AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN POLICY

This course provides an introduction to Australian foreign policy, exploring its domestic and global contexts. It examines Australia's most important bilateral, regional, and multilateral relations in both historical and contemporary terms. It explores key themes including Australia's national identity, interests, security and prosperity, the Australia-US alliance, Australia's engagement with international organizations such as the UN, WTO, and G20, Australia's role as a regional power in the South Pacific, and Australia's increasing engagement with Asia. The course also investigates key foreign policy issues on the contemporary Australian agenda including global climate change negotiations, human rights, overseas aid and asylum-seekers, trade and economic globalization, transnational terrorism and arms control. Students who complete this subject become equipped to articulate and debate the conceptual, analytical, and normative dimensions of Australian foreign policy.