Aided and abetted by a disciplined Republican party, a common meme in the American media is the foreign policy failure of the Obama administration. The purported evidence is there for all to see. It includes…
As Obama enters his ‘lame duck’ period, will he take flight?
EPA/E. Jason Wambsgans
On November 24, a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri declined to indict white police officer Darren Wilson for fatally shooting an unarmed black teenager in August 2014. Although the outcome was hardly a…
Seattle protests the Ferguson grand jury decision.
Jason Redmond/Reuters
Last week on ABC’s This Week, President Obama said, “My own experience tells me race relations continue to improve,” and “There’s no way to say race relations are worse than 20, 50 years ago.” It’s impossible…
To lose one Secretary of Defense might be considered unfortunate. To have lost three and to be looking for a fourth looks like something more fundamental and systemic. The early departure of Chuck Hagel…
President Obama’s immigration plan may help some illegal migrants find higher-paying jobs, helping spur some additional economic activity.
Reuters
An estimated 11 million undocumented residents in the United States live in daily fear of deportation. This fear permeates nearly every aspect of their lives. President Barack Obama’s executive actions…
John Howard made sure he was facing the same way as other world leaders on climate policy, unlike the current Prime Minister.
AAP Image/David Crosling
Throughout his prime-ministership, which ran from 1996 to 2007, John Howard’s perspective on climate change was informed by geopolitics more than science. The Kyoto Protocol, the key international climate…
They have family values too
Charles Mostoller/Reuters
Not so long ago, I sat across the table from Teresa, age 25, in a migrant shelter right across the border from Nogales Arizona, her tired face glimmered through the veil of tears as she described her experience…
What difference will President Obama’s executive order make for this family?
Sandy Huffaker/Reuters
Editor’s note: On November 20, President Obama announced a plan - through an executive order - to protect millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation if they meet certain criteria. His move has…
Julie Bishop is leading the attempt to discredit Barack Obama’s argument about the Great Barrier Reef.
AAP/Paul Miller
Barack Obama certainly hit a sensitive domestic nerve when, speaking at the University of Queensland last weekend, he highlighted the threat climate change poses to the Great Barrier Reef. The Abbott and…
Is the Obama presidency over? This has been the burning question on the lips of many Washington DC pundits and beltway insiders in the wake of devastating Democratic midterm election losses. According…
Republican senator Mitch McConnell says the new climate deal will let China “do nothing” until 2030. Far from it.
EPA/MICHAEL REYNOLDS/AAP
“As I read the agreement it requires the Chinese to do nothing at all for 16 years while these carbon emissions regulations are creating havoc in my state and around the country.” – US Republican Senate…
Rebalancing towards Asia…with values.
Dan Peled/AAP
US President Barack Obama took to the stage at the University of Queensland in Brisbane on a day which had the soles of your shoes melting. We had been through a complicated but reasonable security process…
US President Barack Obama addresses a crowd at the University of Queensland.
AAP/Dan Peled
US president Barack Obama has given Australia a sharp prod on climate change, saying he wanted his future grandchildren to be able to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef. Obama, addressing an enthusiastic audience…
Universities in South Africa do it…
image via www.shutterstock.com
“Affirmative action won’t be around for much longer, ” said one of our professors twenty years ago, advising against writing a dissertation on this topic. The United States Supreme Court’s Schuette decision…
US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands on the deal in Beijing.
EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG
James Whitmore, The Conversation and Michael Hopkin, The Conversation
A groundbreaking climate deal between the US and China will put pressure on the international community to broker a global treaty at next year’s United Nations talks, but experts say it still might not…
President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a press conference in Beijing, at which they announced the deal.
EPA/How Hwee Young
After Tony Abbott did everything he could to keep discussion of climate change out of the G20, he has been ambushed almost on the eve of the weekend meeting. The Prime Minister did not have forewarning…
Arguably for the first time, the United States and China have truly listened to one another on emissions cuts.
EPA/Petar Kujundzic
The new US-China climate deal is a game-changer. The United States, the world’s biggest historical emitter of greenhouse gases, has pledged to cut emissions by 26-28% by 2025 relative to 2005 levels, while…
President Obama arrived in Beijing Monday to participate in this week’s meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum. He will have talks with China’s president Xi Jinping on the fringes…
Citizens too have a role in fixing things
Gary Cameron/Reuters
Now that Capitol Hill has turned red, the debate has turned to whether this will increase gridlock or not. Certainly from the perspective of the President it will. He can expect vastly more difficulty…
Barack Obama has signed into law all but two of the bills to come before him, but is likely to use his power of presidential veto more often in the final two years of his term.
White House/Pete Souza
Perhaps no sentiment better defines the American political psyche than distrust of government. It prompted the constitutional framers 226 years ago to create a system of national government that separates…
Professor in U.S. Politics and U.S. Foreign Relations at the United States Studies Centre and in the Discipline of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney