{"id":272,"date":"2012-07-20T12:00:17","date_gmt":"2012-07-20T02:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=272"},"modified":"2012-08-06T14:42:59","modified_gmt":"2012-08-06T04:42:59","slug":"reader-response-white-papers-and-self-sufficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/reader-response-white-papers-and-self-sufficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"Reader response: white papers and self-sufficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"
There\u2019s one consistent thread to Australian Defence White Papers that didn\u2019t really come out in Peter Jennings\u2019 article<\/a>\u2014the notion of self-reliance. Of course, we didn\u2019t come to that notion by accident\u2014it was pretty much forced onto us through the British policy of no commitments east of the Suez and the 1969 United States \u2018Guam Doctrine\u2019, leaving us little option but to be prepared to act alone.\u00a0 But it\u2019s been a consistent message in Australian strategic policy since 1972:<\/p>\n 1972 \u2013\u00a0self-reliance in situations of less than global or major international concern<\/em>,<\/p>\n 1976 \u2013 face a range of other situations that we should expect to handle more independently<\/em>,<\/p>\n 1987 \u2013 defend ourselves with our own resources<\/em>,<\/p>\n 1994 \u2013 defend our country without depending on help from other countries combat forces<\/em>,<\/p>\n 2000 \u2013 defend Australia without relying on the combat forces of other countries, and<\/em><\/p>\n 2009 \u2013 manage strategic risk.<\/em><\/p>\n One of the things that comes with a well-developed sense of self-reliance is the notion of being a \u2018middle power\u2019. In the context of the US alliance, then PM Rudd was at pains to\u00a0tell the Brookings Institute in 2008<\/a>\u00a0that we have the world\u2019s 15th<\/sup>\u00a0largest economy with the 11th\u00a0<\/sup>largest military budget. But there\u2019s more to it than those bare numbers and the notion of middle power is elusive; the common theme associated with traditional major powers has been their nuclear status and\/or power projection capability. By relying on the United States deterrence umbrella rather than pursuing any nuclear ambitions and lacking a strong expeditionary capability, the notion of Australia as a middle power seems somewhat presumptuous\u2014which begs the question as to what the White Paper discussions of self-reliance actually mean.<\/p>\n Lieutenant Colonel Scott Tatnell is a serving member of the Australian Defence Force.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There\u2019s one consistent thread to Australian Defence White Papers that didn\u2019t really come out in Peter Jennings\u2019 article\u2014the notion of self-reliance. Of course, we didn\u2019t come to that notion by accident\u2014it was pretty much forced …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[17,1425,21],"class_list":["post-272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-defence-white-paper-2013","tag-australia","tag-defence-white-paper-2013","tag-strategy-2"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n