"It would be difficult to think of anyone who has been more percipient about international affairs in recent decades." - Jacob Heilbrunn, Editor of The National Interest
Born in Wales in 1930, Owen Harries was educated at the Universities of Wales and Oxford. He migrated to Australia in 1955 and taught at the Universities of Sydney and New South Wales from 1956 to 1975. In the late 1970s, he became head of policy planning in the Department of Foreign Affairs, and served as senior adviser, successively, to Foreign Minister Andrew Peacock and Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser. During 1982-83 he was Australian Ambassador to UNESCO.
From 1983-85, he was a Senior Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, before becoming Editor of The National Interest from its founding in 1985 until 2001. In July 2001, Harries returned to Sydney and joined the Centre for Independent Studies as a Senior Fellow. In 2003, he also became a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute, which inaugurated the annual Owen Harries Lecture in 2013 in his honour.
In late 2003, Harries delivered the annual Boyer Lectures for the ABC, published in 2004 under the title Benign or Imperial? Reflections on American Hegemony. In 2010, he was presented with an honorary Doctor of Letters at the University of Sydney in recognition of his contribution to intellectual life in Australia and the United States. Owen passed away in June 2020 aged 90.
"Owen's career and my own were deeply intwined, and it is safe to say that without him, I would not be where I am today." - Francis Fukuyama, author of "The End of History?"
"This Welsh-born Australian had the imagination and chutzpah to believe he could influence the international relations of the most powerful country in history." - Michael Fullilove, Executive Director of the Lowy Institute
"Owen was revered for his foreign-policy realism and Burkean conservatism, and cherished for his wit and gift for friendship." - Tom Switzer, Executive Director of the Centre for Independent Studies
Tom Switzer is the Executive Director of the Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) and is a presenter on ABC Radio National.
Sue Windybank is a Project Editor at CIS.
