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In this episode, Dr Lauren Sanders interviews Professor John Blaxland – one of Australia’s most renowned military strategy writers and historians – to talk about the current geopolitical landscape as it applies to Australia, reflecting on the trends from our recent past; and talk briefly about how drones and associated technologies may impact the future global order.  They canvas a geostrategic SWOT analysis for 2022; drones and the global order;  the tasks that the ADF may face in light of the current geopolitical landscape; and consider how to balance increasing task pressures upon the ADF.

Professor Blaxland is a Professor of International Security and Intelligence Studies and former Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and has extensively intelligence experience in operations and in strategic settings as an ADF military intelligence officer; and as an academic and historian. His long list of written works include as the principle author of ASIO’s official history, and recently, on US-Thai relations, and Australia’s contributions to the Korean, Afghanistan and Iraq wars, as well as contributing to the 2021 book, Drones and Global Order. John is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a Fellow of the Royal Society of New South Wales, a member of the Australian Army Journal editorial board, and the first Australian recipient of a US Department of Defense Minerva Research Initiative grant. 

Additional resources:

• Drones and the Global Order: Implications of Remote Warfare for International Society (Routledge, 2021);
• The US-Thai Alliance and Asian International Relations: History, Memory and Future Developments (Routledge, 2021); 
• Niche Wars: Australia in Afghanistan and Iraq, 2001 to 2014 (ANU Press, 2020); 
• In from the Cold: Reflections on Australia's Korean War, 1950-1953 (ANU Press, 2020); 
• A Geostrategic SWOT Analysis for Australia (SDSC, 2019).