The role of the AALD in preserving the Australia–US alliance

Abstract

This article critically evaluates the agenda and strategy of the Australian American Leadership Dialogue (AALD) for protecting and strengthening the Australia–US alliance. Nominally an exercise in informal diplomacy dedicated to fostering mutual understanding, the AALD functions more like a pro-American lobby group as it seeks to preserve orthodox thinking and eschew dissenting perspectives. The AALD performs this function in three main ways: by carefully framing discussion and debate, by socialising Australian elites into the alliance orthodoxy and by serving as a ‘gatekeeper’ of the status quo.本文对保卫、加强澳美联盟的澳美领袖对话提出批评。该对话虽然名义上只是加强共同理解的非正式外交实践， 但其作用更像是亲美游说集团，因为它要保持正统的思路，回避不同的观点。该对话用三种方式实现这一功能：小心地设置讨论和辩论；向澳大利亚精英灌输联盟的正统观；充当现状的守门人。