Sri Lanka scrambles for aid – but Australia still seems preoccupied by  boats

Sri Lanka scrambles for aid – but Australia still seems preoccupied by  boats

Niro Kandasamy, University of Sydney When Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe conceded ten days ago that the Sri Lankan economy has “completely collapsed”, his words would have come as no surprise to the island’s 22 million people. With the country enduring its worst economic crisis since independence, authorities continue to scramble for aid from […]
Are we learning the wrong lessons from  history?

Are we learning the wrong lessons from  history?

Cover Image: ‘Peace for our time’: British prime minister Neville Chamberlain displaying the Anglo-German declaration, known as the Munich Agreement, in September 1938. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA Frank Bongiorno, Australian National University Can historians influence government policy? Should they? And, if so, what kinds of historical knowledge should they produce? I suspect policy-makers only rarely think […]
Friday essay: why soldiers commit war crimes – and what we can do about  it

Friday essay: why soldiers commit war crimes – and what we can do about  it

Mia Martin Hobbs, Deakin University The following essay contains disturbing images and language. In 2020, the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force released the Afghanistan Inquiry into Australian Defence Force Special Forces atrocities in Afghanistan. The report – commonly known as the Brereton Report – resulted in a flurry of analysis debating how and why […]
Recording – History and Policy Webinar with Better Governance and Policy

Recording – History and Policy Webinar with Better Governance and Policy

How can lessons from the past effectively inform policy design? Featuring Director of Better Governance and Policy, Professor Michael Mintrom, in conversation with historians, Associate Professor Paula Michaels, Associate Professor Michael Hau, and Dr Carolyn Holbrook. Watch the recording here.
Friday essay: if growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia  do?

Friday essay: if growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia  do?

Hugh White, Australian National University Should Australia join the United States in a war against China to prevent China taking the US’s place as the dominant power in East Asia? Until a few years ago the question would have seemed merely hypothetical, but not anymore. Senior figures in the Morrison government quite explicitly acknowledged that […]
Leadership now: what can history tell us?

Leadership now: what can history tell us?

James Walter   Australians are ‘good at elections’ as Judith Brett has persuasively argued. Our practices of mandatory and preferential voting have saved us from the institutional entrenchment of extremes of opinion that have surfaced in the public domain, and that have pushed parties and politics in, say, the United States, to brinkmanship over positions […]
Can ‘wicked’ policy problems be successfully tackled over time?

Can ‘wicked’ policy problems be successfully tackled over time?

By Brian Head   There has been a growing literature on ‘wicked problems’, which are generally seen as complex, controversial, intractable and evolving. Both the nature of the ‘problems’ and the best ‘solutions’ are strongly contested by political parties and various stakeholders. The problems are ‘wicked’ in the sense that they are not easily tamed […]
Why did women’s liberationists in Melbourne protest Anzac Day?

Why did women’s liberationists in Melbourne protest Anzac Day?

Jacquelyn Baker explains why women’s liberationists in Melbourne demonstrated against Anzac Day in the 1980s and considers how their concerns are still relevant today.   On 26 April 1983, the Canberra Times reported that 168 women in Sydney and seven women in Melbourne had been arrested on Anzac Day.[1] The women in Sydney had allegedly […]
Stricken Deer: Psychology and Counselling in Contemporary Australia

Stricken Deer: Psychology and Counselling in Contemporary Australia

Richard Trembath examines the increasing demand for mental health services in Australia.   I was a stricken deer that left the herd Long since; with many an arrow deep infixed My panting side was charged, when I withdrew To seek a tranquil death in distant shades . . . I see that all are wanderers, […]
How Might Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Affect Relations between Turkey and Russia?

How Might Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine Affect Relations between Turkey and Russia?

By Jennifer Chantrell   The recent Russian military incursion into Ukraine has shocked the world; even until just a few weeks ago the Ukrainian people were relatively complacent that Russia would not invade Ukraine. The Russian –Ukrainian conflict, however, has been ongoing since 2014 when pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukraine region known as the […]
Review of the The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process: Final Report to the  Australian Government

Review of the The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process: Final Report to the  Australian Government

Emeritus Professor Tim Rowse reviews  The Indigenous Voice Co-design Process: Final Report to the  Australian Government (Canberra: National Indigenous Australians Agency) July 2021   Conservatives who are unsure what position to take on Indigenous constitutional recognition seem to be the intended audience of the Final Report of the Indigenous Voice Co-design Process, released in December […]
Speakers, Deputies and the Clerks: the Revealing Light of Biography?

Speakers, Deputies and the Clerks: the Revealing Light of Biography?

The Biographical Dictionary of the House of Representatives shines a historical light on the men and women who have served as Speaker, Deputy Speaker, or Clerk of the House since Federation. This includes providing a better idea of what sorts of individuals have typically filled these offices and how the speakership, instead of adopting Westminster […]