“Collective Amnesia” of Europe v. Engagement with Asia: Forging a Middle Path for Australia in the Age of Regionalism

Abstract

“A country at odds with its region will be a defensive, anxious society, and one which is likely to be dependent on heavy defence expenditure. It will be a country, too, that will be unable to exploit fully its commercial and other potential”“… the collective amnesia concerning Europe in otherwise well-informed circles in Australia is a debilitating disease. It creates a lethargy where there is opportunity. It is blind to potential difficulties. It squanders a still-important reservoir of good will. Above all, it is a denial of identity. No group can be free until it recognises and comes to terms with its past, whether it likes it or not”.These two quotations, which appeared in articles published only twelve years apart, illustrate the complexity of contemporary challenges facing Australia’s international relations policy makers. It addresses the riddle of how to posit a still dominantly (ethnically and culturally speaking) European society, but one, which is located geographically nearer Asia, within the intricate web of inter-state intercourse which has become a hallmark of the modern world. The dilemma is, of course, far from new, but it has taken on enhanced proportions with the rise of regionalism, and the dissection of the planet into inter-governmental blocks.