Mark Beeson

Mark Beeson is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney and Griffith University. His latest book is Environmental Anarchy? International Relations Theory and Practice in the Anthropocene, (Bristol University Press: 2021) He has also written Environmental Populism: The Politics of Survival; in the Anthropocene Palgrave 2019

Mark's recent articles

China is not the urgent threat; climate change is

Spending priorities by the federal government are increasingly questionable, if not indefensible; they raise fundamental questions about the competence and intelligence of our policymaking elites.

The perils of pedagogy

The government hates social scientists and our views often do little to improve the mental well-being of students. Should we shut up to protect our self-interest and keep our version of the truth from our students to protect them?

Indefensible policies - Defence Strategic Update

The recently released Strategic Update may please traditional security analysts, but it wont influence the behaviour of China or make individual Australians any safer.

MARK BEESON. The PRC is getting harder to like, but so is the US

Chinas foreign and domestic policies are getting increasingly difficult to deal with, but so are Americas. A more even-handed approach to both might make life easier for Australian policymakers.

MARK BEESON. The blame shifter in chief

Donald Trump is notorious for trying to shift the blame for his mistakes onto others. Its one of his most egregious failings as a leader.

MARK BEESON. Whats at stake in the Coronavirus crisis?

The Coronavirus is causing a political crisis as well as the more obvious medical variety. Some governments may not recover.

MARK BEESON. Morrisons surprising character defects: faith and optimism

Being a leader, even of a lucky country like Australia, isnt getting any easier. To be fair, these are difficult times for any leader, even the most competent ones. Its worth asking how FDR, Churchill or even Bismarck would have coped with todays problems. Even though some of the current crop of international leaders are awful by any standards Donald Trump and Boris Johnson being the quintessential cases in point its far from clear that leaders from any other era would have coped with climate change in all its mind-bending complexity.

MARK BEESON. The US Lobby and Australian Defence Policy, Vince Scappatura, Monash Publishing (a review)

One of the most enduring features of Australias foreign and strategic policies is the close relationship between this country and the United States. A number of other countries such as Britain and Japan also claim to have a special relationship with the US, but no country has worked more assiduously to turn that rhetoric into reality. Indeed, it is difficult to think of a country that has made greater sacrifices of blood and treasure than Australia has on behalf of its American ally and notional security guarantor.

MARK BEESON. Global governance in the 21st century

Global governance is hard to define, difficult to achieve, but more necessary than ever.

MARK BEESON. China's Rise and the rules-based liberal order: Implications for Australia

The prosperity of millions of Australians has become dependent on the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). This unambiguous material reality explains why Australian policymakers and commentators spend so much time fretting about how to manage the relationship. The sheer material importance of the Chinese economy to Australia means that policymakers in this country have no other option other than to try and get the relationship right even if they are not happy about what Chinas so-called rise may mean for other elements of Australian foreign policy. In some ways, this relationship presents new and novel problems for Australia. In...

MARK BEESON. Politics and climate change: Academias missing contribution

Academics who specialise political science are frequently not taking the implications of their discipline seriously when it comes to climate change.

MARK BEESON. Can Trump be socialised into good behaviour and policymaking?

Will Donald Trump have a lasting and possibly pernicious impact on American foreign policy, or will the so-called adults in his administration educate him and change his ways?

MARK BEESON: Agents of influence

A form of groupthink about relations with China and the United States has become pervasive in Canberra. Ironically, this situation is encouraged by the influence of the US, despite the current hysteria surrounding relations with the PRC.

MARK BEESON: When worlds collide: The unlikely relationship between Australia and China

The debate about Australias relationship with China is characterized by a degree of mutual incomprehension born of difference. Both sides share some of the blame for the current bilateral tensions.

MARK BEESON. Western Australia and the resource curse

The failure of successive WA governments to tax the resource sector effectively has meant that much of revenue generated by the most recent resource boom was appropriated by the multinational corporations that dominate the sector more than 80 per cent of them foreign owned, by the way.

