3rd Edition

Australia in International Politics An introduction to Australian foreign policy

By Stewart Firth Copyright 1998
    372 Pages
    by Routledge

    372 Pages
    by Routledge

    The world changed for Australia after the terrorist attacks on the US on September 11, 2001 and the Bali bombings of 2002. Security became the dominant theme of Australian foreign policy. Australian military forces remained in Afghanistan years later, opposing the terrorist threat of the Taliban, while hundreds of Australian troops and police worked with public servants to build the state in Asia-Pacific countries such as East Timor and Solomon Islands. The world changed for Australia, too, when the global financial crisis of September 2008 threatened another Great Depression. Meantime the international community made slow progress on measures to stem climate change, potentially Australia's largest security threat.

    In a newly revised and updated edition, Australia in International Politics shows how the nation is responding to these challenges. The book describes how Australian foreign policy has evolved since Federation and how it is made. It examines Australia's part in the United Nations, humanitarian intervention and peacekeeping. It analyses defence policy and nuclear arms control. It explains why Australia survived the global financial crisis and why the G20 has become the leading institution of global economic governance. It charts the course of Australia's climate change diplomacy, the growth of Australia's foreign aid, human rights in foreign relations and the rise of China as a great power.

    Written by one of Australia's most experienced teachers of international relations, Australia in International Politics explains Australian foreign policy for readers new to the field.

    '. one of the best books on Australian foreign policy that I have read in recent years' - Samuel M. Makinda, Australian Journal of Political Science

    Introduction

    Part 1 The Evolution of Australian Foreign Policy

    1. Foreign Relations, 1901-83

    2. Foreign Policy under Hawke and Keating, 1983-96

    3. Foreign Policy under Howard, 1996-2007

    4. The Making of Foreign Policy

    Part 2 Security

    5. The United Nations and International Security

    6. Defence and Regional Security

    7. The Nuclear Challenge

    8. Intervention and State Building

    Part 3 Economy

    9. Globalisation and the Global Financial Crisis

    10. The Politics of International Trade

    Part 4 Issues in Foreign Policy

    11. The Global Environment

    12. Foreign Aid

    13. Human Rights

    Biography

    Stewart Firth is a Visiting Fellow in the State, Society and Governance in Melanesia Program at the Australian National University.