Australia's relationship with the United States

The Case for Greater Independence

Bibliographic Data

ID6234532
AuthorsMark Beeson (0000-0002-8659-262X, The University of Queensland, corresponding author)
Year2003
Volume38
Issue3
Pages387-405
Publication date2003-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAustralian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1036-1146 • E-ISSN: 1363-030X
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1036114032000133958
OpenAlexW2049343549
LanguageEN
Citations received15
References cited28

A number of recent events—especially attempts to negotiate a bilateral trade agreement and Australia's participation in the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq—have thrown Australia's relationship with the United States into sharp relief. While this relationship has historically enjoyed strong bilateral endorsement, such uncritical support is beginning to unravel. At the very least, the relationship is being subjected to a renewed, more critical scrutiny. This paper argues that a dispassionate analysis of the relationship is appropriate and overdue. Not only are the benefits that accrue to ‘Australia’ from the relationship debateable, even when judged within the limited calculus of the ‘national interest’, but Australia's uncritical support for US foreign policy is also helping to entrench potentially damaging aspects of American foreign policy and— somewhat ironically—undermining the legitimacy of its pre-eminent ‘hege monic’ position

Development economics · Economics · Foreign policy · Independence (probability theory · Legitimacy · National interest · Negotiation · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Position (finance · Scrutiny · Sociology · Australian History and Society · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law

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