1 - Australia in World Affairs 1996–2000
from Part I - Setting the Scene
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 May 2024
Summary
When planning for this volume commenced in 1997, few signs were present of the turbulence that was to engulf Australian policies in the last years of the twentieth century. Prime Minister John Howard’s desire that Australians should feel ’comfortable’ seemed to have been realised in the foreign policy arena. To reinforce this sense of comfort, the new government, which assumed office in March 1996, sought to reinforce relations with ’great and powerful friends’, particularly the United States. The relationship with traditional friends in Europe was also given a boost: the government characterised its new policy direction with the catch-phrase ’Asia first, but not Asia only’.
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- Australia in World Affairs 1996–2000The National Interest in a Global Era, pp. 3 - 7Publisher: Cambridge University PressFirst published in: 2024