Inquiry Into Australia S Relationship With The Countries Of Africa

This book offers analysis of Australia’s engagement with Africa, as well as the country’s rather unique status as a ‘new’ actor and emerging country in Africa. With its empirical originality and comparative contribution, the book fills a gap in both the study of Africa’s global engagement with emerging countries, and in connection with Australia’s largely unknown engagement with African states. Australia has presented itself as Africa’s ‘friend from the south,’ without any colonial baggage, and is interested in a long-term partnership for trade and development. In this context, Australia is only one of many ‘new’ players seeking more intensive engagement with Africa since the end of the Cold War. At its core, the book argues that because of its largely unacknowledged ‘flawed’ historical engagement with Africa, as well as the political partisanship driving its fickle and volatile contemporary engagement with the continent, Australia suffers from an inability to assess its strategic and long-term interests – i.e., it doesn’t know what it wants in or from Africa. This makes Australia a rather unique emerging player in Africa: while other 'new' actors' engagement with Africa is generally strategic, and driven to a large extent by a desire to secure resources and counter the influence of geopolitical rivals, Australia’s efforts with regard to Africa are more episodic and not about acquiring resources or countering its rivals. Hence, while immigration, globalization, trade, terrorism, and climate change continue to bring Africa and Australia closer together, Australia’s failure to understand its own interests continues to hamper its engagement with Africa.

Recent developments in both Africa and Australia have brought the two continents closer together. In Africa, a resources boom, greater political stability, and the creation of the new regional institutions have contributed to economic and human development, even if many challenges including conflict, poverty and exploitation remain. Australia has commercial and political interests in Africa and, if it wants to be a significant global actor, must engage with both Africa's challenges and its growing international influence. Since coming to power in 2007, Australian Labor governments have pursued 'new engagement' with Africa after decades of relative neglect. This book, the first study of its kind, explores the key contexts for and dimensions of contemporary Australian foreign policy towards Africa. It highlights a deepening of diplomatic and political relations, a trebling of the official aid budget to Africa, and over $50 billion of Australian-based investment in Africa's resources sector, and suggests measures to make such engagement sustainable and of mutual benefit. Contributions to the book come from academics, civil servants, diplomats and politicians.

Sea level rises pose a greater long term threat to Australia's coastline and major capital cities than a military attack by a foreign power. Citizens are more likely to experience a pandemic virus than a nuclear threat. Food shortages have already occurred as a result of flood or drought, and the tentacles of international trade in drugs, money laundering and human trafficking already reach far into Australian communities. Why Human Security Matters argues that Australian external relations needs to treat the 'soft' issues of security as seriously as it treats the 'hard' realities of military defence, but also the many complex situations in-between, whether it be civil war, political upheaval, terrorism or piracy. Australia needs to do this first and foremost in our region, but also in relation to the unresolved regional and global security issues as we confront an increasingly uncertain and turbulent world. With contributions from leading thinkers in foreign policy and strategic studies, Why Human Security Matters is essential reading for anyone seeking a thoughtful and thought-provoking analysis of Australia's place in an age of transition.

This book explores the emergence and assertion of Africa as a significant actor and stakeholder in global affairs and the transformation of the India–Africa relationship. Beginning from this strategic perspective, the book presents an in-depth exploration of India–Africa partnership in all its critical dimensions. It delineates the historical backdrop and shared colonial past to focus on and contextualise the evolution of the India–Africa engagement in the first two decades of the 21st century. The book scrutinises the unfolding international competition in Africa in depth, which includes global actors such as the EU, US, and Japan, among others, focusing especially on China's growing influence in the region. Further, it dissects objectively the continental, regional and bilateral facets of India–Africa relations and offers a roadmap to strengthen and deepen the relationship in the coming decade. This volume will be very useful for students and researchers working in the field of international relations, foreign policy, governance, geopolitics, and diplomacy.

In the last four decades, Australia has resettled thousands of African refugees. As a visibly different minoritised group, Black African youth are often represented as disengaged, dangerous, and undesirable. Even so, rarely are generative mechanisms that negatively affect the life-courses of the youth critically examined. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical resources, policy reviews, longitudinal statistical data, and in-depth interviews, this book reports on the educational attainment and integration outcomes of African heritage Australian youth from refugee backgrounds. The book also identifies intersectional factors of educational disadvantage, analyses equity provisions, and outlines policy ideas for improved educational attainment and integration of refugee youth. It is unique in its scope and focus and contributes to knowledge in African Australian studies. The book will appeal to researchers, postgraduate students, and policymakers interested in understanding the dynamics of refugee resettlement and integration.

This is a good time to reflect on opportunities and challenges for Australia in Latin America. Impressive economic growth and opportunities for trade and investment have made Latin America a dynamic area for Australia and the Asia Pacific region. A growing Latin American population, Australia’s attractiveness to Latin American students, a fascination with the cultural vibrancy of the Americas and an awareness of Latin America’s increasingly independent stance in politics and economic diplomacy, have all contributed to raising the region’s profile. This collection of essays provides the first substantial introduction to Australia’s evolving engagement with Latin America, identifying current trends and opportunities, and making suggestions about how relationships in trade, investment, foreign aid, education, culture and the media could be strengthened.