Internationally, where we were once considered a very good global citizen, Australia has tamely followed the Bush line on Iraq, global warming, terrorism, trade, and so on. The Australian military could hardly operate these days without American approval.
So what will Australia - having lost international credibility and having affronted its regional neighbours with its subservience to the US - do if America implodes?
One way or another, fundamental structural change lies ahead for America. Perhaps the greatest attempt at democracy since the ancient Greeks will pull itself together and emerge even stronger, but perhaps not. Either way, the coming Presidential election will mark a watershed, and America in the near future will be a very different place to what it is today.
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And either way, Australia will also need to develop new ways of thinking about itself and its place in the world.
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About the Author
Dr Peter McMahon has worked in a number of jobs including in politics at local, state and federal level. He has also taught Australian studies, politics and political economy at university level, and until recently he taught sustainable development at Murdoch University. He has been published in various newspapers, journals and magazines in Australia and has written a short history of economic development and sustainability in Western Australia. His book Global Control: Information Technology and Globalisation was published in the UK in 2002. He is now an independent researcher and writer on issues related to global change.
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