Launch of Small Grants Program, Farewell Jane HardyThis month, the United States Studies Centre (USSC) farewelled Ambassador Jane Hardy as a Visiting Senior Fellow with the Foreign Policy and Defence Program. In her time with the Centre, she brokered countless meetings with key government officials, moderated our memorable 20 years since 9/11 webinar with David Petraeus and Duncan Lewis and published the brief Integrated deterrence in the Indo-Pacific. In particular, Ambassador Hardy's Indo-Pacific expertise after serving as Consul-General in Hawaii brought unique senior executive insights which were invaluable during the critical weeks of AUSMIN, the Quad leaders meeting and especially the announcement of AUKUS. We look forward to continuing our close working relationship and to welcoming other career diplomats and government executives as visiting fellows in future. Increasingly, competition in the Indo-Pacific inextricably links defence and economics. Our Director of International Economy, Dr Stephen Kirchner, put China's economic coercion under the microscope in his latest report A geoeconomic alliance: The potential and limits of economic statecraft. Critically, he points out the often overlooked cost-benefit equation that shows China's economic statecraft has often been counter-productive and isn't a winning solution in the long
run. He was joined by Christine McDaniel, Senior Research Fellow at Mercatus Center and Dr Ben Herscovitch, Research Fellow at Australian National University to discuss the topic with USSC Research Fellow Susannah Patton in a recent webinar. Next month, we are looking forward to the much-anticipated launch of our Alliance at 70 book - a 234-page volume telling the story of the US-Australia relationship and including personal contributions from former President George W. Bush, Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former Prime Ministers Julia Gillard and John Howard, Paul Hogan, Rob Sitch and many more. If you are interested in obtaining a copy of this commemorative lavishly produced volume, please reach out to us at ussc.media@sydney.edu.au. Finally, I am thrilled to share the launch of our USSC Small Grants Program - an initiative that has long been a desire for me to be able to identify and support research talent in fields relevant to the Centre including: - Charting US return to leadership in multilateral fora
- Climate and energy, technological and policy developments in the United States
- Protecting democratic institutions from foreign interference and misinformation
- The revival of industry policy in the United States;
research and development in frontier tech; opportunities/risks for Australia
- US public opinion on global leadership, alliances, protectionism and defence spending
If you, or someone you know, may be a good candidate to help us achieve our mission to provide: Analysis of America, Insight for Australia - then please visit our web page or contact Senior Fellow and Research Coordinator Jared Mondschein at jared.mondschein@sydney.edu.au to learn
more.
Sincerely, Professor Simon Jackman
CEO, United States Studies Centre
Excerpt from the contribution by Dennis Richardson AC, for the soon-to-be-released USSC book:
The Alliance at 70
One thing about being the Ambassador in Washington is both sides of Australian politics claim ownership of the Alliance: the ALP stress 1942; the Coalition, 1951. Both are legitimate claims, and this makes some aspects of the job relatively easy. But there is no automaticity to an Alliance; like all relationships, they need to be constantly nurtured. This is especially so with the United States, which, like all big global powers, has a strong sense of ‘self’ and is romanced by multiple countries pursuing multiple agendas. This is the competitive environment in which even close allies operate. Expressed sentiments such as, ‘the United States has no greater friend’ or ‘no closer ally’ are just that,
sentiments – well-intentioned, but said so often to so many as to be of relatively little significance. Substance derives overwhelmingly from hard-head- ed interests. Values are important but are never ab- solute in foreign and/or strategic policy. The very significant trade, investment and financial links between Australia and the United States add a certain breadth and depth to the relationship. People to people ties are stronger than is often appreciated and the fact Americans generally like Australians, and vice versa, is an important underpinning but does not go a long way in decision making. Personal relationships between leaders can have a critical influence on specific issues but, if properly managed, do not make an alliance hostage to such relationships. On this front, both the
United States and Australia have been sensible. And, over the decades, this has helped contribute to a degree of trust and confidence that has added ballast to the Alliance. An alliance does not require agreement on all issues at all times. Geography and interests dictate the inevitability of differences. It is the management of those differences that count. Successive Australian and US governments have met that test, further deepening trust and confidence.
The Alliance at 70: This lavishly produced, colourful volume explores the history of the Australia-US Alliance and wider relationship through archival research, images and personal recollections from several influential voices including former US President George W. Bush, former Prime Ministers John Howard and Julia Gillard, Ambassadors Arthur Sinodinos and John Berry and writers and actors Paul Hogan and Rob Sitch.
RFP | Small Grants ProgramWe are excited to announce the launch of the United States Studies Centre (USSC) Small Grants Program. This program is aimed to fund research into emerging areas of interest for the USSC where we do not currently have internal experts. This program will fund shorter, tightly-focused research projects aligned with the Centre’s research strategy. We anticipate making a small number of awards at a maximum of AU$25,000 each (including GST) between now and 30 June 2022. If you or someone you know is a qualified expert on one of these topics, especially in relation to the US-Australia relationship, we invite you
to submit a research proposal for consideration. Proposals will be accepted and evaluated on a rolling basis, for a stream of deliverables ending 30 June 2022. To submit a proposal or ask a question, please email Mr Jared Mondschein, Senior Research Fellow at jared.mondschein@sydney.edu.au.
A geoeconomic allianceFollowing on from the USSC's first geoeconomics report in September, Director of International Economy Dr Stephen Kirchner released A geoeconomic alliance: The potential and limits of economic statecraft. In it, he points out the issue with over-emphasising geoeconomic threats while underutilising geoeconomic opportunities. Importantly, he notes that China's economic coercion may backfire and the United States and Australia are ignoring some key proactive opportunities
that are mutually beneficial. You can read his op-ed with the Australian Institute of International Affairs here.
2022 Honours information sessionCurrent American Studies students are welcome to join our Honours information session on 11 November at 2pm. Entry requirements
The student must have completed a major in American Studies with an average WAM of 70 (in the American Studies major) if started after 2018, Honours is offered within the Bachelor of Advanced Studies (Honours) or as Appended Honours. Both types of Honours have different entry requirements, so we encourage anyone interested in completing an Honours year to talk to us about your options.
USSC IMHOFrom calls to 'invade Australia' to competition with China and AUKUS, USSC experts published commentary on a wide range of topics this month, including:
Webinar replaysThe latest episodes of our webinars are now available on our YouTube channel. Catch up on these events through the USSC Live podcast and on YouTube. Here are some of the greatest hits from recent webinars: Make sure to SUBSCRIBE to the USSC YouTube channel to get notifications as soon as new videos are uploaded.
ARE YOU GETTING "THE 46TH"?
"The 46th" is our weekly wrap of US politics and policy news, analysis and events. Get it delivered straight to your inbox every Wednesday!
Sign up now
|