To see the full list of Policy Briefs, click here.
Latest Policy Briefs and Reports
Contemporary Peace Research and Practice
A 5-Point Peace Plan - Palestine and Israel
Policy Brief No.176 - November, 2023 • By Lisa Schirch
This Policy Brief expands the narratives of what is necessary at this moment in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, when too many simply say “there is no other way” or “ceasefire” which both leave many questions unanswered. A just political solution is essential. This 5-point peace plan identifies a range of strategic principles and bridgebuilding processes to protect the safety and ensure the democratic freedoms of both Israelis and Palestinians. It emphasises the shared humanity and traumas of both Palestinians and Jewish Israelis. A sustainable peace will require that journalists and political leaders use their power to focus on protecting civilians, dismantling Hamas, ending occupation, addressing trauma, and investing in democracy.
The Pacific and its Peoples in a Changing Climate: Workshop Report
Summary Report No.175 - October, 2023 • By Volker Boege
This Summary Report from the ‘The Pacific and its Peoples in a Changing Climate: Pasifika Wisdom and Relational Security’ workshop, co-hosted by the Toda Peace Institute and the Australian National University Pacific Institute. It was held in Canberra in September 2023 and attended by around 50 researchers, practitioners and policymakers from Pacific Island countries, Australia and New Zealand with expertise on climate change, its environmental, social and cultural effects, climate security and environmental peacebuilding. This report addresses the key issue areas, summarises core arguments made and focuses on selected findings with particular relevance for research as well as for policy and practice.
Pacific Island (Im)Mobilities in the 21st Century: Issues and debates
Policy Brief No.174 - October, 2023 • By John R. Campbell
This Policy Brief focuses on international migration from and within the Pacific region. Its aim is to clarify some of the issues that link climate change with migration as well as to provide a baseline understanding of contemporary migration patterns in the region. Hopefully this will provide some context for considering the role of climate change-influenced migration that may have already occurred in some instances, and which may be anticipated in the future.
Peace and Security in Northeast Asia
Asia-Pacific vs. Indo-Pacific: Paradigm Shift or False Choice?
Policy Brief No.173 - October, 2023 • By Chung-in Moon
This Policy Brief examines an anomaly taking place in international politics: the rise of Indo-Pacific geopolitical thinking, abruptly replacing the discourse constructed around the concept of the Asia-Pacific that has persisted for years. As the United States and Japan have initiated the Indo-Pacific strategy, policymakers and scholars in India, South Korea, Australia and most European countries have uncritically accepted the transition to an Indo-Pacific era without any substantial debate about its appropriateness. In the sense of what the philosopher and historian Thomas Kuhn called a paradigm shift, it is quite incomprehensible, because the Asia-Pacific paradigm is still alive and well.
Follow the Money: The Economics of Media Capture in Backsliding Democracies
Policy Brief No.172 - September, 2023 • By Debasish Roy Chowdhury
This Policy Brief examines the relationship between the Indian government and India’s mainstream national-level media. When we think of the global epidemic of media capture, we usually think of intimidation and coercion by neo-authoritarians to gain control over the narrative. India shows how media can also be co-opted through financial inducements, and how institutional norms internal to the media industry are instrumental in this wilful capitulation rather than the fear of the demagogue. This highly evolved model of media control is far more effective in that it not only makes the media fall in line but turns it into an enthusiastic cheerleader of the government, as India’s once vibrant and now dismal media landscape shows.