We have published our latest book on Australian defence.
This book is the second in the series on Australian Defence and Deterrence the first having been published in 2023.
The book begins with a contribution by John Blackburn and Anne Borzycki who look at the broad impact of Australian politics on the nature of the Australian defence effort and argue for the need for a comprehensive national defence strategy to deal with the new historical era facing Australia and the liberal democracies.
Rather than a world of multi-polarity or great national power competition, a key aspect of the new historical epoch we have entered is multi-polar authoritarianism. Authoritarianism is clearly globally ascendent, but these regimes or groups do not share a common ideology or action program.
Many of these authoritarian states or groups have roots deeply inside Western democracies and through various means operate within Western societies, rather than simply being an external threat. The key challenge facing Australia is whether or not the government and the country shape policies and a strategy to prevail in the new historical epoch.
How does Australia generate a credible deterrent strategy against a power that is their major trading partner?
How does Australia shape a national security and defence strategy which engages the nation and mobilizes its resources?
How does Australia do so while pursuing an energy strategy which simply does not tap the natural resources which Australia possesses in abundance?
How does Australia generate a credible ADF when the government is simply putting off investments in the force that would have to fight tonite?
How credible is the future force?
Do the elements of this force really integrate or are they really new platform stove pipes?
Does Australia have a credible alliance approach?
Is AUKUS really a centerpiece of a military renaissance?
How will Australia stand up to China while largely being a raw materials supplier to the country?
How realistic is the domestic understanding of what the threat from the new authoritarians is domestically? Information war is now a key domestic fact of life, and not simply an away game.
How capable is Australia of building the defence and security infrastructure it needs?
Can Australia defend itself as a sanctuary to the extent necessary to provide a strategic reserve for its Pacific allies in times of crisis?
How will Australia focus primarily on Indo-Pacific challenges and still remain engaged with at least some presence forces for other global regions?
How will Australia defend its maritime interests without shaping a significant merchant maritime capability?
In short, key questions need to be asked and answered and not only by Australia. Each of its democratic partners faces major challenges itself.
And collectively, we face a very challenging environment with a wide range of authoritarian actors with no interest in providing their political and security capital to a “rules-based order.”
How will Australia shape its way ahead?
And from the introduction of the book:
AUKUS is a Rorschach test. You can see in it what you want. It is loaded with ambiguity, the kind that can lead to serious conflict in the United States, the UK and in Australia about who is supposed to do what.
Our alliance is too important to be reduced to chanting AUKUS, rather than frankly discussing our common interests and our differences. And the domestic divergencies in our societies is very significant and has clear implications for the future. An AUKUS totem doesn’t solve this.
The book starts with a seminal essay by John Blackburn and Anne Borzycki. Their essay addresses the challenges which the political system in Australia poses to having an effective defence policy. Australia clearly needs a national defence and security strategy and not just the AUKUS totem.
Next is the checklist of key challenges which need to be addressed in building such a strategy.
Then the 11 April 2024 seminar report of the Williams Foundation seminar addressing a multi-domain approach to Australia’s maritime strategy has been included but restructured.,
Next the interviews which Robbin Laird conducted in April 2024 before and after the seminar which provide a rich tapestry of assessments of the challenges for Australian defence by Australians who are well positioned to comment on these challenges.
This is a journey and only future history will tell us definitively where we were in that journey in 2024.