ABSTRACT
This chapter argues the Australia, New Zealand, United States (ANZUS) alliance marked a logical readjustment of the major premises of New Zealand defence and foreign policy to changed Pacific and international circumstances after the Second World War. New Zealand's defence throughout its history has been built upon a forward policy. The forward emphasis was Anglocentric in conception and execution until the Second World War, but was recast in a wider Western framework after the war. ANZUS represents a logical continuity rather than a fundamental break in the strategic bases of New Zealand defence. ANZUS is attacked for constituting a "lightning rod which is more likely to attract rather than fend off a nuclear attack in time of all out war." The most damning indictment of ANZUS is the charge that in the final analysis, when it comes to the crunch, the Americans are under no obligation to defend New Zealand against an outside threat that may materialize.
