Living Under the Stars and Stripes and the Southern Cross. The Foreign Policy Views of the Australians

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Living Under the Stars and Stripes and the Southern Cross

Australia and the United States are very close allies. Australia has been a treaty ally of the United States since the signing of the Australia-New Zealand-United States Treaty in 1951. It is also well known that Australia has also made contributions to the allied cause in the first and second world wars and been a staunch ally of Britain and the United States. The question for leadership in Australia in this context is that it must be firmly anchored in the reality of what people think, believe and cherish because relations between Australia and the United States are at the centre of Australian life. Indeed leaders in politics, business and the community are constantly dealing with situations and issues in which these relations are immensely significant. It appears true that the two nations are becoming more and more alike.

The two countries have many similarities. “Both share “New World” status as young countries in terms of European settlement and wine production while being home to older indigenous cultures displaced by violence, disease and mass emigration. Both share emigrant Anglo-Celtic heritage, which is as a result of increased racial and cultural diversity. Also many business and political leaders in both nations share common economic and business worldviews. Periodically the similarities encourage some community commentators to speculate on Australia as a metaphoric 51st state of the union. Other commentators point to similarities such as optimism about the future; a belief in social mobility; growing casualization of the workforce; and, a strong emphasis of materialism and success. Major political parties in Australia study US trends and techniques and import the techniques for use in Australian election campaigns.

The public does not regard the US as Australia’s best friends. Instead, Australians feel most friendly towards traditional Commonwealth cousins such as New Zealand, the United Kingdom and Canada. Some professions of friendliness are also expressed by Australians towards European countries such as Ireland, Italy, Holland, Greece and Norway.

While the United States may be the most powerful nation in the world there is much discussion about US knowledge of the rest of the world and the extent to which it has an internationalist outlook. It is surprisingly true that in Australia more than half the population support pluralism (defined as freedom to lead any kind of lifestyle versus intolerance of “unusual” life styles.

For example in terms of attitudes to homosexuality Australian and American thinking is diametrically opposed. A similar disparity exists in the US and Australian attitudes to the new forms of family that are different from traditional, classical nuclear family households. For example about half of all Australians are prepared to define one of the new forms of family as a “family”. A declining number of Australians are prepared to define one of the new forms of family (less than 20%) in the traditional form. In contrast far fewer Americans define family in new forms although there are, in the 21st century. Indications that acceptance of new forms is increasing. Australians are also more likely to regard morality as relativistic (they are not dogmatic) than absolute than are Americans. Americans are also more respectful of authority than Australians and have been less likely to want to beat the system. The Australian expects a lot more diversity and practical justice in the running of the nation.

The Foreign Policy Views of the Australians

 Australian foreign policy has developed steadily over the years. However according to a recent survey in 2007 the majority (74%) thought that democratic or humanitarian values were considered more important for foreign policy and less than a fifth (18%) were of the view that economic or political interests should be considered more important.

The  data also found that the two goals most important to Australia were protecting the jobs of Australian workers (75%) and talking climate change (75%) but the same measure ‘combating international terrorism (65%), helping to prevent nuclear proliferation (61%) and strengthening the Australian economy (60%) were substantially less important (Lowy 2007, p 6). The data also revealed that the lowest ranked foreign policy goal was ‘promoting democracy in other countries’. This finding seems in keeping with the low profile Australians expect their country to take in the international arena.