USQ Law Society Law Review Summer Edition 2021

Page 82

TRADITIONALISM, SECLUSION, AND INTERNATIONALISM: FOREIGN POLICY PHILOSOPHY AND MINORITY GOVERNMENTS

TRADITIONALISM, SECLUSION, AND INTERNATIONALISM: FOREIGN POLICY PHILOSOPHY AND MINORITY GOVERNMENTS T IMOTHY R ANDALL I.

INTRODUCTION

Traditionalism, Seclusion, and Internationalism are philosophical schools of thought that have played an important role in the formation of Australian foreign policy since federation. Australia recently had a rapid succession of Prime Ministers. There were seven times Australian leadership changed within eleven years between 2007 to 2018. This is an average of a new Prime Minster every year and a half. The result was domestic political instability where minority governments had been in control several times throughout this period. This has given independents and minor party leaders a more pivotal role in Australian politics as they find themselves with the crucial votes of confidence and supply. These changes have an impact on foreign policy with some suggesting the three classical approaches are no longer relevant. Despite these domestic political issues, the philosophical approaches of Traditionalism, Seclusion and Internationalism are still being used to shape Australian foreign policy. This paper is broken into two parts. First, a brief overview of the foreign policy philosophies is given. The paper will then shift focus to the domestic political instability Australia went through between 2007-2018. It will assess whether the major and significant minor parties still use these philosophies in forming their foreign policy approach.

II.

TRADITIONALISM

The Traditionalist school of thought has two main attributes. Traditionalisms first attribute is its close links to the oldest ways of thinking about international relations in Australia.1 Historically, Australia has held close links to the world’s leading military superpowers. This was first the United Kingdom and then later the United States. As a result from the first attribute of Traditionalism, its second attribute is the necessary retention of the close relationships Australia has with these allies. This retention is necessary as Traditionalists hold that the world is anarchic and dangerous.2 An isolationist foreign policy would be considered detrimental to Australia for Traditionalists. The reason for this is because Australia would be unable to protect itself from a larger enemy. This stems from the classical realist theory that international relations is a realm of power and interests absent the unified international government which can enforce rules and regulations.3 Although there are similarities between the realist theory and the Traditionalist theory, these Submitted for assessment INR 3000 1 M Wesley & T Warren, ‘Wild Colonial ploys?: Currents of thought in Australian foreign policy’ (2000) 35(1) Australian Journal of Political Science 9, 13. 2 Ibid. 3 J Donnelly, Realism and International Relations (Cambridge University Press, 2000) 9.

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