MARK BEESON. The unconventional wisdom

When it comes to military matters, there is forgive the pun a remarkable uniformity of opinion. Sensible and serious observers agree that not only is the ANZUS alliance the indispensable bedrock of national security, but Australian policymakers would be irresponsible to do anything that might jeopardize its status.

MARK BEESON. Dysfunction rules, OK?

Britains election result was a shock, even in todays volatile political climate. The outcome is potentially disastrous, but it is unclear whether Corbyn could have pursued his agenda even if he had actually won.

MARK BEESON. ANZUS: Too obliging for our own good?

Malcolm Turnbull is dropping everything and travelling to America to meet a man that only recently subjected him to a very public humiliation. Although members of the Trump administration have tried to make amends for this initial snub to a supposedly valued ally, one might have thought the damage had been done.

MARK BEESON. What it is to be popular

At a moment when the world needs informed responses to complex problems that transcend national borders, a retreat to nationalist tub-thumping is the last thing we need. Yes, there are important questions about who we are and whom national public policies actually benefit, but they are unlikely to be answered, much less addressed by the current generation of populists.

MARK BEESON. WA and the politics of the resource curse. Take on the miners at your peril!

WA is but the most glaring example of the way that Australias politics have been directly affected by the politics of the so-called resource curse, when a powerful economic sector uses its disproportionate influence to shape political outcomes.

MARK BEESON. Turnbull turns toady for Trump

Lets hope its worth it. Malcolm Turnbull has sacrificed whatever remaining credibility he may still have had as a small l liberal in a desperate effort to save his tawdry deal with the American government. What looked like a brilliant political ploy to resolve the running sore of off-shore detention, has now come back to bite him.

MARK BEESON. New series: We can say 'no' to the Americans?

Getting to no Ideas have their moments. The way we think about the world is partly a reflection of who we are and partly a consequence of the times we live in. One of the biggest ideas that has informed Australian foreign policy since it became formally independent is that we live in an especially insecure apart of the world, a long way from our natural allies.

MARK BEESON. Trump's America: the irresponsible stakeholder?

Will China fill the void that will be created by Trump? How times change. A decade or so ago, former World Bank president and deputy secretary of state Robert Zoellick suggested to China that it needed to become a responsible stakeholder. Even at the time this advice looked slightly condescending and patronising. Now it looks bizarrely out of kilter with a rapidly evolving international order. In the twilight of the Obama administration, Xi Jinping is the most important leader at the current APEC summit in Peru. His keynote speech in support of trade liberalisation means he is also...

MARK BEESON. WA provides a masterclass in what not to do with a resources boom.

It wouldnt be too unkind to suggest that Western Australia is not considered as the national benchmark of sophisticated public policy. Indeed, the state has recently attracted much attention and derision for the way its policy making elite squandered the wealth generated by the resources boom.True, we now have more sports facilities than you can poke a stick at, not to mention a major makeover of the city foreshore albeit noticeably empty of the promised high profile developments that were supposed to succumb to its irresistible allure. But you cant accuse the Barnett government of not having...

MARK BEESON. Crown: the trials of a tributary state.

Of all the indicators of Australias evolving relationship with China, Crown Casinos current problems are some of the most striking, unexpected and revealing. They present an unflattering but painfully accurate vignette of this countrys increasingly dependent relationship with the Peoples Republic. We have all become accustomed to the idea that Australias economic future is inextricably bound up with Chinas. The Australian dollar is increasingly seen as a proxy for the health of the Chinese economy.Likewise, there are growing concerns that Chinas real estate bubble may be infecting ours, as wealthy Chinese look for seemingly more secure investment opportunities outside China.

Mark Beeson. Australia still hasn't had the debate on why we even need new submarines.

Australia is about to make its biggest-ever investment in military hardware. Although we dont know yet whether Germany, France or Japan will be awarded the contract to build our 12 new submarines, it is possible to make a few confident predictions. What to expect First, the actual cost of the submarines when completed will be much higher than the figure that is proposed now. If cost were the only consideration, it would actually make more sense to let the successful bidder build them in their own country. But the construction is now seen as a de-facto industry policy for...

<