Australian Foreign Relations

Australian Foreign Relations: Into the 21st century aims to present the reader with an introduction to Australian foreign relations, focusing in particular on those contemporary relationships that are most important to Australia.
Rather than organising the chapters on the basis of the issues that are most important in the conduct of Australian foreign policy, the book examines the key issues in the context of how they have featured in terms of Australia’s most important international relationships.
Australian Foreign Relations asks how the 'history versus geography' debate, which is a continuing theme in the history of Australian foreign relations, is relevant in the current climate of international relations and foreign policy formulation.

1: Introduction: Setting the scene 
2: The domestic context 
3: The United States 
4: The Asia-Pacific: General themes
5: Northeast Asia: China, Japan
6: Southeast Asia: Indonesia 
7: The South Pacific
8: The United Kingdom, Europe 
9: The United Nations
10: Conclusion: Where to next?

• Single authored text, offers a unified perspective and narrative.
• Other texts focus heavily on the theoretical dimensions of Australian Foreign Policy and its broader relationship to international relations as a field of study. This text’s emphasis and strength lie in its detailed descriptive coverage of the external and internal factors which provide the context for policy.
• Provides historical context that is relevant to understanding contemporary issues.
• Detailed treatment of most recent period in Australian foreign relations, enabling students to engage in contemporary debates in an informed way.
• Based on teaching with undergraduates – works well with a single semester subject.
• Includes key terms, questions, further reading, suggestions for Web sites, maps.
  

Associate Professor Derek McDougall is a Principal Fellow in the School of Political Science, Criminology and Sociology at the University of Melbourne. His fields of interest are Australian foreign policy and Asia-Pacific international politics, with many years of experience in university teaching and research.