Australian defence policy and the possibility of war

The Defence White Paper of December 2000 declares that the main task of the ADF is to maintain the capability to defend Australian territory from any credible attack without relying on the combat forces of any other country. Australia is unusual among contemporary Western states in affirming such a policy. Most other states are reordering their priorities to put less emphasis on conventional conflict and more on tasks such as peacekeeping and border protection, while assuming that in the event of major conventional conflicts they are likely to be involved as subsidiary members of a coalition led in most cases by the United States. Should Australia follow this trend? The article reviews this question in the light of a number of scenarios for the use of Australia's armed forces in the period ahead, and concludes that the arguments for change are not persuasive.     

Educating the guardians: The politics of the Australian defence force academy

In 1978–80 there was a fierce debate in public and in private over the proposal to create a new university for the academic education of officer cadets from the three services. This debate was one of the most intense and widespread in the defence area since the Vietnam War.

The pressure for a single tri‐service military academy goes back at least to the early 1960s. It reflects a broader movement in the defence field towards centralization of functions and reduction of the influence of the three separate services. Significantly, the tri‐service proposal was accepted by a Labor government in 1974 and by a Liberal‐CP government in 1976.

Opposition to the proposal came principally from the three services, the universities and parliamentarians from all parties. Hearings by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works provided a forum for criticism which was widely reported in the media.

In the event the Public Works Committee recommended against proceeding with the project but was overridden by the government The episode illustrates significant aspects of civil‐military relations and the workings of the political process.     

Book reviews

Desmond Ball (ed.). Australia and the World: Prologue and Prospects. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University, 1990. xxxvi + 471 pp. A$20.00 (paper).

Ralph Pettman. International Politics: Balance of Power, Balance of Productivity, Balance of Ideologies. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1991. x + 252 pp. A$17.99 (paper).

Roger E. Kanet and Edward A. Kolodziej (eds.). The Cold War as Cooperation: Superpower Cooperation in Regional Conflict Management. London: Macmillan, 1991. xv + 439 pp. A$126.00 (hardcover).

Richard J. Krickus. The Superpowers in Crisis: Implications of Domestic Discord. Washington and Sydney: Pergamon‐Brassey's, 1987. xiii + 236 pp. £32.00 (hardcover), £14.95 (paper).

Khosrow Fatemi (ed.). Selected Readings in International Trade. New York and London: Taylor and Francis, 1991. vi + 179 pp. £21.00.

Richard D. Robinson (ed.). The International Communication of Technology: A Book of Readings. New York, Taylor & Francis, 1991. viii + 227 pp. £35.

Allan Webster and John Dunning (eds.). Structural Change in the World Economy. London: Routledge, 1990. xiii + 244 pp. A$105.00 (hardcover).

Graeme Cheeseman and St John Kettle (eds.). The New Australian Militarism: Undermining Our Future Stability. Sydney: Pluto Press, 1990. 231 pp. $14.95 (paper).

Christine Jennett and Randal G. Stewart (eds.). Hawke and Australian Public Policy. Melbourne, Macmillan, 1990. x + 422 pp. A$29.95 (paper).

Hugh V. Emy and Owen E. Hughes. Australian Politics: Realities in Conflict, 2nd edition. South Melbourne, Macmillan, 1991. ix + 577 pp. $34.95 (paper), $69.95 (hardcover).

Rosemary Whip and Colin A. Hughes (eds.). Political Crossroads: The 1989 Queensland Election. St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1991. xv + 280 pp. $29.95 (paper).

Alan Burnett with Thomas‐Durell Young and Christine Wilson (eds.). The ANZUS Documents. Canberra Studies in World Affairs no. 28. Canberra: Australian National University, Department of International Relations, 1991. 315 pp. A$20.00 (paper).

Frank Donini. Anzus in Revision. Alabama: Air University Press, Maxwell Airforce Base, 1991. xvi + 203 pp. n.p.g.

