Abbreviation | Lowy Institute |
---|---|
Formation | 2003 |
Type | Foreign policy think tank |
Location | |
Executive Director | Michael Fullilove |
Website | www |
The Lowy Institute is an independent think tank founded in April 2003 by Frank Lowy to conduct original, policy-relevant research regarding international political, strategic and economic issues from an Australian perspective. It is based in Sydney, Australia.
The institute has been described as "neoliberal", [1] "centre-right" leaning [2] and "reactionary". [3] It states that its research and analysis aim to be non-partisan, and its programme of conferences, seminars and other events are designed to inform and deepen the debate about international policy in Australia and to help shape the broader international discussion of these issues. [4]
Based in Sydney, the Lowy Institute was founded in 2003 by Slovakian-born, Australian-Israeli billionaire businessman Sir Frank Lowy. [2] Lowy, a veteran of the 1947–1949 Palestine war, [2] and close associate of two former Israeli prime ministers, [2] emigrated to Australia and founded Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company; he retains a key role in various shopping centres in Australia and New Zealand. [5] [6]
The institute receives funds from the Australian government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Department of Defence, and the Department of Home Affairs. Companies which provide funding include BHP, Capital Group, Rio Tinto, and Rothschild & Co. [7]
In 2003, Lowy endowed the institute with a donation sufficient to fund the first eight years of its operation. [2] His family continues to play a key role in the institute, with at least four "Lowy"-named people on the Board of Directors.
The institute has also been funded by donations from the investment management firm, Manikay Partners; from a global accounting and professional services firm: Ernst & Young; and from a former Australian diplomat and cabinet secretary, Michael Thawley (with his wife Deborah). [2]
The institute registered with the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, in 2012, as the "Lowy Institute For International Policy", and by 2019 was reporting over $12 million in revenues (including over $2 million from government), and over $9 million in expenses. [8]
The institute publishes polls, white papers and rankings on various international affairs subjects—particularly regarding Australia and the Asia-Pacific region—and advocates for a proactive and globally engaged Australian foreign policy. It hosts conferences, seminars and other events. Its annual Lowy Lecture is the institute's "signature event", where a "prominent individual", from Australia or abroad, comments on Australia's global role and on global influences on Australia. [4]
The institute has hosted presentations by every Australian prime minister since 2003, as well as the NATO Secretary General, U.S, Vice-President Joe Biden, United Kingdom prime minister Boris Johnson, and various other Australian and foreign leaders. [4] [9]
The institute commonly meets and interacts with Australian officials, and with visiting international leaders, and is a source of influence on Australian government. The resulting internal and external computer activity, including email traffic, which could be of interest to foreign powers, is credited with attracting information-harvesting cyber attacks on the institute, during and before 2012—comparable to similar attacks against U.S. think tanks. The attacks were generally attributed to China. [10]
The institute's website offers publications for free download. In 2006 the regular talks began to be recorded and made available on the website. [11]
The Lowy Institute launched a blog The Interpreter in November 2007. According to former Executive Director Allan Gyngell: "it aims to provide you with fresh insights into international events and a new way to engage with the Institute." Lowy Institute also developed analytical tool Asia Power Index. This tool allows changes in the global distribution of power. Countries can be compared on the basis of which measures eight types of power: military capability, defence networks, economic resources, economic relationships, diplomatic influence, cultural influence, resilience and future resources. [12] [13]
The annual Lowy Poll surveys a nationally representative sample of the adult Australian population on foreign policy issues and is the Lowy Institute's flagship publication. It is wholly funded by the Lowy Institute and its results are widely cited in the Australian and international media. The Lowy Institute has also conducted opinion polling in Indonesia, New Zealand and China. The first Lowy Poll was in 2005.
In April 2023, the Lowy Institute poll indicated that one in five Chinese-Australians were called offensive names in 2022, down 10 points from 31% in 2020, highlighting that Chinese-Australians face fewer racist insults than at height of diplomatic tensions with Beijing. [14]
The institute's board comprises Australian policy makers and business people. [15]
The format of the 2011 Lowy Institute Poll [16] was considered inadequate for formulating Australian policy compared to studies undertaken by CSIRO, Ipsos-Eureka, Cardiff University, Stanford University, and Yale University. [17]
In 2012, the institute was criticised by Jim Green, national nuclear campaigner of Friends of the Earth Australia, alleging that the institute ran "a disgraceful propaganda campaign" to advocate for Australian uranium sales to India, in contravention of Australia's longstanding policy of refusing to sell uranium to nations who did not join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). [3]
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), has full diplomatic relations with 179 out of the other 193 United Nations member states, Cook Islands, Niue and the State of Palestine. China has had the most diplomatic missions of any state.
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government or are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.
Westfield Group was an Australian shopping centre company that existed from 1960 to 2014, when it split into two independent companies: Scentre Group, which owns and operates the Australian and New Zealand Westfield shopping centre portfolio; and Westfield Corporation, which continued to own and operate the American and European center portfolio.
