Short description:

This book offers a fresh examination of Australia?s past and present. From the complex interactions of First Nations to modern international relations with significant partners and allies, it examines the forces which have influenced the place now called Australia both historically and today.

Long description:

Australia on the World Stage: History, Politics, and International Relations offers a fresh examination of Australia?s past and present. From the complex interactions of First Nations to modern international relations with significant partners and allies, it examines the forces that have influenced the place now called Australia both historically and today. It is a unique history told in two parts.

The first half of the book examines the way Australia acted on the world stage both before and after British colonisation. It outlines the evolution of Australia?s relationship with the United Kingdom, first as colonies, then a dominion, and finally as an independent nation. It finishes with a First Nations perspective on foreign relations. The second half of the book provides a wide-ranging history of Australia?s dealings with major powers, the United States and China, as well as its relationships with New Zealand, Aotearoa, the Pacific Islands, Indonesia, Japan, Antarctica, and the United Nations. Written by leading and emerging researchers in their fields, this book encourages the reader to consider Australia?s performance on the world stage over the longue durée, well before the word ?Australia? was ever dreamt up.

This interdisciplinary work challenges lazy stereotypes that see Australia's international history as fixed and uncontested. In revisiting Australia?s foreign relations, this work also asks the reader to consider its future directions.?

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Table of Contents:

1. When and Where is Australia? Part I 2. Before Australia 3. Australia Before Responsible Government (1606 ? 1856) 4. From British Australasia to Federation: No Linear Progression 5. Federation to the Second World War: Australian Identity and Anzac 6. British Dominion to Almost Republic: Australia Responds to the End of Empire 7. First Nations and Australia: Walking Together or Walking Alone? Part II 8. The Unbreakable Alliance? Strategic Dependence and Australia?s US Alliance 9. The Harder They Fall: Australia-China relations in Xi Jinping?s New Era 10. Australia-Japan Relations: Close Ties and Shared Aspirations 11. Australia and Indonesia: The Persistence of Distance between Proximate Neighbours 12. Pacific Nation or Neighbour: Australia?s Relationship with New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the Pacific 13. Australia?s Southern Flank: Antarctica 14. Australia and the United Nations