Reading Room
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Australia and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty 1945-1974
By reviewer reviewer Professor Richard BroinowskiOn retirement in 1998, I was given almost unreserved access by Foreign Affairs and Trade to a rich archive of documents on Australian nuclear policies. The result was my book Fact or Fission – the truth about Australia’s nuclear ambitions...
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Re-imagining India and Australia: Culture and Identity
By reviewer reviewer Dr. Amit SarwalToday, trade, educational and developmental aid and maritime security are driving forces in Australian-Indian bilateral relations. Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has flagged reinvestment in cultural diplomacy and people-to-people...
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Married to the Department
By reviewer Dr Alison Broinowski FAIIAThe notorious telegram of 1945 which peremptorily ordered young Australian diplomat Patrick Shaw to a third post in as many years, saying ‘wife and baggage to follow’, has long since vanished from the files of the Department of Foreign Affairs....
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Wrestling with Asia: A Memoir
By reviewer reviewer David CostelloFeared, admired and often lampooned, Bartholomew Augustine Santamaria was a powerful figure in Australian political and intellectual circles from the 1930s until his death in 1998. As a conservative Catholic activist, he led the fight against...
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India and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Regime: The Perennial Outlier
By reviewer Professor Ian HallAs C. Raja Mohan observes in the preface to this book, India has had many ‘atomic avatars’: it has been a champion of non-proliferation (and indeed disarmament), a catalyst for an emerging regime, then a contrarian and a challenger and, finally,...
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Waiting ‘Round the Bend: Recollections of Childhood and a Life in Australia’s Foreign Service
By reviewer reviewer Professor Russell LansburyBooks about international relations are written from a variety of levels and perspectives: while some are narrated from the lofty heights of policy-making and negotiations, others reveal more of the human side of diplomacy. Drawn from tenure of...
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Transforming South Asia: Imperatives for Action
By reviewer Professor Ian HallSouth Asia is certainly in need of transformation. Riven by border disputes, home to two nuclear powers (with a third on its doorstep), riddled with chronic low intensity conflicts, in economic terms poor and poorly-integrated, as well as...
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Lee Kuan Yew: The Grand Master’s Insights on China, the United States, and the World
By reviewer reviewer Patrick HillWhen the Grand Master states “human beings…are inherently vicious” and “power politics in Asia is as old as the first tribes” one hopes he has some remedies available. Lee Kuan Yew (LKY) offers his perspective on the future trajectories of...
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Years of Resistance: The Mandate of Émile Lahood, the Former President of Lebanon
By reviewer reviewer Artemis NiarosThis book illuminates the persona of Émile Lahood as both a President and a man who shaped Lebanon’s struggle for liberation from Syrian and Israeli occupations. Karim Pakradouni engages with extensive archival material and his years of meeting...
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Foreign Policy Begins at Home
By reviewer Melissa Conley TylerRichard Haass describes himself as a “card-carrying member of the foreign policy establishment”. It would be hard to disagree. He is president of the mighty Council on Foreign Relations and has served as principal advisor to Colin Powell and...