Sir Frank P. Lowy is an Australian-Israeli businessman of Jewish Slovak-Hungarian origins and the former long-time Chairman of Westfield Corporation, a global shopping centre company with US$29.3 billion of assets under management in the United States, United Kingdom and Europe.
David Michael Gonski is an Australian public figure and businessman.
Westfield Innaloo is a major shopping centre in the northern suburbs of Perth. It is located at the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and Ellen Stirling Boulevard in Innaloo, approximately 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) north-west of the Perth central business district.
Thant Myint-U is a Burmese-American historian, writer, grandson of former United Nations Secretary-General U Thant, former UN official, and former special adviser to the president for the peace process. He has authored five books, including The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma and Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia. He founded the Yangon Heritage Trust in 2012 to protect colonial architecture and lobby for urban planning in the Burmese commercial capital of Yangon.
Australia and the United States are close allies, maintaining a robust relationship underpinned by shared democratic values, common interests, and cultural affinities. Economic, academic, and people-to-people ties are vibrant and strong. At the governmental level, relations between Australia and the United States are formalized by the ANZUS and AUKUS treaties and the Australia–United States Free Trade Agreement. They were formally allied together in both World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and the War on Terror, although they had disagreements at the Paris Peace Conference. Australia is a Major non-NATO ally of the United States.
Westfield West Lakes is a shopping centre located in West Lakes, South Australia. It contains approximately 260 stores, with anchor tenants David Jones, Harris Scarfe, Kmart, Coles, Target, Woolworths and JB Hi-Fi.
Oceania is, to the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, a stage for continuous diplomatic competition. The PRC dictates that no state can have diplomatic relations with both the PRC and the ROC. As of 2019, ten states in Oceania have diplomatic relations with the PRC, and four have diplomatic relations with the ROC. These numbers fluctuate as Pacific Island nations re-evaluate their foreign policies, and occasionally shift diplomatic recognition between Beijing and Taipei. The issue of which "Chinese" government to recognize has become a central theme in the elections of numerous Pacific Island nations, and has led to several votes of no-confidence.
Michael Fullilove, a public and international policy academic, is the Executive Director of the Lowy Institute for International Policy, an international policy think tank located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Michael Wesley (1968) is an Australian academic of Indian descent. He was appointed Professor of International Relations and Deputy VC International at the University of Melbourne in 2019, and was previously Dean of the College of Asia and the Pacific and Professor at The Australian National University. He also consults extensively for the Australian government.
Alan Anthony Dupont is an Australian international security expert, Defence and National Security Advocate for the Northern Territory and company director who has been the CEO of geopolitical risk consultancy the Cognoscenti Group since 2016. He is also contributing national security editor for The Australian newspaper, adjunct professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), a non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council in Washington, and the Lowy Institute in Sydney and a fellow at the Hinrich Foundation.
Scentre GroupLimited is a shopping centre company with retail destinations operating under the Westfield brand in Australia and New Zealand. The corporation undertakes ownership, development, design, construction, funds/asset management, property management, leasing, and marketing activities for its centres. The group was created in June 2014 when the Westfield Group separated its American and European businesses from its operations in Australia and New Zealand. The company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and had a shopping centre portfolio that includes investment interests in 42 shopping centres across Australia and New Zealand in 2019, encompassing around 12,544 retail outlets and total assets under management in excess of A$39.4 billion in 2015.
Steven Mark Lowy is the former co-Chief Executive Officer of Westfield Corporation, a leading global shopping centre company that was acquired by French company Unibail-Rodamco in 2018 in what was one of the largest transactions in Australian corporate history. His principal activities now focus on investments associated with the Lowy family’s private company, Lowy Financial Group, as well as a number of philanthropic and community roles including as Chairman of the World Board of Trustees of Keren Heysod-United Israel Appeal and President of the Hakoah Club.
David Hillel Lowy is an Australian businessman, aviator and musician. He is the eldest son of Westfield Corporation co-founder Frank Lowy and a principal of Lowy Family Group (LFG), the Family Office and private investment group of the Lowy family. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of New South Wales. He is known for being a member of the band The Dead Daisies.
Westfield Coomera is a shopping centre in the Gold Coast suburb of Coomera in Queensland, Australia. It is located adjacent to the Coomera railway station and 500 metres from the Pacific Motorway that connects Coomera with the southern suburbs of the Gold Coast as well as Brisbane. Westfield Coomera was developed by the Scentre Group and is planned to be the heart of the booming northern region of the Gold Coast. The shopping centre opened on 11 October 2018.
China's salami slicing is a strategy by which the government of China uses small provocations, none of which would constitute a casus belli by itself, but cumulatively produce a much larger action or result in China's favor which would have been difficult or unlawful to perform all at once.