[Download] "Asia's Competitive "Strategic Geometries": The Australian Perspective (1) (Report)" by Contemporary Southeast Asia ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Asia's Competitive "Strategic Geometries": The Australian Perspective (1) (Report)
- Author : Contemporary Southeast Asia
- Release Date : January 01, 2008
- Genre: Politics & Current Events,Books,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 301 KB
Description
World politics is ultimately determined by landmark changes in state-centric power configurations and the contemporary international security environment is proving to be no exception. (2) Europe, the Middle East and Asia collectively form the vortex of geopolitical rivalry in our time and the United States, the "hyper-power", whose strategic commitments dominate and whose resource needs bestride all three regions, is increasingly strained to project effective control over how these regions will shape the evolution of international security. This is particularly true as the forces of globalization become more complex and as the scope of security policy concerns broadens. In such an environment post-war US allies like Australia are challenged with how to determine whether their own national security interests and policies correspond with or diverge from American expectations and demands. In this context, Australia stands at a historical crossroads. For nearly eighty years after Federation in 1901, that country pursued an unmitigated strategy of alliance politics, relying initially upon its erstwhile colonial power, Great Britain, and since 1942 upon the United States for protection and, ultimately, for survival against real or potential regional predators. Over the last twenty to thirty years, however, Australia has pursued a more complex, dual track, strategy to guarantee its security and prosperity. The two main elements comprising this strategy are: (1) a comprehensive regional engagement with its Asian neighbours, designed to pursue community-building and avoid security dilemmas, complemented by (2) a continuation and, most recently, an intensification of its alliance with the United States? This approach was perhaps most graphically characterized by then Prime Minister John Howard in a wide-ranging speech delivered in August 2001 when he insisted that: "...it (is) not necessary [for Australia] to choose between our relationships with Asian countries, and those in Europe and North America--to choose between our history and our geography". (4)