Owen Harries

Owen Harries
Australian Ambassador toUNESCO
In office 1982–1983
Editor-in-chief,The National Interest
In office 1985–2001
Personal details
Born	Owen Harries (1930-03-29)29 March 1930 Garnant,Wales
Died	25 June 2020(2020-06-25)(aged 90)
Nationality	Australian
Spouse	Dorothy Richards
Parent(s)	David Harries and Maud Jones
Alma mater	University of Wales Lincoln College,University of Oxford
Occupation	Academic and writer

Owen Harries(23 March 1930 – 25 June 2020) was a leading Australian foreign-policy intellectual and founding editor ofThe National Interestmagazine in Washington, DC.

Early life and education

Harries was born inWalesin 1930 and educated atOxford University,where his tutor was political theoristJohn Plamenatzand his lecturers included philosopher SirIsaiah Berlin.

Career

After two years in theRoyal Air Forcein the early 1950s, he and his wife Dorothy moved toSydney.From 1955 to 1975, he was a senior lecturer in government at theUniversity of Sydneyand then an associate professor of politics at theUniversity of New South Wales,before a sojourn teaching at theAustralian National UniversityinCanberra.

From 1976 to 1983, he served the Australian centre-right coalition government of prime ministerMalcolm Fraserin several senior posts, including head of policy planning in the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, senior adviser to both Foreign MinisterAndrew Peacockand Fraser, as well as Australian Ambassador toUNESCOin Paris.

During this period, he was widely credited for principally drafting Australia’s foreign policy in the post-Vietnamperiod as well as shaping and articulating the conservative and liberal ideas which formed the philosophical basis of the then Liberal government. After the defeat of the Fraser government in 1983, he moved to Washington, DC, where he served as senior fellow atThe Heritage Foundation.He played a leading role in encouraging theReagan administrationto withdraw from UNESCO.

The National Interest(1985–2001)

He was co-founder withIrving Kristoland co-editor with Robert W. Tucker ofThe National Interest,aWashington, D.C.-based foreign policy magazine, which they turned into one of America’s most influential political publications. Over the years, they published essays byFrancis Fukuyama,Samuel P. Huntington,Henry Kissinger,Fareed Zakaria,Irving Kristol,and others. According toThe Bulletin,during his co-editorship from 1985 to 2001 he was "known as probably the most famous Australian in Washington".

After returning toSydneyin 2001, Harries remained editor emeritus atThe National Interestwhile serving on its editorial board. He was a senior fellow at theCentre for Independent Studiesand a visiting fellow at theLowy Institute for International Policy.In his last years, he collaborated with the Australian conservative writerTom Switzer.

Ideas and writings

Harries was influential in policy debates, especiallyUS-Australia relations.While being among the strongest supporters of the US-Australia alliance, he did not shy away from criticism of the United States.

In the 1960s, he was a prominent supporter of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War. Four decades later, he was a trenchant critic of theIraq War,of the leading intellectual architects of that war, and of Australia’s involvement in it. In 2003, in the heat of the Iraq debate, he delivered theABC’sBoyer Lectures,which have been published under the title.

Harries was a member of the Australian Association for Cultural Freedom, a group that producedQuadrantmagazine, on whose editorial board he sat. Harries met with Australian federal treasurerWilliam McMahonin June 1967 to request thatQuadrantreceive the same amount of support from the Commonwealth Literary Fund as literary journalMeanjin,a request McMahon passed, with his own recommendation, to prime minister Harold Holt.

Over the years, he edited and contributed to several books on culture, politics and international relations. He was also a regular contributor to several newspapers around the world, including theNew York Times,Washington Post,Wall Street Journal,The Times,as well as magazinesCommentary,Foreign Affairs,National ReviewandThe New Republic.

In 2011, Harries was presented for admission to the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa) at theUniversity of Sydney.

Death

Harries died inSydneyon 25 June 2020, at age 90.

Articles

• Harries, Owen (1 September 1984)."A Primer for Polemicists".Commentary.Retrieved23 May2021.
• Harries, Owen; Switzer, Tom (Summer 2006)."Loyal to a Fault".The American Interest.Archived fromthe originalon 30 November 2010.
• Harries, Owen; Switzer, Tom (3 October 2006)."Little magazine leaves big mark".The Australian.
• Harries, Owen; Switzer, Tom (21 January 2011)."US strikes the right balance on China".The Australian.
• Harries, Owen; Switzer, Tom (May–June 2013)."Leading from Behind: Third Time a Charm?".The American Interest.Archived fromthe originalon 19 April 2013.