Patrick Brogan. Eastern Europe, 1939–1989: The Fifty Year War. London: Bloomsbury, 1990. 281 pp. A$24.95 (paper).

Robert Miller. Soviet Foreign Policy Today: Gorbachev and the New Political Thinking. Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1991. 220 pp. A$17.95 (paper).

Paul Craig Roberts. Alienation and the Soviet Economy. The Collapse of the Socialist Era. New York: Holmes & Meier, 1990. xxvi + 123 pp. Second Edition. US$14.95 (paper) US$29.95 (hardcover).

Olga A. Narkiewicz. The End of the Bolshevik Dream. Western European Communist Parties in the Late Twentieth Century. London, Routledge, 1990. vi + 196 pp. A$89.95 (hard cover).

John Girling (ed.). Human Rights in the Asia‐Pacific Region. Canberra Studies in World Affairs no. 29. Canberra: Department of International Relations, Australian National University, 1991. vi + 111 pp. A$15.00 (paper).

Lea Jellinek. The Wheel of Fortune: The Histoty of a Poor Community in Jakarta. Sydney: Allen & Unwin ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series, xxviii + 214 pp. $24.95 (paper).

Anton Lucas. One Soul One Struggle. Region and Revolution in Indonesia. Sydney. Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Allen and Unwin, 1991. xxvi + 301 pp. including maps and plates. A$24.95 (paper).

Robert Cribb. Gangsters and Revolutionaries: The Jakarta People's Militia and the Indonesian Revolution 1945–1949. Sydney: Allen and Unwin, Asian Studies Association of Australia, Southeast Asian Publications Series, no. 20, 1991. xii + 222 pp. Maps, photographs, index, bibliography. A$24.95 (paper).

Richard Tanter and Kenneth Young (eds.). The Politics of Middle Class Indonesia. Clayton: Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University, 1990. ii + 187 pp. No price given (paper).

Andrew MacIntyre. Business and Politics in Indonesia. Southeast Asia Publications Series No. 21. North Sydney: Asian Studies Association of Australia in association with Allen and Unwin, 1991. xv + 282 pp., including index. $24.95 (paper).

Humphrey McQueen. Japan to the Rescue. William Heinemann Australia, 1991. 345 pp., index, bibliography. A$24.95 (paper).

Masaya Shiraishi. Japanese Relations with Vietnam: 1951–1987. Ithaca: Southeast Asian Program, Cornell University, 1990. ix + 164 pp. US$12.00

Henry P. Frei. Japan's Southward Advance and Australia. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1991. xvii + 303 pp. A$34.95 (hardcover).

Malama Meleisea. Making of Modem Samoa: Traditional Authority and Colonial Administration in the Modem History of Western Samoa. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xi + 280 pp. US$12.00 (paper).

Malama Meleisea (ed.). Lagaga. A Short History of Modem Samoa. Suva: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1987. xx + 225 pp. US$12.00 (paper).

Dora Alves (ed.). Cooperative Security in the Pacific Basin: The 1988 Pacific Symposium. Washington: National Defense University Press, 1990. 346 pp. n.p.g.

Dora Alves (ed.). Change, Interdependence and Security in the Pacific Basin: The 1990 Pacific Symposium. Washington: National Defense University Press, 1991. 395 pp. n.p.g.

Jonathan Unger (ed.). The Pro‐Democracy Protests in China: Reports from the Provinces. Armonk, NY, M.E. Sharpe, 1991. xii + 239 pp., map, index. US$15.95 (paper), US$35.00 (hardcover).

Ruth Cherrington. China's Students: The Struggle for Democracy. London: Routledge, 1991. xi + 239 pp. A$89.95 (hardcover).     

Book reviews

Australian Politics

Eric Aarons, What's Left? Memoirs of an Australian Communist (Ringwood, Melbourne: Penguin, 1993)pp.260. $14.95 ISBN 014 015704 2.

