ABSTRACT
The argument is that during the Howard-Downer era the government, reasoning from realist premises, remained somewhat sceptical of the various institutional and norm-oriented embodiments of ‘Asia’, and evinced a decided preference for bilateralism. On the security front, the notion that Australia was moving from seeking security ‘against’ Asia towards pursuing a security relationship ‘in Asia’ or ‘with Asia’ was one of the arguments advanced for helping to establish a CSCE/OSCE mechanism in the region. Australian bilateralism had scored some notable successes but when a place at the East Asian Summit remained elusive, the prime minister reaffirmed his view of the primacy of the state and also of the limitations of regional institutions. While foreign and trade policy strategies must deploy all three approaches – bilateral, regional and multilateral – effective bilateral relationships constitute the basic building block. The actions of nation states and their governments still have the greatest bearing on the world’s security and economic environment.
