Analyses

Insights and observations on key defence and security issues from DSI staff and academics across UWA.

Analysis

ABC Podcast: PM with Linda Mottram | Interview with Professor Stephen Smith

Australia’s ‘forever partnership’ to secure nuclear submarines

Analysis

The West Live with Ben O’Shea | Why Beijing won’t like Perth-based nuclear submarines with Professor Peter Dean

The West Live - 20th September 2021

Analysis

Ministerial meetings show deepening ties between Australia and South Korea by Peter K. Lee

With Australia and the Republic of Korea celebrating the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, this year’s 2+2 foreign and defence ministers’ meeting held on Monday in Seoul reflects an expanding security agenda between the two countries. by Peter K. Lee

Analysis

Small hints of a bigger opportunity in Australia-South Korea ties by Peter K. Lee

In Australia, over the last few weeks, international headlines have focused on the United States, between the problematic withdrawal from Afghanistan, the 70th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty, the 20 years since 9/11, and the AUSMIN meeting this week.

Analysis

ANZUS Invoked: September 11 and Interpreting the Treaty by Professor Peter Dean

A supposed “100 years of mateship” has seen the US and Australia fight every major war together since 1918. However, the ANZUS Treaty has only been formally invoked once – in the days after the September 11 terrorist attacks by Peter J. Dean

Analysis

Why the defence portfolio could make or break Peter Dutton’s political career by Professor Peter Dean

April 26, 2021 6.05am Defence is always one of the Australian government’s busiest — and most powerful — portfolios. Now, as Peter Dutton takes the helm, this is no exception, and he will have much work to do.

Analysis

DEFENCE SPECIAL REPORT: Minister must drive force posture review by Professor Peter Dean

The rise of Peter Dutton broke the short-held Western Australian ministerial dominance over the Defence portfolio. For a brief period WA members of the federal parliament controlled the Defence, Defence Industry and assistant Defence Minister roles.

Analysis

Why the tragic Afghanistan withdrawal should reassure US allies in Asia by Professor Peter Dean

For many US allies, the end of the conflict in Afghanistan will come as a relief, reassuring them that some clear, rational strategic thinking has taken hold in Washington.

Analysis

Former Defence Minister calls for new Defence Force Posture Review

Former Defence and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is calling for the government to urgently conduct a new Force Posture Review to ensure Australia’s military assets are well positioned. By Professor Stephen Smith

Analysis

Wargames Facing Wrong Way As The Strategic Focus Shifts

It is time to rethink Talisman Sabre through an up-to-date strategic lens. Australia’s largest andmost important military exercise has been in its ninth iteration this past fortnight. There is nodoubt about its increasing significance to both Australia and our alliance partner, the US.

Analysis

Expectations disrupted: lessons for Australia’s Indo-Pacific future by Professor Stephen Smith

Australia and the Indo-Pacific have thrived with an open trading system and with liberal economic regimes encouraging international competitiveness. This has helped secure peace, stability and prosperity. But these patterns are now far from assured.

Analysis

Tanks for nothing? Ensuring the Australian Army is ready for Indo-Pacific conflict by Professor Peter Dean

How we should allocate funding in relation to the future role of the Australian Army, especially the risks we face vis-à-vis the changing balance of power in our region, and in Army’s role in deterring (and potentially responding to) a much more aggressive and forthright China.

Analysis

Biden, Australia, and the Future of ANZUS in the Indo-Pacific by Professor Peter Dean

In 2021, the ANZUS alliance will have been in place for 70 years. However, in the wake of Biden’s recent inauguration as the 46th president of the United States, the alliance is experiencing challenges not seen in the past.

Analysis

The internal risks to Australia’s new defence strategy by Professor Peter Dean

The 2020 defence strategic update released last month provides a sobering analysis of Australia’s strategic environment and the risks we must manage. The document lays out a conflation of pressing issues and concludes that ‘major power competition has intensified and the prospect of high-intensity conflict in the Indo-Pacific, while still unlikely, is less remote than in the past.’

Analysis

A New Strategic Song? ANZUS, the 2020 Australian Defence Update, and Redefining Self-Reliance by Professor Peter Dean

Is Australia taking steps toward a career as a soloist in the opera of Indo-Pacific deterrence? In 2020, the country has taken a long, hard look at the Indo-Pacific region, including the United States under President Donald Trump. Has it decided that its relationship with the United States is more about dashed expectations than 100 years of “mateship”?

Analysis

Modernising ANZUS: Next-generation perspectives on the US–Australia alliance by Professor Peter Dean

Amid the debate last week over the merits of travelling to Washington for the annual AUSMIN talks and donning face masks during a global pandemic, the defence and foreign ministers of Australia and the United States delivered a direct and persuasive joint statement.

Analysis

Next Generation Perspectives on the US-Australia Alliance

The Future of the US-Australia Alliance Regional Workshops is a two-year program funded by the United States Government, and delivered by the Perth USAsia Centre in partnership with Griffith Asia Institute, La Trobe Asia, the University of Western Australia and the Australian National University. The program aimed to identify and equip a cohort of young leaders across the country with a contemporary understanding of the Alliance.

Analysis

2020 Australian Defense Strategic Update: The Revenge of Geography by Professor Peter Dean

The traditional foundations of Australia’s strategic policy, and its dominant way of war, have been transformed. This new fact of life was signaled in this month’s 2020 Australian Defense Strategic Update. In her speech at the University of Western Australia on July 6, Australian Defense Minister Linda Reynolds summed up these changes in the most direct manner: “The world we grew up in is no more.”

Analyses

ABC Podcast: PM with Linda Mottram | Interview with Professor Stephen Smith

The West Live with Ben O’Shea | Why Beijing won’t like Perth-based nuclear submarines with Professor Peter Dean

Ministerial meetings show deepening ties between Australia and South Korea by Peter K. Lee

Small hints of a bigger opportunity in Australia-South Korea ties by Peter K. Lee

ANZUS Invoked: September 11 and Interpreting the Treaty by Professor Peter Dean

Why the defence portfolio could make or break Peter Dutton’s political career by Professor Peter Dean

DEFENCE SPECIAL REPORT: Minister must drive force posture review by Professor Peter Dean

Why the tragic Afghanistan withdrawal should reassure US allies in Asia by Professor Peter Dean

Former Defence Minister calls for new Defence Force Posture Review

Wargames Facing Wrong Way As The Strategic Focus Shifts

Expectations disrupted: lessons for Australia’s Indo-Pacific future by Professor Stephen Smith

Tanks for nothing? Ensuring the Australian Army is ready for Indo-Pacific conflict by Professor Peter Dean

Biden, Australia, and the Future of ANZUS in the Indo-Pacific by Professor Peter Dean

The internal risks to Australia’s new defence strategy by Professor Peter Dean

A New Strategic Song? ANZUS, the 2020 Australian Defence Update, and Redefining Self-Reliance by Professor Peter Dean

Modernising ANZUS: Next-generation perspectives on the US–Australia alliance by Professor Peter Dean

Next Generation Perspectives on the US-Australia Alliance

2020 Australian Defense Strategic Update: The Revenge of Geography by Professor Peter Dean

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