{"id":10055,"date":"2013-10-15T14:15:33","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T03:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=10055"},"modified":"2013-10-16T09:52:17","modified_gmt":"2013-10-15T22:52:17","slug":"is-australia-a-pivotal-power","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/is-australia-a-pivotal-power\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Australia a pivotal power?"},"content":{"rendered":"

My former ASPI colleague Carl Ungerer has pointed out that Doc Evatt first used the term \u2018middle power\u2019<\/a> at the San Francisco conference that established the United Nations in April 1945. In a recent op-ed I questioned<\/a> the accuracy and utility of this label for Australia. My thoughts were prompted by a new international grouping launched last month known as MIKTA on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly by a meeting of foreign ministers of \u2018middle-power\u2019 countries. But you\u2019ll have to go the foreign ministry websites of South Korea and Turkey to find out about it, because there\u2019s nothing on the DFAT\u00a0or the Australian Foreign Minister\u2019s websites.<\/p>\n

‘MIKTA’ is an acronym for an informal collaboration platform between Mexico, Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Turkey and Australia. According to<\/a> South Korea\u2019s foreign ministry:<\/p>\n

[a]t the meeting, the five foreign ministers shared the view that in the current situation where challenges facing the international community are becoming more diverse and complex, middle-power countries, which have the willingness and capabilities to contribute to the development of the international community, need to create a cooperation mechanism to address the challenges. They agreed to hold the meeting of middle-power countries\u2019 foreign ministers on a regular basis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In terms of function, it was decided that MIKTA wouldn\u2019t be a new exclusive bloc, but would function as an \u2018unofficial consultation to freely exchange opinions on major global issues\u2019. Mexico serve as a coordinator of MIKTA for a year from 2013.<\/p>\n

According to South Korea, MIKTA is expected to:<\/p>\n

\u2026 serve as a useful forum to discuss a variety of global and regional issues and to explore ways to help resolve them, while maintaining transparency and flexibility\u2026 The launch of a new mechanism among middle-power countries, which have a certain level of political and economic status and capabilities, as well as the willingness to contribute to creating a new world order, is expected to help resolve issues facing the international community and maintain world peace.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Turkey pointed out<\/a> that MIKTA countries are members of the G-20, with open economies and enjoying democratic pluralistic systems. Council of Foreign Relations\u2019 Korean analyst Scott Snyder suggests that MIKTA might be able to play a helpful role within the G-20<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Yet I\u2019d argue that putting the \u2018middle power\u2019 label to the forefront of the MIKTA grouping isn\u2019t helpful to Australia. Instead, I\u2019d agree with former foreign minister Alexander Downer, who described<\/a> Australia as a \u2018considerable\u2019 power and a \u2018significant\u2019 country.<\/p>\n

In the South Pacific (a quarter of the earth\u2019s surface) we\u2019re a superpower, and we\u2019re a major player in the Indian Ocean (Australia has the largest area of maritime jurisdiction in the Indian Ocean region<\/a>) and in\u00a0 Southeast Asia. In fact, we\u2019re a top tier player in the southern hemisphere<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When Australia\u2019s claim to the Antarctic landmass is included, Australia becomes the country with the largest jurisdictional claim<\/a> to an area of the earth\u2019s surface\u2014around 27.2\u00a0million\u00a0km2<\/sup>, of which about half is over ocean or sea.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re 12th\u00a0largest economy (in GDP terms, thus the 12th largest contributor to the United Nations), the 5th\u00a0wealthiest nation (GDP per capita, current US dollars) and 51(out of 214) in population. We\u2019ve got the 12th\u00a0largest defence budget and 10th\u00a0largest defence expenditure as percentage of GDP from OECD countries.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re the eighth largest aid donor country<\/a>. In a world where economics and strategic issues rule, values and soft power still have a crucial role to play in international relations, especially for a country like Australia. The significance of what influence our aid program buys us in in particular places and at particular times, (and the way it\u2019s perceived by Australia\u2019s OECD colleagues), is very much under-rated.<\/p>\n

So I\u2019d suggest that we\u2019re at the very least an \u2018upper middle\u2019 country, and certainly not \u2018lower upper middle\u2019\u00a0 (to adapt a nice line on Britain\u2019s class system<\/a>). But a better label for Australia might be pivotal<\/i>.<\/p>\n

As characterised by global analysis company Oxford Analytica, pivotal powers are those countries that by virtue of their strategic location, size of population, economic potential, policy preferences and political weighting, are destined to shape the contours of geopolitics in key regions of the world as well as constitute important nodes of global economic growth<\/a>. We shouldn’t limit our ambition by resting comfortably under the ‘middle power’ label.<\/p>\n

Anthony Bergin is deputy director at ASPI.
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My former ASPI colleague Carl Ungerer has pointed out that Doc Evatt first used the term \u2018middle power\u2019 at the San Francisco conference that established the United Nations in April 1945. 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