Dear readers,

Thank you for joining Quarterly Access for another fantastic year exploring the ideas and research of young Australian writers and emerging academics in International Relations.

This has been quite the year. In the beginning António Guterres became the ninth secretary general of the United Nations. Donald Trump took control of the oval office and was sworn in as president of the United States. The European Union and the UK have bitterly dragged out the political, economic and social divorce triggered by Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. North Korea has relentlessly pursued its nuclear capacity, recently testing a ballistic missile in contravention to global pressure through sanctions. France welcomed its youngest president in history with the election of Emmanuel Macron. Robert Mugabe resigned as President of Zimbabwe, after a 37 year rule. Russia has been accused of interfering in the US elections. Just recently Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military commander known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” was found guilty of genocide at The Hague. Same Sex Marriage has passed in Australia. Issues continue to unfold with the closure of Manus Island detention centre sparking weekly protests in Australia’s major cities. The Rohingya crisis has refugees fleeing into neighbouring Bangladesh; with accounts of torture, human rights violations, mass killings, and systematic rape. All this and the planet continues to endure the effects of climate change and policy inadequacies across the globe.

In reality, this is just a short list of the many, many, significant international events that have occurred during 2017, which affect us all.

With this in mind, in our final issue of Quarterly Access for the year, we look to the stars and to the power of the internet, to explore some of the bigger questions facing our global and local communities.

Jono Lim investigates why Australia’s geopolitical standing and national security interests can only be safeguarded and advanced with the establishment of a governmental space agency and development of a proactive space policy.

Zia Khan explores the role “fake news” has in undermining the quality of public discourse and electoral decision-making within
liberal democracies, and the threat this poses for liberal democratic governments.

Kirsty Dempsey writes on the absence of women’s experiences in academic literature and development agency work in poppy farming in Myanmar, due to the global value chain of opium production and broader transnational factors.

We say farewell to one of our editorial Committee members, Alyce Hogg, and thank her for all her work bringing this journal to life throughout the last two years.

Happy reading,

Nina Roxburgh, Editor-in-Chief