Professor Michael Wesley | Living with Leviathans: Australia in a Multipolar Age

In our second Ramsay Lecture for 2024, University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Michael Wesley ponders what it means for Australia to be part of the West but geographically remote from it. Must we choose between our geography and our traditional alliances in this multipolar age?
As an island and former British colony in Oceania, with no territorial disputes or powerful near neighbours, Australia has always had a unique “strategic gaze”; one shaped as much by how the world looks from the capitals of the culturally congruent great powers the country has formed alliances with as by how it looks from Canberra. Now, in a multipolar age where India as well as China have joined the United States in the first rank of global powers, this strategic sensibility has been challenged, without being overthrown.
In his lecture, Living with Leviathans: Australia in a Multipolar Age, Professor Wesley highlights the necessity for Australia to adapt diplomatically, culturally, and strategically to new realities, charting a safe course between the Leviathans of the international system.
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[@RaymondLi604]

7:00 Yikes! With selective framing how the US "entered" WWII, why bother listening further? Hint: You need to broaden your intro-foundations for more "awakened" audiences! 😜

[@lynriddett767]

Goodness! How awfully 19c - no acknowledgement of the First Nations traditional owners of the country where this took place. How awfully twee of you... I did note your speaker was clearly inhabiting the 21c - he acknowledged traditional owners...