Publications - Australian Institute of International Affairs

Tides of Memory: Cultural Storytelling and Disaster Resilience in the Indo-Pacific

Emily Mosley — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 23:32:13 +0000

In an age of relentless news cycles and information overload, it’s easy to forget the disasters we’ve faced and the lessons they carry. Storytelling and memorialisation are powerful tools to actively remember collective experiences and their lessons and ultimately build resilient communities.

In this report, author Rebekah Baynard-Smith draws on case studies from across the Indo-Pacific to explore how societies use storytelling, art, music, memorials, museums, traditional ecological knowledge, and technologies to keep disaster memories alive and transmit hard-won lessons to future generations.

The case studies show how storytelling and memorialisation play dual roles of individual and community healing, as well as disaster risk reduction. By grounding preparedness in lived experience and collective memory, communities can build resilience in ways that leverage unique cultural practices and traditions and take advantage of modern technologies.

Practices from these case studies should be understood, further explored and, wherever possible, embedded in disaster risk reduction and emergency management.

The report is free to download and a must-read for policy makers, emergency managers, community organisations, and anyone working at the intersection of culture, memory and resilience.

Australia in World Affairs 2016-2020: A return to great power rivalry

Bryce Wakefield — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 00:13:27 +0000

Between 2016 and 2020 Australia’s foreign and security policies were significantly impacted by profound changes in geopolitics and geoeconomics, particularly as great power competition re-emerged between the United States and China. Australia in World Affairs 2016–2020: A Return to Great-Power Rivalry examines Australia’s engagement on the international stage in light of these events. The thirteenth volume in the Australia in World Affairs series builds on the history of Australia’s foreign policy covered in other volumes to identify patterns of continuity and change. It catalogues the key developments in this period of world history from an Australian perspective. Organised thematically, chapters cover Australia’s foreign policy response to climate change, Australia’s strengthened ties to the Indo–Pacific region, and its security interests in Southeast Asia. Australia’s increasing security dependence on the US in an age of great-power rivalry is evident throughout.

Let’s Dance: A History of LGBTIQ Staff in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Bryce Wakefield — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 01:59:43 +0000

Rhonda Piggott’s book, also available as a free download, outlines the untold story decade by decade of the contributions of and challenges faced by LGBTIQ staff in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. As she notes, the Australian foreign service had never banned homosexuals from serving. LGBTIQ staff had a different story to tell from colleagues, for example, in the United Kingdom, though there were similarities. Much has been written about the gay rights movement and the history of sexuality in its many forms. Little has been written, though, about how the resulting social changes and attitudinal shifts migrated to conservative organisations such as the Australian foreign service.

“Some may ask why bother writing a history of LGBTIQ people in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT). I would reply that it is as good a story as any of an organisation succeeding or failing to make the best use of its people’s talents and to treat them fairly. It is a story that has high points and low, with dashes of courage, caution and cowardice.” –Bruce Miller AO

An Enduring Contribution? Australia’s Term on the United Nations Security Council (2013-2014)

aiia2021 — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 08:03:49 +0000

The Australian Institute of International Affairs is pleased to present the second instalment of the Diplomatic History Series.

As Australia took up its role as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council for 2013-2014, the challenges ahead were all too apparent. Dynamics between the five permanent members were particularly tense. Options for elected members to make a serious contribution appeared more limited than ever. The Council was unable to find consensus on how to address the most pressing threats to international peace and security.

As political coordinator for Australia’s Security Council delegation across the Council’s 2013-2014 term, Michael Bliss had a unique insight into the workings of the Council, into Australia’s contributions, and into the relationships and diplomacy that underpinned the outcomes achieved. This monograph, published six years after Australia’s fifth Council term concluded, seeks to contextualise Australia’s work during its term, and to track how those contributions have endured and resonated in subsequent years.

As a senior officer of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, a specialist in multilateral affairs, an experienced diplomat and international lawyer, and an unrelenting optimist, Bliss is well placed to tell this recent story of Australian diplomacy. In doing so, he makes a compelling case that it is in Australia’s interests to seek to again “serve with distinction” as an elected member on the Security Council, in 2029-2030.

Based on Australia’s experience in 2013-2014, Gary Quinlan AO, former Australian Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Australia to the United Nations (2009-2014) in his afterword asks the question of whether the Council has a future? Australia is a declared candidate for election for the 2029-2030 term but what kind of Council might we face and what are the dynamics that will affect our role?

A PDF version is also available for free download.

An Enduring Contribution? Australia’s Term on the United Nations Security Council (2013-2014)

The Vote for Cambodia: Australia’s Diplomatic Intervention

aiia2021 — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:08:15 +0000

The Australian Institute of International Affairs is pleased to present the third instalment of the Diplomatic History Series.

Under the supervision of the United Nations, Cambodia held its first democratic elections on the 23rd May 1993, an event which was hailed as a monumental victory for democracy. Australia played a prominent role in the lead-up. However, optimism that free and fair elections would continue to be held as a matter of course was eroded during the following years, and finally ended following the forced dissolution of Cambodia’s major opposition party, the Cambodian National Rescue Party, in 2017.

Reflecting on his own experiences as a diplomat in the Department of External Affairs, Richard Broinowski AO dissects the impact of Australia’s contribution to the emergence of contemporary Cambodia. Whilst Australia played a prominent role in supporting the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia to stabilise the region, it’s efforts to build a lasting democratic system is proving to be in vain.

In this first-hand account, Broinowski strings together archival documents and private conversations with senior officials to recount Australia’s role in Cambodia’s tumultuous rise and evaluate the future of peace and stability in the country.

A PDF version is available for download.

The Vote for Cambodia: Australia’s Diplomatic Intervention

Taiwan, Cross-Strait Tension, and Security in the Indo-Pacific

aiia2021 — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 14:09:58 +0000

An online version is also available for free.

Tensions across the Taiwan Strait are rising and are potentially more serious than crises in the 1990s and even the 1950s. Military activity around Taiwan has increased, with China’s largest daily incursion into Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone occurring in October 2021. Nevertheless, experts disagree as to whether such activity signals China’s intent to go to war over Taiwan or whether Beijing is posturing to a nervous international community.

What is the likelihood of conflict over Taiwan? Could accidents around the island spark all-out hostilities? How should states in the region, like Australia and Japan, react to the current situation? How is the increased tension perceived in Taipei?

Australia and the Rules-Based International Order

aiia2021 — Thu, 04 Mar 2021 14:09:38 +0000

As a middle power that possesses limited capacity to impose its will on other states, Australia has beneftted greatly from the international rules-based order. But that order is looking incredibly fragile, threatened by growing geopolitical competition and economic changes. Australia and the Rules-Based International Order brings together leading scholars and practitioners in the field of international relations to investigate the meaning behind the idea of rules-based order, its role in Australia’s foreign policy, and Australia’s contribution to its development. Understanding the importance of this order and Australia’s experience in helping to shape it, the authors of this collection lay a vital foundation for comprehending what Australia needs to do to preserve its most important elements in this changing period.

A free version is also available online.