Indo-Pacific strategist Professor Gordon Flake will examine how the first year of Donald Trump’s second presidency has delivered more consequential impacts than his first term, as traditional US checks and balances erode.
The Perth USAsia Centre CEO will address implications for global trade, treaty alliances, international conflicts and American democracy itself, arguing the post-Cold War era has ended whilst its successor remains undefined. Professor Flake brings 25 years of Washington foreign policy experience and 12 years based in Australia to his analysis of what these epochal shifts mean for this country. The presentation takes place at Government House Tasmania on 24 November 2025.
Media release – Australian Institute of International Affairs Tasmania, 14 November 2025
One Year of Trump Two – Implications of an Epochal Shift for Australia.
As anticipated, the first year of the second Trump Administration has echoed the first in tone and rhetoric. In impact, however, it has already proved to be much more consequential. In contrast the President Trump’s first term, the vaunted U.S. system of “checks and balances” are being challenged as the President’s Party, his Cabinet, the Congress and even the Courts have all largely bowed to his will. This has had a tremendous impact on global trade, U.S. relations with treaty allies, various international conflicts and most strikingly on the state of U.S. democracy at home.
Professor Gordon Flake will address these changes and more in the context of some broader global shifts, arguing that we have entered an era of uncertainty where the “Post-Cold War Era” has almost certainly ended, yet the new era remains undefined.
He will particularly focus on what these trends mean for Australia.
Professor Gordon Flake is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia. He is one of the world’s leading authorities on strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. Having spent twenty-five years in the US foreign policy in Washington DC and now twelve years in Australia’s Indian Ocean capital he is a sought-after media commentator and has authored numerous scholarly and policy studies on developments in the region.
Prior to joining the Centre, he was the Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States and Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.
Event Details
To register for this event, you have to go to the Government House website by clicking here.
Guests should arrive by 17:45 for an 18:00 start
Government House Tasmania on 24 November 2025
Lower Domain Road 7
Queens Domain, Tasmania
Gordon Flake, Professor at Perth USAsia Centre
Professor Gordon Flake is the founding Chief Executive Officer of the Perth USAsia Centre at The University of Western Australia.
Professor Flake is one of the world’s leading authorities on strategic developments in the Indo-Pacific. Having spent twenty-five years in the US foreign policy community focused on the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia and now nine years in Australia’s Indian Ocean capital he is an expert on key strategic relationships in the broader Indo-Pacific. He has authored many scholarly and policy studies on security developments in the region, and their policy implications for the US and its regional partners.
Professor Flake holds a number of strategic leadership roles. He is a Governor of the American Chamber of Commerce in Australia (AmCham) and serves on the board of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. He is a member of the Australian “Friends of Vietnam” group and a member of the international advisory board of the David M. Kennedy Centre at Brigham Young University.
Prior to joining the Centre, he was the Executive Director of the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, an Associate Director of the Program on Conflict Resolution at The Atlantic Council of the United States, and Director for Research and Academic Affairs at the Korea Economic Institute of America.
He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Korean) and Master of Arts (International and Area Studies) from Brigham Young University. He speaks both fluent Korean and Laotian.
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