Strategic Diplomacy:
Rethinking Strategy and Statecraft for the 21st Century of Complexity
Cultivating 'Strategic Diplomacy' in the Asia-Pacific and Beyond
Strategy is 'the art of creating power'. Statecraft is the skill of governing a sovereign state. We ask: how do international actors mobilize power and exercise statecraft within a world that gives them less control over the outcomes they want to achieve?
The 21st century is the ‘century of complexity’. To be effective, policymakers urgently require knowledge about how to practice diplomacy and statecraft with accentuated strategic rationale.
The ‘Strategic Diplomacy’ project develops an original model of diagnostic analysis and policy-making for complex systems problems in international relations.
The project team is creating unique cross-regional and thematic research case files of effective concepts and practice; new postgraduate education and executive training; and an extensive engagement program with global end-user communities.
Latest News - April 2022
Our latest article, Rethinking strategy and statecraft for the twenty-first century of complexity: a case for strategic diplomacy, features as the Editor's Choice in the March 2022 issue of International Affairs, the top-ranked journal in International Relations (Impact Factor: 7.910).
Living and fighting with Russia, Straits Times, 27 April 2022.
How governments can prepare for complex crises in the 21st century, International Affairs Blog, 21 April 2022.
Opinion: why a paradigm change is needed in public service thinking, Global Government Forum, 19 April 2022.
How the public service needs to change to tackle 21st century’s ‘wicked problems’, Riotact, 22 March 2022.
Mindset shift in public service needed to address ‘wicked problems’, study finds, The Mandarin, 9 March 2022.
Special issue, 2022. Strategic Diplomacy in a Changing World Order: The Curious Case of South America, Contemporary Politics 28:1.
Lead Researchers
Professor of International Relations,
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University
Shedden Professor of Strategic Policy Studies,
Strategic and Defence Studies Centre
College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University
