The Australia-New Zealand-U.S. Alliance: Regional Security in the Nuclear Age

Joseph A. Camilleri, The Australia-New Zealand-U.S. Alliance: Regional Security in the Nuclear Age, Boulder, Co.: Westview Press, 1987, xii + 284 pp.

 – also published as ANZUS:  Australia’s Predicament in the Nuclear Age, Melbourne: Macmillan, 1987, xii + 284pp.

 

From the Foreword by Richard Falk

Joseph Camilleri, in this brilliantly reasoned and researched study, provides the reader with a balanced and nuanced discussion of the issues that underlie the ANZUS controversy. In the end, he articulates the case for an alternative foreign policy based on a far greater degree of self-reliance, regional and sub-regional attentiveness, and a gradual restructuring of Australian and New Zealand force structures to enable the adoption of non-pro vocative defence postures.

What is especially impressive about Camilleri=s achievement is its sensitivity to the obstacles lying along the path he favours, and the seriousness with which he addresses those who might still adhere to the premises of the postwar world. He acknowledges the deep roots that ANZUS continues to have in the political cultures of both junior members, as well as the dangerous and costly repercussions that could result from challenging directly the American image of the alliance.

I would underscore two elements of Camilleri=s approach as especially not able: his realisation that a shift in security orientation depends on changing the domestic political climate in fundamental respects, a development that cannot happen quickly; and further, his realisation that a reorientation of foreign and security policy will work only if a sense of continuity with the past can be sustained during the long transition period. In this regard, Camilleri's advocacy of nuclear disengagement, neutrality, non-alignment, and in creasing self-reliance is underpinned by a very informed and sophisticated assessment of security issues that accepts the overall agenda of the mainstream leadership. As a consequence, Camilleri expresses a kind of responsible radicalism that shuns dogmatism and ideological baggage of any discernible variety.

Foreword by Richard Falk         v

Preface        xi

1    Historical Perspective        1

Origins of ANZUS

2    The Case for ANZUS       17

3    The Counter-Arguments      31

4    The Changing Geo-Strategic Environment        52

5   ANZUS: Its Contemporary Strategic Relevance       78

6     Nuclear Disarmament: An Emerging Issue       102

7    The New Zealand Experiment         129

8    Options for Australia        153

9    An Independent Foreign Policy        175

10 An Alternative Security Policy     199

11 Process and Prospects         222

      Notes & References          238

      Bibliography         264

      Index         273