The limits of influence: The political economy of Australian commercial policy after the Ottawa conference∗

A version of this article was presented at the conference of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand at the University of New England in July 1993. The author also thanks the editor and three anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. The responsibility for the article's contents nevertheless remains his own.

Abstract

This article evaluates the old and the neonationalist interpretations of Australian commercial policy in the 1930s by examining the influence of a complex structure of pressure groups and political, bureaucratic and regulatory institutions on Australian commercial policy towards Britain in the three years after the Ottawa Conference of 1932. While agreeing with neonationalists like Kosmas Tsokhas that domestic factors were critical, it argues that they often led to the adoption of inflexible positions that limited Australia in the conduct of its international economic relations.

Notes

A version of this article was presented at the conference of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand at the University of New England in July 1993. The author also thanks the editor and three anonymous referees for their comments and suggestions. The responsibility for the article's contents nevertheless remains his own.