Australia's defense policy: medium power, even bigger ambitions?

Abstract Australian defense policy suggests a case where strategic ambitions exceed the country's direct security needs. But there are some peculiar reasons for this state of affairs. These include the relationship between the size of the Australian continent and its proximity to maritime Asia; Australia's sense of itself as a medium power with a strong interest in the future of the wider regional strategic balance; and the long-standing judgment that Australia needs a capacity for independent military action in its own area because even its closest allies cannot always be expected to help out. The Rudd government's 2009 Defence White Paper, the first such document in nearly a decade, confirms this pattern of thinking. In particular it reflects Australia's interest in not falling behind the defense modernization in the wider region of strong and rising powers (including, but by no means limited to, China). It helps return a sense of coherence to Australian policy which went missing in the post-9/11 era. B...