{"id":25247,"date":"2016-03-10T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2016-03-09T19:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=25247"},"modified":"2016-03-09T13:55:19","modified_gmt":"2016-03-09T02:55:19","slug":"seven-defence-white-papers-by-the-numbers-2-geographic-constructs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/seven-defence-white-papers-by-the-numbers-2-geographic-constructs\/","title":{"rendered":"Seven Defence White Papers by the numbers (2): Geographic constructs"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"3081422070_21777a33d4_z\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to look past Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u2014this is Oz and the Seven White Papers. (No word to hand on the Handsome Prince capability trial or cost blowout in the digital poisoned apple.)<\/span><\/p>\n

The previous tale\u2014make that<\/span> column<\/span><\/a>\u2014surveyed Australia\u2019s seven Defence White Papers to rank countries by the number of times they received a mentioned.<\/span><\/p>\n

The number of mentions is a crude measure useful for calculation, comparison and hierarchy. The aim is find meanings and mental maps amid the numbers\u2014to seek strategic topography from the typography.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using the same approach, look at the geographic constructs in the Seven Defence White Papers:<\/span> 1976<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> 1987<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> 1994<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> 2000<\/span><\/a> in the 20th Century, and this century:<\/span> 2009<\/span><\/a>,<\/span> 2013<\/span><\/a> and<\/span> 2016<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the first two White Papers, Defence ignored the word \u2018Asia\u2019 as a single construct, preferring Southeast Asia and North East Asia (or North Asia, as it has become of late).<\/span><\/p>\n

In the \u201987 Paper there was one reference to the Asian mainland. The Defence hardheads didn\u2019t think there was an Asia system worth considering (a criticism today levelled at Defence\u2019s concept du jour, the Indo\u2013Pacific).<\/span><\/p>\n

As the immediate neighbourhood, Southeast Asia always gets more mentions than North Asia.<\/span><\/p>\n

The big actors in North Asia are so distinctive they often demand individual treatment.<\/span><\/p>\n

The centripetal effects of ASEAN consolidate the idea of Southeast Asia, while North Asia tends to the centrifugal.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 1994, Defence got a big dose of the Paul Keatings\u2014Asia was everywhere in the document.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defence got the Asia\u2013Pacific memo, but never wanting to be slavish about following fashions on the other side of the lake (Burley Griffin) rendered it 27 times as \u2018Asia and the Pacific\u2019 and three times as Asia\u2013Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n

By 2000, Asia Pacific didn\u2019t even need a hyphen and it got more mentions than Southeast and North East Asia combined.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Kevin Rudd\u2019s White Paper, \u2018Asia Pacific\u2019 was in the document title (\u2018Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030\u2019) but not in the text.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Asia Pacific\u2019 was at the foot of every page in 2009 as part of the title, but the usage appeared only three times in the text (twice for Rudd\u2019s vain<\/span> bid<\/span><\/a> for an<\/span> Asia<\/span><\/a> Pacific<\/span><\/a> Community<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>\n

The 2013 paper also had three Asia Pacific mentions; by 2016 it got a donut.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 2013 White Paper, Defence managed to give ten mentions to Julia Gillard\u2019s \u2018Australia in the Asian Century\u2019 White Paper; that was necessary obeisance, not obedience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rather than \u2018Asian Century\u2019, Defence preferred a new construct that was explicit about the continuing US presence in the system. The new star in 2013 was the Indo\u2013Pacific.<\/span><\/p>\n

The \u201876 White Paper used the term Indo\u2013Pacific once, but then it fled the scene for three decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

After zero appearances in four White Papers, the Indo\u2013Pacific was everywhere in 2013 and has just done a repeat.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defence<\/span> embraces<\/span><\/a> the Indo\u2013Pacific as the defining geographic expression of strategy and seeks a new<\/span> India<\/span><\/a> dimension<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

South East Asia<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
11<\/span><\/td>\n20<\/span><\/td>\n25<\/span><\/td>\n31<\/span><\/td>\n29<\/span><\/td>\n39<\/span><\/td>\n53<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

North East Asia\/North Asia<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n4<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n7<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n17<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Asia Pacific<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n30<\/span><\/td>\n44<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

South China Sea<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
0<\/span><\/td>\n3<\/span><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/td>\n1<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n6<\/span><\/td>\n9<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

South Pacific\/South-West Pacific<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/span><\/td>\n30<\/span><\/td>\n13<\/span><\/td>\n10<\/span><\/td>\n18<\/span><\/td>\n33<\/span><\/td>\n21<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Indo\u2013Pacific<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
1976<\/b><\/td>\n1987<\/b><\/td>\n1994<\/b><\/td>\n2000<\/b><\/td>\n2009<\/b><\/td>\n2013<\/b><\/td>\n2016<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n0<\/span><\/td>\n58<\/span><\/td>\n68<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The next column will explore themes and memes in the seven Defence White Papers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time to look past Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u2014this is Oz and the Seven White Papers. (No word to hand on the Handsome Prince capability trial or cost blowout in the digital poisoned …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":25252,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[189,143,1636,56,471],"class_list":["post-25247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-asean","tag-asia-pacific","tag-defence-white-paper-2016","tag-indo-pacific","tag-south-china-sea"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSeven Defence White Papers by the numbers (2): Geographic constructs | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/seven-defence-white-papers-by-the-numbers-2-geographic-constructs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seven Defence White Papers by the numbers (2): Geographic constructs | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s time to look past Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs\u2014this is Oz and the Seven White Papers. 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