Leadership and Bilateral Relations

Menzies and Nehru, Australia and India, 1949-1964

Bibliographic Data

ID2894765
AuthorsMeg Gurry (La Trobe University, corresponding author)
Year1992
Volume65
Issue4
Pages510
Publication date1992-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenuePacific Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0030-851X • E-ISSN: 1715-3379
PublisherJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2760317
OpenAlexW2318470407
LanguageEN
Citations received13

A s the second most populous nation in the world and the dominant power in its immediate region, India should rank as one of Australia's most important neighbours. Yet India has never loomed large in Australia's national or political consciousness. According to the 1990 Australian Senate Committee of Inquiry into Australian-Indian relations, the relationship is neglected, underdeveloped, and suffers from a high state of ignorance. I It is possible to trace the origins of today's lacklustre connection back to the leadership of the 1950s, to Prime Minister Robert Menzies' lack of interest in India, and his failure to develop a relationship of any substance with Indian Prime MinisterJawaharlal Nehru. During the 1950s and 1960s Australia developed an unpopular identity in its region which kept it psychologically and diplomatically isolated from its neighbours, and from which, in many ways, it still struggles to emerge: it was only ever seen in India as a dependent and powerless adjunct to the United States and the United Kingdom. Arguably, such an image of itself in such a large Asian country has not served Australia well. To a large extent, this is a legacy of Menzies' inability to forge regional links of any durability or depth. This paper examines the relationship between Menzies and Nehru who served their long tenures of office almost concurrently and highlights their contrasting attitudes to issues of international significance. It also attempts to shed light on some important foreign policy processes: what constitutes a good bilateral relationship between modern nation-states; how important is leadership in determining its shape and substance? Although there are a number of political, diplomatic, strategic and economic dimensions at work in any state-to-state relationship, it is possible to identify certain ingredients which seem essential if the aim is to create a peaceful, profitable and active bilateral friendship. Principally, of course

Economic history · Ignorance · Independence (probability theory) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Prime minister · Sociology · State (computer science) · Superpower · History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East · Social and Economic Development in India · South Asian Studies and Conflicts

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