With Syria’s Bashir al-Assad poised for defeat, what will replace his regime? It would be a mistake to blindly back anti-Assad forces with little legitimacy on the ground.
READ MOREArticles by Professor Damien Kingsbury
Why Egyptian power grab may not be what it seems
Egypt is being rocked by competing political forces. But to blame President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood entirely misses the domestic nuance of the situation.
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Tectonic shift on the two-state solution?
After a senseless exchange of rockets and shells and now a vote in the UN, the world has seen a tectonic shift in how the Israel-Palestine conflict is viewed.
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Egypt leader’s power play shows how messy revolutions can be
Egyptian President Mohammad Morsi’s move to exempt his edicts from judicial review shows revolutions are very rarely tidy affairs. Genuinely democratic outcomes are only one — and not their most likely — outcome.
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East Timor left to fend for itself with challenges ahead
With Australia drawing down troops, the still-fragile nation of East Timor will soon be left to fend for itself. There are plenty of challenges for the country’s ageing leadership ahead.
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Israel’s Gaza offensive: how will Egypt, Syria and Iran react?
How will the key regional powers react to the escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas? Deakin University’s Damien Kingsbury examines the options.
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Why Tamils still flee war-ravaged Sri Lanka
Politics can drive many false claims about refugees, among them the notion that suffering and persecution ends after a war officially concludes.
READ MOREBurma’s freedom road: reformists are winning out
With fair and free Burmese elections still a longed-for dream, can the Myanmar military be trusted to take the final steps in giving up power?
READ MOREGillard takes Pacific shopping list to regional forum
Australia is taking a substantial diplomatic shopping list to the Pacific Islands Forum, as the region is briefly catapulted into the limelight.
READ MOREHas Bob Carr rolled over on Fiji too early?
Australia’s rebuilding of diplomatic ties with Fiji has taken some observers by surprise.Has Australia moved too quickly to still have any influence in Fiji’s proposed return to democratisation?
READ MOREGusmao victory consolidates democracy in Timor-Leste
After changing government in 2007, the people of Timor-Leste have again voted strategically, to focus their vote on the major parties.
READ MOREYudhoyono cares about Indo problems, not Aussie ones
For the leader of a country that has an often troubled history of bilateral relations, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s visit to Australia is aimed at addressing domestic concerns and less about assuaging Australia’s interests.
READ MORETragedy as farce in battered West Papua
The Indonesian government’s attempt to initiate dialogue with West Papuan independence activists has declined into farce, following the shooting on June 14 of key West Papuan leader Mako Tabuni.
READ MOREDeath of constitutional government in PNG is looming
PNG’s democratic process has been critically, perhaps fatally, wounded.
READ MOREEast Timor 10 years on and the two saving graces
On Sunday, East Timor will celebrate 10 years of independence. As a nation born from the ashes of destruction, its first decade has been marked by problems and set-backs.
READ MOREDog-whistle politics offends Indonesian ears
What should have been a brief exchange of pleasantries turned into a diplomatic disaster when Julie Bishop outlined the opposition’s policy on “sending back” asylum seeker boats to Indonesia.
READ MOREGAM versus GAM: Aceh elects the other faction
Informal results show that elections in Indonesia’s tsunami-devastated and war-ravaged province of Aceh have dumped the incumbent governor.
READ MOREAceh’s bitterly contested, but troubled elections
Indonesia’s province of Aceh went to the polls yesterday, in what has been a bitterly contested election for the position of governor.
READ MOREAnd then there were two: Timor-Leste’s presidential run-off
The main commonality between Lu-Olo and Ruak is that they are both “generation of ‘75” veterans of Timor-Leste’s long guerilla struggle for independence.
READ MOREEast Timor elections free and fair as Ramos-Horta bows out
East Timor incumbent president, Jose Ramos-Horta, has failed in his bid for re-election.
READ MOREEast Timor’s calm ahead of presidential elections
The presidential election, the first of two scheduled rounds, is to elect East Timor’s largely ceremonial president.
READ MOREBurma, the outcast, on the long road to reform
The Burmese military-derived government has released hundreds of political prisoners, signed a ceasefire with the country’s largest ethnic rebel group and allowed the opposition National League for Democracy to re-form.
READ MOREIbrahim, not guilty, could shake up Malaysian politics
The handing down of a “not guilty” verdict on sodomy charges against Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim indicates a tectonic shift in Malaysian politics.
READ MOREReport on Sri Lanka war crimes exonerates SL government
The Sri Lankan government of Mahinda Rajapaksa has worked out how to get away with murder.
READ MOREGillard adds ‘ballast’ to shore up Indon relationship
Australia’s relationship with Indonesia is continuing at its all-time high following the conclusion of the East Asia Summit in Bali.
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