Australian Foreign Policy
What is Foreign Policy? Foreign Policy is a nations’ attitude, actions (ie economic sanctions, peacekeeping, military activity) as well as our dealings with other countries (ie trade, immigration, aid, defence) and anything that is directed towards preserving and furthering certain national interests. Foreign Policy seeks to maintain national security, promote economic and trade interests, expand regional and global links, and promote the nation as a good global citizen.
Why is FP unique in terms of FP making? Indeed, FP is unique in terms of policy making, largely because it requires little legislation. In essence, governments do not have to face a review of their policy enshrined in legislation in the Senate. Arguably FP may be made with little reference to Parliament as it usually obtains bi-partisan support as recently exemplified by the outstanding Labor Party support for an additional Medicare levy to cover the costs of Australian peacekeeping forces in East Timor. Consequentially, FP is seldom a topic for elections as it does not directly affect the electorate, nor does it gather the same level of community participation or interest as many other policies.
Key features… A 1997 White Paper on Foreign and Trade Policy called ‘In the National Interest’ is the most important single statement on FP in recent years. It set the guideline for FP according to the National Interest. Implicit in the National Interest is to maintain national security through international diplomacy and readiness to defend the continent and territories against possible armed attack or other aggression, to protect and promote the nation’s economic welfare and living standards, which increasingly depend on global economic growth, free international trade and the confidence of global international markets, and to keep our democratic way of life, and our civil and political liberties.
A more recent foreign policy priority is the promotion of the nation as an active and responsible global citizen. Success in this area is measured by our response to human rights, terrorism, third world debt, and drug issues. Australia already has a well deserved international reputation because of the work of previous foreign ministers, e.g Bill Hayden and Gareth Evans on human rights.
Key players and their roles… Decisions about FP are made by the executive and the bureaucracy making it incompatible with the democracy that Australia is. The government can dominate foreign policy in a way that it cannot dominate domestic policy.
The decision for Australia to adopt the Federal system was on the principle of which the State’s governments wanted to keep their power. For this reason there was the separation of powers between the newly formed Commonwealth government and the existing State governments. At a constitutional level, there are rulings in which the powers are separated, these rulings due to disputes have slightly changed since 1901. These changes all fell towards the one government, the Commonwealth (Federal) government. However this was not just a landslide event, the Constitution of Australia set up this imbalance of powers between the Commonwealth and State governments. We will explore this further in the points discussed later in this essay.
Throughout the 20th century, successive presidents pursued foreign policy in different ways but with one objective and that is to make America the most powerful nation on earth. Despite the challenges of each administration during this century, presidents found a way to put American at the frontline as the undisputed super power. President Taft pursued an aggressive foreign policy by introducing dollar diplomacy which was meant to encourage U.S. investments in the Latin America and the Caribbean. He used government officials to promote this policy in hope that it will create markets for American products in the region. President Wilson made a promise to the American people that he will focus on domestic policy agenda and rarely will his administration
During the "Roaring Twenties" people were living up to the modern standards of society. Then the Great Depression began and the joy and excitement disappeared and tension manifested. In the time period of 1920-1941 America experienced major global events that occurred in extremely short rapid intervals of time. From the end of World War I in 1918 to the Roaring Twenties, straight to the Great Depression in 1929, into the beginning of World War II in 1939, and all the way to the horror of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, America faced these occurrences with difficulty and confusion. But with the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, quick and immediate responses were made to stabilize America. Among his responses
There is a high degree of complexity in this question. Should Australia, as a mature nation, be taking part in moral issues around the world even though they are not happening on our doorstep? Do we ignore the deaths in Bosnia, the starving millions in Biafra and Ethiopia, the worldwide environmental issues raised by Greenpeace? What is the purpose of developing alliances, both economic and military, with other countries? At stake, in all of these issues, is our desire for a better world to live in.
Over the course of the history of the United States, specific foreign policies have affected the methods in which the U.S. involves itself around the globe. Specifically, certain policies have affected U.S. involvement in Latin America.
The National Education Association has been around for many years, it’s the nation's oldest and largest teachers union. It first started in 1857 as the National Teachers Association and was later on changed to The National Education Association. According to the NEAs website, nea.org, they said the NEAs purpose is to advocate for education professionals and to unite members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world. Some issues they are involved in are, wanting to make college more affordable, they want to better the child nutrition guidelines, believes all races / ethnicities should be welcomed equally, and they are more
says that national interests should be characterized by real politik. A viewpoint that U.S. foreign
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For years now there has been a heated debate about whether or not prayer should be allowed in school,. Everytime the argument is rekindled, it ends in a stalemate, and is a topic that campaigning politicians tend to stay away from.
