- The Strategist - https://www.aspistrategist.org.au -
The white paper that cannot die
Posted By Peter Jennings on July 18, 2013 @ 14:34
The reader was left wondering how a government could produce two such differently toned documents as the 2009 White Paper and the [2012] Asian Century White Paper. The answer, of course, is that the shift from Kevin Rudd to Julia Gillard had brought fundamental changes to Australia’s strategic policy. The Asian Century statement was a decisive policy rejection of the 2009 White Paper’s more pessimistic assessment of the prospects for regional security. Through the 2012 statement Julia Gillard put her personal stamp on the government’s external policies. This was the White Paper which Gillard ‘owned’, and in it she distanced herself from Rudd’s legacy, weakening the case for higher levels of defence spending.
Improving relations, moreover, is increasingly urgent, since the profound strategic changes unfolding across the region will only make life more complicated and throw up more potential flash points. Allowing events to take their own unguided course would mean running major risks, since across Asia, the jury is still out as to whether the positive forces of twenty-first-century globalization or the darker forces of more ancient nationalisms will ultimately prevail.
Article printed from The Strategist: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au
URL to article: https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/the-white-paper-that-cannot-die/
[1] Image: http://www.aspistrategist.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/kevin-DWP2013.jpeg
[2] recent article in the Security Challenges Journal: http://www.securitychallenges.org.au/ArticlePages/vol9no2Jennings.html
[3] document: http://www.defence.gov.au/whitepaper2009/docs/defence_white_paper_2009.pdf
[4] here: http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/138843/kevin-rudd/beyond-the-pivot
[5] here: http://www.chinausfocus.com/foreign-policy/beyond-the-pivot-a-new-road-map-for-u-s-chinese-relations/
[6] National Security Strategy: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/national_security/national-security-strategy.cfm
[7] Michael Rawle: http://www.flickr.com/photos/60779535@N03/8104581454/in/photolist-dmb6H1-97nQcg-5pdfaD-6DnbyA-9kq4p8-7gmQfX-7gqLfy-7gnmA4-7grjGQ-7grhsu-7gnmx8-7gqLjC-7BETtK-5tSqMa-7grjG3-4pARgX-556BBT-46XxBt-7mcKsg-9jtJ8w-9jtGkE-7ytNVL-48Xe7P-492fBb-492faE-4bwyoE-9iBtqV-9iEAuo-9iBtrK-9iEAzq-4GuvPN-9iEAyy-bfQigP-bhgZV4-bhgZZa-bfQiuP-7BWVPt-7Y3Svy-f4oukn-4np3CP-di4JtG-dLWGNk-dM3fnw-dM3eny-dLWHtD-dM3dMC-dLWGZ2-dM3feJ-dLWH8t-dLWGw4-5pdiVe