STST3002 Study Guide - Final Guide: Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peacekeeping
White, Hugh, Defee poliy, i Galliga, Bria ad ‘oerts, Bria, eds., The Oxford
Companion to Australian Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.
Summary/thesis
• Australia is an inherently weaker nation. Policy-makers have recognised this, and
consequently, we have looked to powerful allies for defence and security.
• However, a dilemma has emerged associated with our isolation. We fear that distant
allies could unable or unwilling to send help in the instance of an attack.
• Australia now has the choice between a global alliance posture with the US or a
localised defence policy which focuses on stabilising our immediate neighbourhood.
o This begs the question of whether Australia should develop its defence forces
to support these distance allies in their endeavours, or to strengthen itself
and our immediate neighbourhood.
o This is the focus question of the reading.
Analysis
• The reading provides a historical overview of events where the question of what
Australia should develop its forces for arose since the nineteenth century. These
events demonstrated how Australia managed its alliances when external factors
ipated Australia’s defee poliy – i.e. when British power was in decline since the
start of the nineteenth century and the impact of this on Australian defence planning
in WWI and WWII; the problem of Communist China and the challenge of Asia for
UK, U“ ad Australia; the Vieta ar ad Australia’s reliae o the U“ for support;
and the Cold War.
• The end of the Cold War and the Soviet Union impacted Australian security in two
ways:
o It coincided with the many peace keeping missions Australia was involved in
durig the 99’s.
o The rise of China and the implications of it became a reality.
• This meant that defence policy needed to focus on much more than land defence of
the territory of Australia.
• Global war on terror impacted on the way the ADF developed and revived the
traditional debate of where best to allocate defence resources in three ways:
o The war on terror become better understood
o The seurity halleges of Australia’s iediate eighourhood also eae
better understood and prioritised
o The rise of China started to challenge long-term balance of power in Asia
Critique
• I find this reading to be very interesting and well-written, touching on all aspects of
the issue of defence policy and allocation of force resources – a problem which will
continue to impact Australia defence policy-makers for years to come.
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Document Summary
White, hugh, (cid:858)defe(cid:374)(cid:272)e poli(cid:272)y(cid:859), i(cid:374) galliga(cid:374), bria(cid:374) a(cid:374)d o(cid:271)erts, bria(cid:374), (cid:894)eds. (cid:895), the oxford. Companion to australian politics, oxford: oxford university press, 2007. Summary/thesis: australia is an inherently weaker nation. Policy-makers have recognised this, and consequently, we have looked to powerful allies for defence and security: however, a dilemma has emerged associated with our isolation. Analysis: the reading provides a historical overview of events where the question of what. Australia should develop its forces for arose since the nineteenth century. Uk, u a(cid:374)d australia; the viet(cid:374)a(cid:373) (cid:449)ar a(cid:374)d australia"s relia(cid:374)(cid:272)e o(cid:374) the u for support; and the cold war: the end of the cold war and the soviet union impacted australian security in two ways: Tho(cid:373)so(cid:374), mark, (cid:858)hard ti(cid:373)es(cid:859), the strategist, blog of the australian strategic policy. Summary/thesis: this reading discusses the defence budget of australia. Australian defence magazine congress in 2013: his article provides an update on the defence budget and makes predictions about the future of the budget.
