Australian Between Empires The Life Of Percy Spender

Part biography, part transnational history, this study details the life and career of Percy Spender, one of Australia's most prominent twentieth-century political figures.

Part biography, part transnational history, this study details the life and career of Percy Spender, one of Australia's most prominent twentieth-century political figures.

Fazio examines the significance of the US-Australian Korean engagement, 1947–53, in the evolution of the relationship between the two nations in the formative years of the Cold War. In the aftermath of World War Two, divergent American and Australian strategic and security interests converged and then aligned on the Korean peninsula. Fazio argues that the interactions between key US and Australian officials throughout their Korean engagement were crucial to shaping the nature of the evolving relationship and the making of the alliance between the two nations. The diplomacy of Percy Spender, John Foster Dulles, and James Plimsoll was particularly crucial. He demonstrates that the American evaluation of the geo-strategic significance of Korea was a significant factor in the making of the ANZUS alliance and events in Korea remained central to the evolving US-Australian relationship. Their Korean engagement showed the US and Australia had similar and overlapping, rather than identical interests, and that their relationship was much more nuanced and problematic than commonly perceived. Fazio challenges the Australian mythology on the origins of the ANZUS Treaty and presents a cautionary insight into the limits of Australia’s capacity to influence US policy to benefit its interests. An insightful read for diplomatic historians, providing greater depth to understanding the broader historical context of the trajectory of the US-Australian relationship and alliance since the beginning of the Cold War.

In this landmark book, Stuart Macintyre explains how a country traumatised by World War I, hammered by the Depression and overstretched by World War II became a prosperous, successful and growing society by the 1950s. An extraordinary group of individuals, notably John Curtin, Ben Chifley, Nugget Coombs, John Dedman and Robert Menzies, re-made the country, planning its reconstruction against a background of wartime sacrifice and austerity. The other part of this triumphant story shows Australia on the world stage, seeking to fashion a new world order that would bring peace and prosperity. This book shows the 1940s to be a pivotal decade in Australia. At the height of his powers, Macintyre reminds us that key components of the society we take for granted – work, welfare, health, education, immigration, housing – are not the result of military endeavour but policy, planning, politics and popular resolve.

This is the first in-depth study of the sojourn in Sydney made by Nicolas Baudin’s scientific expedition to Australia in 1802. Starbuck focuses on the reconstruction of the voyage during the expedition’s stay in colonial Sydney and how this sheds new light on our understanding of French society, politics and science in the era of Bonaparte.

Since 1940, when an Australian legation was established in Washington DC, Australian governments have expected much from their representatives in the American capital. This book brings together expert analyses of those who have served as heads of mission and of the challenges they have faced. Ranging beyond conventional studies of the Australian–United States relationship, it provides insights into the dynamics between Australian and US policymakers and into the culture of one of Australia’s oldest and most important overseas missions. It provides an appreciation of the importance of the embassy and the head of mission in Washington in mediating the relationship between Australia and the United States and of their role in managing expectations in Canberra and Washington. Australia Goes to Washington also sheds new light on personal trials and achievements at the coalface of Australian–United States relations.

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

Australia’s development, from the most unpromising of beginnings as a British prison in 1788 to the prosperous liberal democracy of the present is as remarkable as is its success as a country of large-scale immigration. Since 1942 it has been a loyal ally of the United States and has demonstrated this loyalty by contributing troops to the war in Vietnam and by being part of the “coalition of the willing” in the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and in operations in Afghanistan. In recent years, it has also been more willing to promote peace and democracy in its Pacific and Asian neighbors. This fourth edition of Historical Dictionary of Australia covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Australia.