Anna Powles is a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security Studies, Massey University, specialising in Pacific security and geopolitics. Her research, publications and policy-related activities are focussed on the interplay between local and external security dynamics in the Pacific and explore interventions in Pacific conflicts, security sector assistance, security cooperation and defence diplomacy, the Australia-New Zealand alliance in the Pacific, regional security architecture, and strategic competition in the Pacific.