No images? Click here 22 DecemberThank you for your support in 20212021 has been another year of surprises, challenges and success for the United States Studies Centre. Pleasant surprises and success outweighed the less pleasant moments this year, made possible by you, our engaged supporters, who ensure our work generates “Analysis of America, Insight for Australia”. Thank you! In 2020, we mastered the art of the pivot. In 2021, we perfected it. First and foremost, we started the year with the aim to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the US-Australia alliance on a scale never achieved before by the Centre. While lockdowns disrupted our initial launch plans, we were delighted to produce and deliver The Alliance at 70, a book that is equal parts informative, entertaining and beautiful. Securing the participation of a former US president, multiple prime ministers and even Paul Hogan speaks to the depth of feeling and unifying vision for the Alliance across continents and political divides. Delivering The Alliance at 70 did not disrupt our research production, including our inaugural annual cross-Centre State of the United States report. Other research highlights include:
Our academic team again took the challenges of mixed online and in-person learning in their stride, delivering relevant and engaging classroom content while alert to the burdens of teaching and learning online. 2021 saw near-record numbers of students enrolled in the Centre's units of study. Dr David Smith was promoted to Associate Professor and Dr Gorana Grgic completed her fellowship with NATO’s Defense College and was awarded grant funds from the European Union – a first for the University of Sydney and the USSC! Online events were a necessity in 2020, but have become an important way of engaging with distinguished speakers and audiences around the globe. Some of the standout events in 2021 included:
We continue to be humbled and amazed by the thousands of people who attend our webinars and read our publications. If this year was one of new beginnings – a new presidential administration, a new vaccine – 2022 will be a year of transitions. The Biden administration's Indo-Pacific strategy will be unveiled in 2022. Vital work on spooling up AUKUS continues in both Australia and the United States. November 2022 will see US midterm elections and the prospect of the control of both houses of Congress changing hands. Australia, too, will have national elections in the first half of next year. Our second annual State of the United States report will survey these issues, along with our kick-off webinar What to expect in US politics and policy in 2022. We hope you continue to join us in this exciting year ahead and we look forward to engaging with as many of you as possible through both in-person and online events, our publishing and our teaching. Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season and a good start to the new year. Sincerely, Professor Simon Jackman NEWS WRAPIs 2021 over yet?
And, no, this is not March of 2020. Two hundred million people are fully vaccinated. We’re prepared. We know more. WEBINAR | 20 January 2022 What to expect in US politics and policy in 2022On the one-year anniversary of President Biden’s inauguration, experts from the United States Studies Centre will give their take on what to expect in US politics and policy in 2022. President Biden’s supporters posit that, in passing the American Rescue Plan Act and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, he has already accomplished more first-year legislative wins than any president in generations. Yet amid questions of competence following the chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal, inflation rates the highest in decades, the prospect of the most significant changes in abortion law in nearly half a century, and ever-worsening poll numbers potentially foreshadowing a GOP takeover in the midterms, President Biden and the Democrats are undeniably on the defensive. What are the issues likely to dominate US politics and the midterm elections in 2022? What comes of the Biden administration’s policy agenda if Republicans take back control of Congress? What issues should Australians keep an eye on? To discuss these issues, please join us for a webinar discussion with USSC politics experts, Senior Lecturer in US Politics and Foreign Policy Dr Gorana Grgic, Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe and Senior Research Fellow Jared Mondschein in conversation with CEO Professor Simon Jackman. WHEN: COST: You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event! ANALYSISWith a Kennedy in Canberra, Australia is closer to Biden's orbit than we could have hopedVictoria Cooper In May, rumours of Caroline Kennedy’s appointment as US ambassador to Australia set us on edge with excitement. The prospect of the closest thing to American royalty – a Kennedy with star-quality, and composure – coming to be Biden’s much more glamorous mouthpiece in Australia was almost too tantalising. Were we really to be so lucky? Now, after months of silence and following a stern plea from Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the Senate to fill the more-than 180 vacant US ambassadorial positions, it finally looks as if Australia might be getting its own piece of Camelot. But is there more to Kennedy’s appointment than its appeal to our bleeding hearts for a daughter beset by tragedies? In a time of heightened importance for the US-Australian alliance, the answer is thankfully: yes. It is no secret in Washington that Australia is a comfortable and desirable ambassadorial posting for American diplomats, and is a position often afforded to friends and allies of the president. President George W. Bush appointed his former Yale roommate, Robert McCallum Jr in 2006 and President Barack Obama appointed the man who recruited him as a lawyer 20 years prior, Jeff Bleich. President Biden and Caroline Kennedy share a strong friendship. They are most strongly connected through Biden’s 36-year Senate service with her uncle and godfather, Senator Ted Kennedy. Indeed, Biden not only credits Senator Kennedy as an important mentor throughout his political career, but as a close friend and confidant. But the Bidens and Kennedys share more than Democratic values. The families are bonded through tragedy. Following Ted Kennedy’s passing from brain cancer in 2009, Biden delivered a eulogy where he reflected: “At every single important stage of my life, he was there… he was there when I lost my wife and daughter. He was there when I was ill. He was there at every high point and low point of my life. He felt like a big brother. He was always there for me.” President Biden would lose his own son to the same type of brain cancer only six years later. But, if a brotherly-type connection to her uncle weren’t enough, Kennedy almost certainly sealed the deal with her early endorsement of Biden in the overcrowded 2020 Democratic primaries. This is an excerpt of an article published in The Age BY THE NUMBERSNSW: 320 daily cases per million NY: 869 daily cases per million As the Omicron variant takes over as the dominant strain of COVID, both New South Wales and New York have seen a rapid surge in daily case numbers. Just a few weeks ago, New York State was recording less than 5,000 cases a day, comparatively less than other US states. But, since December, the state has reached record case numbers reaching 20,439 on 20 December and with a 7-day average of 869 cases per million people. NSW has similarly seen record-breaking numbers, with the state announcing its highest number yet on 22 December with 3,763 and with a 7-day average of 320 cases per million people per day. Read more By the numbers analysis here VIDEOMaster of the game: A conversation with Martin Indyk on his new bookDid you miss last week's webinar? Martin Indyk author of Master of the Game: Henry Kissinger and the Art of Middle East Diplomacy joined the USSC's Non-Resident Senior Fellow Bruce Wolpe and Research Associate Victoria Cooper to discuss his latest book and what the Biden administration could learn through Kissinger's diplomacy. Catch more analysis on the United States on the USSC YouTube channel. Manage your email preferences | Forward this email to a friend United States Studies Centre |