The United States and the ties that bind

Australia's academics generally take the opposite view to much of the power worshipping press, tending instead to see Australia as too close or lacking an independent mind because of its relationship with the US. Australia in other words does not have a special relationship - it has a dependent relationship.

There is a lot to be said for encouraging Australia to have a confident and independent voice on world affairs; however, in my view many academics tend to underrate the performance of Australian politicians and diplomats in this regard. Archival evidence and interviews with American elites tend to highlight Australia's ability to put its case to the US - this is not to say that the cases Australian elites have put have always been wise.

Australia's relationship with the US is full of contradictions. Americans generally are very positive about Australians but tend to see Australia as more like America than it probably is. In the US there is widespread ignorance about Australian life and particularly about Australian politics.

My personal experiences in Washington DC in recent years have revealed minuscule public discussion or reporting of Australian politics. British politics fare little better. The think tanks and universities in the US tend to focus their attention on places that might either cause America harm or that are geographically close.

However, like the American people, government elites in the US are also favourably predisposed to Australia and these elites have unusually high levels of interaction with their Australian counterparts compared with most other nations; this is particularly the case in the area of defence intelligence sharing.

This security relationship does make Australia special in regard to how US government elites treat Australia. It gives Australia a formalised and institutionalised closeness that goes well beyond the individual bonds between any American president and any Australian PM.

This is not to argue that Australia should be complacent in its relations with America, but these institutional ties should allow Australians to feel more confidence about their ongoing close relationship with the US and about their place at the negotiating table when differences of opinion and interests arise.