Michaela Gyasi-Agyei | Africa Fellow Climate change is impacting cocoa farming in the Ivory Coast, one of the world's largest cocoa producers. Image credit: KokoDZ via Wikimedia Commons. Africa disproportionately experiences the negative effects of climate change, waste dumping and pollution despite the continent’s relatively low level of consumption and per capita emissions. The 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) highlighted this asymmetry, resulting in signatory states committing to the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund. However, countries with high ..read more

Grace McClenahan | Australian Foreign Policy Fellow U.S. Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown, Jr., Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, meets with His Excellency the Honorable Dr. Kevin Rudd, Ambassador of Australia to the U.S., at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., January 24, 2024. (DOD Photo by Staff Sgt. Alexander Nieves). Image credit: Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff via Wikimedia Commons. Now Australian Ambassador to the United States (U.S.), former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has found himself at the complicated intersection of diplomacy, politics, and personality. Rudd's appointment ..read more

Martin Wirkus | Europe and Eurasia Fellow Image credit: Adam Nir via Unsplash. With Ukraine in desperate need, the United States (US) Congress is considering an aid package that includes the appropriation of Russian reserve assets. However, the prospective seizure of Russian assets is fraught with controversy. Western officials have proposed the moral case of supporting Ukraine with seizing these Russian assets, yet critics note that this infringes on sovereign property rights. Set to the backdrop of mounting international scrutiny over the Western-dominated monetary system, this move w ..read more

Angus Ireland Zimbabwean Soldier During Protest. Image credit: Tafadzwa Tarumbwa via Public Domain Pictures. The 18th of April was Zimbabwe’s Independence Day. It also marked five months until the fifth anniversary of former authoritarian leader Robert Mugabe’s death, and six months before the October biannual Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Samoa, where Zimbabwe hopes to attend as the bloc’s newest member. With the decision on Zimbabwe’s re-entry to the Commonwealth expected before October, it is worth highlighting the lack of democratic progress made in a country whose ruling p ..read more

Verena Youssef | Middle East Fellow Rafah border crossing - Entering Gaza strip from Egypt. Image credit: Gloucester2Gaza via Wikimedia Commons. It has been six months since the October 7 attacks, and despite its name, the Israel-Gaza conflict has become more than just a battle between two forces.  The fighting has sent tremors across the region, impacting some countries more than others. As the only country except Israel to share a border with Gaza, Egypt has inescapably found itself closest to the epicentre, making it a secondary victim to the war. National Security Concerns: Sinc ..read more

Michaela Gyasi-Agyei | Africa Fellow African Renaissance Monument in Dakar. Image credit: Barke11 via Wikimedia Commons. Africa Day and African World Heritage Day are celebrated in May each year, but often receive limited global attention. This is emblematic of the continent’s soft power, which is still largely unrecognised and underutilised. There is a significant amount of untapped potential within industries, organisations and individuals throughout Africa and the continent’s diaspora, as highlighted by The Africa Soft Power Summit. Leveraging Africa’s soft power could posi ..read more

Recently, Australia and ASEAN celebrated 50 years of partnership through a Special Summit, held in Melbourne from the 4th-6th of March. Now, Young Women to Watch alumni Kyla Raby shares her experiences and key takeaways from her time at the Summit. Kyla Raby is a globally recognised anti-slavery practitioner, researcher, and educator, having lived and worked in over 20 countries in social service, humanitarian and philanthropic roles with government and non-government agencies and the private sector. She recently founded Everyday Slavery, an educative project which aims to equip the publ ..read more

In this career spotlight we have the pleasure of speaking with recent Bachelor of Politics, Philosophy and Economics graduate Kupakwashe Matangira about her experience working at the Australian Human Rights Commission and at Oxford University, her transition from university to full-time work, and her recent achievements as a finalist for the NSW Young Woman of the Year 2024 and recipient of the 2024 Youth Medal. Kupakwashe Matangira is a youth empowerment activist and social entrepreneur.    Kupakwashe’s goal is to ensure all young people enjoy a lived experience of their rig ..read more

Isha Desai | Indo Pacific Fellow U.S. Navy aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 fly above the aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73) in the South China Sea June 24, 2014. Image credit: U.S. Department of Defense via Wikimedia Commons. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) released a paper in February 2024 claiming that the outbreak of war was a ‘real possibility’ in the Indo Pacific. Ultimately, war in the Indo Pacific would be a proxy conflict between the powers of the United States (US), China and Russia. Whilst these global superpowers could catalyse conflict ..read more

Michaela Gyasi-Agyei | Africa Fellow Flags of the Commonwealth flying in Parliament Square, London. Image credit: Foreign and Commonwealth Office via Wikimedia Commons. The Commonwealth of Nations spans more than 20 per cent of the world’s landmass and includes approximately 2.5 billion people. Despite this, some have questioned the role of the Commonwealth in modern geopolitics. Africa is the continent with the greatest number of Commonwealth member states, several of which chose to retain their membership after gaining independence from British rule. Other African states have joined t ..read more