When Cooperation Trumps Convergence:
Emerging Trends in Australia-New Zealand Defence Relations
Author: Robert Ayson
Volume 2, Number 3 (October 2006), pp. 25-39.
Abstract
The Australia-New Zealand defence relationship has been transformed. Parallel overseas commitments by Australia and New Zealand under the leadership of major allies encouraged strategic convergence in earlier years. But they were not driven to work directly together. Today, while there are noticeable differences in the defence outlooks of the two countries, they enjoy a robust pattern of direct cooperation. Alliance shocks in the late 1960s and mid-1980s helped generate this partnership, which has come into its own in the last decade as Canberra and Wellington have responded jointly to Pacific security challenges. This Trans-Tasman cooperation will continue, but the neighbourhood challenges which drive it will not be easily resolved.
About the Author
Robert Ayson is Senior Fellow in the Australian National University’s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre where he directs the Graduate Studies in Strategy and Defence program. He completed his PhD at King’s College London and has held official and academic positions in New Zealand. He can be contacted at robert.ayson@anu.edu.au.
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