Andrew Hede, Scott Prasser and Mark Neylan (eds), Keeping Them Honest: Democratic Reform in Queensland (St Luda: University of Queensland Press, 1992) pp.312. $17.95 ISBN 0 7022 24871.

Richard Lucy, The Australian Form of Government: Models in Dispute (Melbourne: Macmillan, second edn. 1993) pp.386. $34.95 ISBN 0 73291294 6.

Phillip Mendes, The New Left, The Jews and the Vietnam War, 1965–1972 (North Caulfleld: Lazare Press, 1993) pp.236. $n.p. ISBN 0 64613389 6.

Audrey Oldfleld, Woman Suffrage in Australia: Gift or Struggle? (Melbourne: Cambridge University Press, 1992) pp.263. $29.95 ISBN 0 521436117.

Derek Parker, The Courtesans: The Press Gallery in the Hawke Era (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1991)pp.203. $16.95 ISBN 0 04 442343 8.

Comparative and International Politics

Elise Boulding (ed.), New Agendas for Peace Research: Conflict andSecurity Reexamined (Boulder and London: Lynne Rienner, 1992) pp.199. $US35.00 ISBN 15587 290 5.

T.M. Boyce, Infrastructure and Security: Problems of Development in the West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. Canberra Papers on Strategy and Defence No. 93 (Canberra: Canberra Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, RSPacS, Australian National University, 1992) pp.231. $23.00 ISBN 0 7315 1417 3.

John F.N. Bradley, Czechoslovakia's Velvet Revolution: A Political Analysis (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992) pp.139. $US29.59 ISBN 0 88033 242 5.

Nigel Swain, Hungary: The Rise and Fall of Feasible Socialism (London: Verso, 1992) pp.264. $45.00 ISBN 0 86091569 7.

David Butler and Austin Ranney (eds), Electioneering: A Comparative Study of Continuity and Change (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992) pp.294. $80.00 ISBN 0 19 827375 4.

Joseph A. Camilleri and Jim Falk, The End of Sovereignty: The Politics of a Shrinking and Fragmenting World (Aldershot: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1992) pp.297. $n.p. ISBN 185228 032 0.

Helena Catt, Paul Harris and Nigel S. Roberts, Voter's Choice: Electoral Chance in New Zealand (Palmerston North: The Dunmore Press, 1992) pp.143. $n.p. ISBN 086469 147

John Davis, Exchange (Buckingham: Open University Press, 1992) pp.100. $27.95 ISBN 033515583 9.

Gilbert R. Winham, The Evolution of International Trade Agreements (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992) pp.155. $Canl5.95 ISBN 0 8020 7691 2.

Patrick Dunleavy, Helen Margett and Stuart Weir, Replaying the 1992 General Election: How Britain Would Have Voted Under Alternative Electoral Systems. LSE Public Policy Paper No. 3 (London: Public Policy Group, London School of Economics, 1992) pp.20. £5.00 ISBN 085 328147 5.

Werner Feld, The Future of European Security and Defence Policy (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1993) pp.177. $n.p. ISBN 155587 353 7.

Gary P. Freeman and James Jupp(eds), Nations of Immigrants: Australia, the United States and International Migration (Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1992) pp.250. $24.95 ISBN 019 553483 2.

Peter Godwin and IanHancock, Rhodesians Never Die (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.400. $130.00 ISBN 019 820365 9.

Colin S. Gray, House of Cards: Why Arms Control Must Fail (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992) pp.242. $n.p. ISBN 0 8014 2703 7.

Richard Higgott and J.L. Richardson (eds), International Relations: Global and Australian Perspectives on an Evolving Discipline (Canberra: Australian National University, 1991) pp.479. $n.p. ISBN 0 7315 1284 7.

Steve Hoadley, The South Pacific Foreign Affairs Handbook (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, in association with the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, 1992) pp.258. $19.95 ISBN 186373 176 8.

Andrew Hurrell and Benedict Kingsbury (eds), The International Politics of the Environment (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992) pp.492. $34.95 ISBN 019 827778 4.

