| |
|
Home
Current Issue
Archive
ADBR Competition
About the Journal
Author Guidelines
Subscribe
Contact
Kokoda Foundation
|
|
Balancing Australia’s Strategic Commitments
Author: Stephan Frühling
Volume 3, Number 3 (August 2007), pp. 145-159.
Abstract
Power is a relative concept. Hence describing Australia as a ‘middle power’ is unhelpful. A viable national security strategy needs to discard such loose generalities and recognise the divergent political and strategic implications of Australia’s commitments in stabilizing the South Pacific, reinforcing South East Asia, and using the ADF for political influence globally. To debate the merits of an ‘expeditionary’ as opposed to ‘continental defence’ posture is to overlook the fundamentally divergent implications for Australian defence capability of these three types of overseas commitments. In the absence of a framework of clear priorities and realistic matching of commitments to resources, Australian defence policy runs the danger of becoming based on bluff rather than military power.
About the Author
Stephan Frühling is Lecturer in the Graduate Studies in Strategy and Defence Program of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University, and managing editor of Security Challenges. He has submitted a PhD thesis on strategic risk and defence planning, and published in Australia, Europe and the United States on ballistic missile defence, nuclear deterrence, counterproliferation and strategic theory. stephan_fruehling@hotmail.com.
|
|
