On Re-engaging Asia

Abstract

This collection of papers focuses on the domestic and international politics of Australia's recent engagement with Asia. The theme of Asian engagement appears to be of particular pertinence to the current study of Australian politics given numerous pronouncements that we are entering an ‘Asian century’ during which key Asian economies will gain greater ascendancy and certain Asian states will come to play a more prominent role in global politics. We employ the idea of ‘re-engagement’ in order to show how engagement with Asia has been turned to again and again by Australian governments, albeit in different political and strategic contexts. This collection aims to consider the politics of re-engagement from a number of different theoretical positions, as well as from a number of different perspectives (be it international relations/foreign policy, domestic politics, identity politics, or from the perspective of bilateral Asian partners). Emphasis is placed not simply on the foreign policy prerogatives behind re-engagement but also on the implications of the ‘Asian century’ for domestic politics.

Notes

¹This was, of course, not the sole reason given for the electoral defeat. Rudd also pointed to economic factors such as interest rate rises, concerns about the limits of the resources boom, the need for technological and educational investment, and fears concerning climate change and water resources (see Rudd 2008).

²See also Higgott and Nossal (2008) for a discussion of Australia's status as a liberal democratic state and the implications of this for its engagement with Asia.

³Rather than overview all of this literature, we instead point the reader toward a number of recent reviews of these areas of study.

⁴On the issue of the Amero and Eurocentric nature of knowledge taught in Western universities, see the major Australian contribution by R. Connell (2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juanita Elias

Juanita Elias is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow based at Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University. Her research has focused mainly on issues concerning the gendered nature of work and employment in the global economy with a specific focus on Southeast Asia. Carol Johnson is a Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide. She has published widely on Australian Politics, including on issues of Australian national and ethnic identity. This Special Issue had its origins in a Workshop on ‘Re-engaging Asia’ that was funded by the Australian Political Studies Association (APSA) and held in September 2008. Our thanks to APSA for its support, and also to the University of Adelaide Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for providing additional research funds in support of the workshop. We also thank Patrick Allington for his editorial assistance, and Peter Mayer and Ian Hall for their comments on earlier drafts of this article.