Black Lives Matter campaigns across the UK have brought the legacy of the Rhodes Trust into the limelight. With racism, colonialism, and the vestiges of historic figures at the forefront of global conversation, the future of the scholarship may be in jeopardy. 

As part of the AIIA’s mission to help all Australians know, understand, and engage more with international affairs, we are pleased to introduce a new segment to Australian Outlook - Current Events in Australian Foreign Policy.

Months of peace negotiations in Afghanistan bring good and bad news. Despite consolidation of a power sharing agreement between political rivals and the formation of a council for peace, the coronavirus and a contest for Taliban leadership will defer the commencement of peace talks.

China claims territory over the Galwan Valley, which India has rebuffed as a unilateral attempt to change the status quo. Diplomatic and military efforts to defuse the standoff have not achieved any substantial results, and now the two nuclear-armed Asian giants are at risk of war.

The global narrative of COVID-19 has been and will continue to be shaped by China. As the effects of the pandemic continue, China is pushing the boundaries of its power in a way that could have lasting effects on global geopolitics.

What we call different parts of the world - Asia, Europe, the Middle East - seems innocuous. But the name of a region is totemic: a mental map that guides the decisions of leaders and the story of international order, war, and peace.

Response to public health emergencies requires changes in regular behavioural patterns. Encouraging these changes requires coordination and an understanding of the culture and communities affected.

China and India remain deeply distrustful of each other’s strategic regional and geopolitical intentions. It remains to be seen whether they will continue to cooperate as pragmatic political and economic partners.

The Mexican government has implemented a series of different policies to try to eradicate the pervasive power of cartels, and the violence accompanying them. However, an effective policy will require eliminating the source of cartels' power, rather than just undermining it. 

The fight against the COVID-19 pandemic is shining a green light on women’s leadership skills. With only 20 countries led by women, female voices are being obscured in a crisis that disproportionately affects women.