Robin Jeffrey, Politics, Women and Well‐being?: How Kerela became ‘a model’ (Melbourne: Macmillan, 1992) pp.285. $89.95 ISBN 0 333 54808 6.

Paul Keal(ed.), Ethics and Foreign Policy (Sydney: Allen & Unwin/ANU, 1992) pp.259. $24.95 ISBN 186373 396 5.

Sebastian Mallaby, After Apartheid (London: Faber and Faber, 1992) pp.210. $40.00 ISBN 0 57116560 5.

Philip Mattar, The Mufti of Jerusalem (New York: Columbia University Press, 1988) pp.191. $US17.00 ISBN 023106463 2.

Baruch Kimmerllng and Joel S. Migdal, Palestinians: The Making of a People (New York: The Free Press, 1993) pp396. $n.p. ISBN 0 02 9173213.

Ian McNeill, To Long Tan: The Australian Army and the Vietnam War 1950–1966 (Canberra: Allen & Unwin in association with the Australian War Memorial, 1993) pp.614. $49.95 ISBN 186373 282 9.

Alison Dundes Renteln, International Human Rights: Universalism versus Relativism (London: Sage Publications, 1990) pp.205. £13.95 ISBN 0 8039 3506 4.

Eric Rolls, Sojourners: The Epic Story of China's Centuries‐old Relationship with Australia (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1992) pp.531. $49.95 ISBN 0 7022 24782.

Chlh‐yu Shin, China's Just World: The Morality of Chinese Foreign Policy (Boulder and London: Lynnc Rienner, 1993) pp.223. $US37.00 ISBN 155587 350 2.

Rachel Walker, Six Years that Shook the World: Perestroika—The Impossible Project (Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press, 1993) pp312. $35.00 ISBN 0 719032873.

Political Theory and Methodology

Richard Bellamy, Liberalism and Modern Society: An Historical Argument (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1992) pp310. $39.95 ISBN 0 7456 0533 8.

Chilla Bulbeck, Social Sciences in Australia: An Introduction (Marrickville: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1993) pp.494. $34.95 ISBN 0 72951260 6.

Robert E. Goodin, Motivating Political Morality (Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992) pp.201. $34.95 ISBN 1 55786 247 8.

Preston King (ed.), Thomas Hobbes. Critical Assessments, 4vols (London and New York: Routledge, 1993) $n.p. ISBN 0 415 02004 2.

Chandran Kukathas and Philip Pettit, Rawls: A Theory of Justice, and Its Critics (London: Polity, 1990) pp.169. $32.95 ISBN 0 7456 0282 7.

Michael J. Lacey and Knud Haakonssen (eds), A Culture of Rights: The Bill of Rights in Philosophy, Politics, and Law—1791 and 1991 (Cambridge: Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.474. $99.00 ISBN 0 52141637 X.

Gene Outka and John P. Reeder Jr. (eds), Prospects for a Common Morality (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993) pp.254. $34.95 ISBN 0 69102093 0.

Elisabeth Porter, Women and Moral Identity (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1991) pp.223. $22.95 ISBN 004 442332 2.

Alan Ryan (ed.), Justice: Oxford Readings in Politics and Government (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) pp.200. $28.95 ISBN 019 878038 9.

Peter Vallentyne (ed.), Contractarianism and Rational Choice: Essays on David Gauthier's Morals by Agreement (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991) pp.339. $39.95 ISBN 0 52139815 0.

Teaching in Higher Education

Paul Ramsden, Learning to Teach in Higher Education (London: Routledge, 1992) pp.290. £12.99 ISBN 0 415 06415 5.

Video Review

Frank RJjavec (director), Exile and The Kingdom (Lindfield, Sydney: Film Australia, 1993). Co‐produced by Rljavec and Aboriginal people from Injibandi/Ngaluma Tribes, Western Australia (screened recently by the ABC). $164.95.