Pacific

3. Melanesia New Voices: Investing in the Next Generation

Author:
Jenny Hayward-Jones
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Melanesian countries need to better cater for their growing young populations, including through establishing youth centres and targeted programs. Prosperity and peace is achieved through embracing the dignity of Melanesian identity, which includes respecting the New Caledonian decolonisation process and acknowledging West Papuan aspirations for human rights and self-determination. Melanesian countries are making good use of technological innovation, but infrastructure gaps and limited access to finance constrain the development of innovative small businesses.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Rights, and Infrastructure
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific

4. The Perception Gap: Reading China's Maritime Objectives in Indo-Pacific Asia

Author:
Linda Jakobson and Rory Medcalf
Publication Date:
06-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
Regional security is being adversely affected by a worsening perception gap between China and other regional powers in the Indo-Pacific. What China sees as the legitimate defence of its interests others in the region see as assertive behaviour. There are some real differences in interests between China and other regional players in the Indo-Pacific, but tensions can also be moderated by efforts to address the perception gap.
Topic:
Conflict Resolution, Security, Defense Policy, and Arms Control and Proliferation
Political Geography:
China and Australia/Pacific

5. Papua New Guinea in 2015: at a crossroads and beyond

Author:
Jenny Hayward- Jones
Publication Date:
05-2015
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
2015 is a significant year for Papua New Guinea. The country will mark 40 years of independence from Australia, host the Pacific Islands Forum leaders’ meeting and the Pacific Games. The Papua New Guinea economy will record the highest GDP growth rate in the world in 2015 but will also formally fail to meet any of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals in their deadline year. The Papua New Guinea government has introduced tuition fee free education and free healthcare but faces major challenges in improving the living standards of its population of over seven million people. The resources boom has helped drive investment in infrastructure but catering for the nation’s growing youth bulge is proving a particularly difficult policy problem. Changes to the way different levels of government are being administered could improve service delivery in rural areas but have the potential to undermine national development planning. The next generation of leaders will face an even more complex set of challenges.
Topic:
Development, Education, Health Care Policy, and Economies
Political Geography:
Australia/Pacific and Papua New Guinea

6. The UN Security Council seat and Australia's diplomacy for the Asian century

Author:
Alex Oliver
Publication Date:
12-2012
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
It's been a big year for Australia's foreign relations. It's been a particularly big year for Australia's multilateralism and its position in the United Nations, with the win in late October of the seat on the UN Security Council after much speculation, controversy, partisanship and criticism.
Topic:
International Relations, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and International Security
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia/Pacific

7. The 2012 national elections in Papua New Guinea: averting violence

Author:
Scott Flower and Jim Leahy
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
This paper draws on fieldwork undertaken by the authors between January 2011 and January 2012 among local communities in Port Moresby and three of the more unstable highlands provinces of PNG (Southern Highlands, Western Highlands and Enga).
Topic:
Political Violence, Democratization, Government, Politics, and Fragile/Failed State
Political Geography:
Asia, Australia/Pacific, and Guinea

8. Inflection point: the Australian Defence Force after Afghanistan

Author:
Alan Dupont
Publication Date:
03-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
In every era there are inflection points which require long - established institutions to re - evaluate their goals, strategy, structure and resource allocations to ensure their future health and relevance. As a major organ of state, the Australian Defence Force (ADF) is no exception.
Topic:
Conflict Prevention, Security, and Defense Policy
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Asia, Australia, and Australia/Pacific

9. Global fiscal consolidation

Author:
Warwick McKibbin
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
The build up in government debt in response to the 'great recession' has raised a number of policy dilemmas for individual countries as well as the world as a whole. Where the government fiscal stimulus was seen as necessary to restore confidence to markets and stimulate deteriorating economies in the aftermath of the 'great recession' by 2010 the massive fiscal stimulus programs and associated run-up in debt had, for many economies, become a confidence sapping exercise. This need for a change of fiscal policy stance has fuelled another debate that has two related aspects. One is the impact of fiscal consolidation on economies that are tightening and the flow-on effects to the world economy. The other debate is how much tightening there should be and how quickly.
Topic:
Debt, Economics, Global Recession, and Financial Crisis
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia/Pacific

10. Policy overboard: Australia's increasingly costly Fiji drift

Author:
Jenny Hayward-Jones
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Lowy Institute for International Policy
Abstract:
What is the problem? Australia's tough-love policy towards Fiji has failed to persuade the government of Voreqe Bainimarama to restore democracy to Fiji and may even be helping to entrench his regime. The Fiji government, resistant to external pressure, has instead developed new allegiances and partnerships which undermine Australia's influence. Australia's reputation as a major power in the South Pacific and as a creative middle power more broadly may be diminished by the Fiji government's continued intransigence. Over time the Fiji people's once-strong connections with Australia may dwindle and Australia's relevance to Fiji gradually diminish unless the Australian government takes decisive action now.
Topic:
Foreign Policy and Democratization
Political Geography:
Asia and Australia/Pacific