As part of the Lowy Institute Re-Cast series, we are republishing the best podcasts of 2024. In case you missed them the first time around or if you want revisit these engaging conversations, the Re-Cast series has you covered.

In this episode of The Director’s Chair, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director Michael Fullilove is joined by US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell.

They discuss Kurt Campbell’s new role in the State Department, American policy towards China, the relationship between Moscow and Beijing, Xi Jinping’s recent visit to France, Dr Campbell’s aims for the AUKUS pact, and the things that make him optimistic when he looks at the world today.

The Director’s Chair is a podcast by the Lowy Institute: https://www.lowyinstitute.org/

Twitter:
@LowyInstitute
@mfullilove
@DeputySecState 

Host: Michael Fullilove 
Producers: Josh Goding and Andrew Griffits 
Research: David Vallance

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Plans for Donald Trump's second-term inauguration are well underway, with his transition team straight to work announcing appointments. Lowy Institute Executive Director Dr Michael Fullilove has recently returned from the United States where he met with a number of outgoing and incoming officials. For the final episode of 2024, he spoke with Lowy Institute Fellow Lydia Khalil about the new Trump administration.

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The inaugural Lowy Interview, featuring US President Joe Biden’s National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

During all the moments that have defined US foreign policy over the past four years — from Afghanistan to Ukraine, from meetings of the Quad to the formation of AUKUS, from October 7 to the fall of Bashar al-Assad — Jake Sullivan has been at President Biden’s elbow.

In an extended interview at the White House in Washington, DC, the Lowy Institute’s Executive Director, Dr Michael Fullilove AM, spoke with Mr Sullivan about America’s relations with the world under President Biden’s administration, and what comes next.

Dr Fullilove and Mr Sullivan discussed the monumental events in Syria, Iran’s annus horribilis, Russia’s recent setbacks and the war in Ukraine.

Closer to home, Mr Sullivan reflected on his “strategic channel” with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Beijing’s growing alignment with Russia, Iran and North Korea, the “Biden doctrine” in foreign policy — and how AUKUS will fare under President Donald Trump.

On a more personal note, Dr Fullilove spoke with Mr Sullivan about imposter syndrome, Midwestern niceness — and the merits of Australian Rules football.

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Lowy Institute experts and guests examined the implications for Asia of Donald Trump’s re-election as US President. Our panellists examined the consequences of his re-election for US security and trade ties with Indo-Pacific, and the outlook for US-China tensions and key regional flashpoints, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Lydia Khalil convened this conversation with colleagues Daniel Flitton, Managing Editor of the Interpreter and Susannah Patton, Director of the Southeast Asia Program at the Lowy Institute, and Professor Bec Strating, Director of La Trobe Asia.

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Lowy Institute's Research Fellow Dr Rahman Yaacob, recently traveled to Cambodia to investigate the controversial Ream Naval Base. In this podcast, Rahman shared his insights with Sam Roggeveen, Director of the International Security Program. They discuss how the Ream Naval Base plays into Cambodias strategic positioning and the broader context of US-China geopolitical competition.  

Read and download the Lowy Institute Analysis “Partnership of convenience: Ream Naval Base and the Cambodia–China convergence” by Dr Rahman Yacoub

Link - https://www.lowyinstitute.org/publications/partnership-convenience-ream-naval-base-cambodia-china-convergence

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Trillions of dollars are needed to meet the world’s climate and development goals. Joan Larrea, CEO of Convergence, a global blended finance network, speaks with the Lowy Institute’s Roland Rajah about how blended finance, which uses government and philanthropic money to increase private investment, could be the answer. Joan shares her insights on what blended finance can realistically achieve, what’s needed to increase its impact, and how it can help in low income and small island developing countries.  

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On Monday 18 November 2024, we hosted Australian and American scholars at the Lowy Institute to assess the aftermath of the tense, high-stakes US election. Our panellists discussed the outcome of the poll and the implications for Australia and the region, including trade, national security, and China and Asia policy.

Richard McGregor led the conversation with the Australian Financial Review’s International Editor James Curran, and visiting scholars Charles Edel and Kathryn Paik from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington, DC.

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The 2024 Lowy Lecture was delivered by the President of the Czech Republic, Petr Pavel.

‍The Lowy Lecture was held on Tuesday 26 November 2024 at the Sydney Town Hall.

President Petr Pavel is one of Europe’s most influential, interesting and articulate leaders. He has been a vocal supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, leading calls for a strong and united response by Western nations to Russia’s aggression. He believes that - facing the current challenges - democracies across the world must work closely together.

He was inaugurated as the fourth President of the Czech Republic in March 2023. Prior to entering politics, Mr Pavel spent 35 years in the Czech military, culminating in his service as the Chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces. Mr Pavel also chaired the Military Committee, NATO’s senior military authority, from 2015 to 2018.

The Lowy Lecture is the Institute’s flagship event and one of the world’s leading lecture series.

Past Lowy Lecturers have included leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel, then UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, as well as four sitting Australian prime ministers, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in 2023.
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The Lowy Institute is grateful for the support of our event partners Mercer and AWS.

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Each year, the Lowy Institute updates is Pacific Aid Map – the most comprehensive database tracking aid and development flows to the Pacific Islands region ever assembled. In this episode of Development Futures, lead authors Alexandre Dayant and Riley Duke join Dr Jessica Collins to unpack the key insights from this year’s report and explore key questions.  How is the international community supporting the Pacific as it recovers from the pandemic? What role is China playing in the region?  And how is geopolitics shaping the allocation of development finance? These questions and more are explored in this episode.

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On Tuesday 12 November our Lowy Institute experts and senior investment leaders discussed key geopolitical risks and trends, and the impacts on financial markets and investment portfolios.
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Rising geopolitical tensions are testing the resilience of global businesses and challenging existing growth strategies.  Conflict in Europe and the Middle East and escalating US–China competition have the attention of business leaders. Moreover, 2024 is the year of national elections, with more than 60 countries and nearly 50 percent of the global population heading to the polls. Business leaders increasingly see geopolitics as a major risk to global growth and view political transitions as the leading emergent risk.
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Our panellists considered major paradigm shifts including inflation regimes, climate and decarbonisation, technology disruption, populism, deglobalisation and changing asset class correlations. They also discussed the consequences of these shifts for Australia, Asia and the world.
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Sam Roggeveen will convene this conversation with Lowy Institute Research Director Hervé Lemahieu, Barrenjoey Chief Economist Jo Masters and Future Fund Chief Investment Officer Ben Samild, which will include questions from the audience.

Panellists
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Jo Masters is Chief Economist of Barrenjoey Capital Partners. She focuses on trends across the economy and financial markets and has been a highly regarded part of the economic debate in Australia for 25 years.
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Hervé Lemahieu is Director of Research at the Lowy Institute. His research interests include strategy and geopolitics, global governance, Australian foreign policy, Southeast Asia and data analysis.  He started his career at Oxford Analytica informing government and business policy on geopolitical risk in Asia.
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Ben Samild is Chief Investment Officer at the Future Fund. In his former role as Deputy Chief Investment Officer, Mr Samild led the teams responsible for investing Listed Equites and Alternatives strategies and led the integration of whole-of-portfolio insights as part of the Fund’s joined-up investment approach.
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Sam Roggeveen is Director the International Security Program at the Lowy Institute. He is the author of The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace.  Sam also serves as Lead Editor at the Lowy Institute, and editor of the Lowy Institute Papers.

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