When looking at the history of America, it is fascinating to see how the public schooling system even got started. The first schools in America were not public schools, as many would presume. Instead, “the first schools in the United States were religious and not secular” (Elifson 1). Nearly all public schools, up to the 1960’s incorporated religion and prayer in their classrooms; however, in the last 50 years, prayer and religion in public schools has been debated over countless times. Even in Hudsonville, Michigan, which holds the record in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most churches on a single street, there is much debate over prayer and the teaching of Christianity, or any religion, in the public schools. When I was in grade school, I remember the controversy over the valedictorian at Hudsonville High School who wanted to pray with her students at graduation. However, due to recent laws that legislators have passed, the school would not allow her to pray with her classmates. Even with the laws siding more often with the separation of church and state, there are many scholars that still support prayer in schools and believe that it does not violate the constitution but betters the education experience. Others argue that it contradicts the constitution, and that many schools do not follow the constitution when teaching creationism and prayer in public schools.
Technology has infiltrated a large part of society. It is integrated in almost every activity we do and for many, is required to function. Unlike the majority of society, Ray Bradbury, a technophobe during the 1950’s, did not trust the new inventions emerging at that time. This fear of technology is depicted in his novel Fahrenheit 451 where civilians live in a dystopian society that burns books as a normality. This dystopian world is set within the lives of people who do not think twice about their actions and live care-free in their own small-minded worlds. The novel serves its purpose as an epiphany for many as the most important themes of ignorance, censorship and conformity versus individuality stand out as the most important issues in
The courts have ruled against prayer in school. Many agree with decision; yet many disagree including myself. Prayer should be allowed in public school because it is already practiced, it prevents immoral acts, and it enhances the learning environment. The issue of prayer in school has been debated in the U.S. since the North West Treaty (1787and 1789) which states: " Religion, morality, and the knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of man kind, schools and the means of learning shall forever be engorged." Thus, religion, which includes prayer, was deemed to be necessary. Many people believe that prayer is not allowed in the public schools. In fact prayer is allowed in the school system on buses, at the flagpole, in student religious groups, and in the cafeteria. However, prayer is not permitted in the classroom itself when class is in session. Prayer in class would violate the principles of church- state separation, which is defined by court interpretations of the First Amendment. This requires that public school teachers, principals, and boards to be religiously neutral. The reason for this is to prevent any arguments among students and teachers about their specific religion. Public schools had prayer for nearly two hundred years before the supreme court ruled that state- mandated class prayers were unconstitutional (Engle, 1962) The fact that prayer was practiced for nearly two-hundred years established it by precedent as a beneficial practice in our schools. Since the court outlawed prayer, the nation has been in steady moral decline. Former secretary of education William Bennett revealed in his cultured indexes that between 1960 and1990 there was a steady moral decline. During this period divorce doubled, teenage pregnancy went up 200%, teen suicide increased 300%, child abuse reached an all time high, violent crime went up 500% and abortion increased 1000% . Morals must be taught and they can not be taught properly without religion, because most of the strong moral beliefs stem from religion such as the Ten Commandments. There is a strong correlation between the expulsion of prayer from our schools and the decline in morality. The third argument is prayer enhances the learning environment at public schools. Prayer enhances the learning environment because when there is a test coming up or a paper due, you think to yourself, " How am I going to do all of this, and do well?
Weber, Smith, Allan, Collins, Morgan and Entshami.2002. Foreign Policy in a transformed world. United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.
Religion in school is a major no-no today. With all the Supreme Court rulings and laws that have been put into place it is impossible for the schools to support any type religion. Though the laws state that students have the freedom to pray and read whatever they want if it is appropriate, teachers and students cannot teach or impose their religious views on anyone else. As a student, I have had many teachers that feel like their freedoms are being restricted. When I was in 5th grade, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. One of my favorite teachers prayed for me and my family. It happened again in 7th grade when a teacher prayed for each class. To me and many others, this was a very emotional act. However, I can’t
Such business indirectly empower domestic and world economies to achieve a larger variations of services, products, investment, knowledge and human resources. Many may know that international trade was and is still significantly affected by the growing Multinational Corporations (MNCs). Simultenously, MNCs play a great impact on the trade flows and policy and thus resulting a trend where these companies increasing their reliance on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) as an option to export and sell their goods and services in other