ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to consider the way in which Australia’s involvement in Asia-Pacific regionalism has been related to the country’s own changing political and economic circumstances. Given the framework of the book, it starts off by examining briefly the extent to which Australia can be seen as part of the semi-periphery. It then looks more specifically at the way in which Australia’s position in the world has changed in more recent times. Finally it discusses Australia’s approach to regionalism as part of a strategy which has emerged for dealing with its changed position. Essentially the argument presented is that the increased emphasis on regionalism in Australia’s international strategy is very much related to the country’s changing political and economic circumstances. Australian regionalism, however, needs to be seen in the context of a number of other strategies which have been adopted or considered within the state. At a domestic level these have included various attempts to make the economy more internationally competitive. At an international level Australia joined with other ‘like-minded’ agricultural free traders in the Cairns Group and has also seen some potential in pursuing bilateralism with its major trading partners. The focus, here, however, is on the strategy of regionalism. Although there have been differences of emphasis among various groups in society, these have been largely to do with the appropriate combination of policies through which to achieve a set of goals which, in themselves, have been widely supported.
