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From Howard to Abbott: Explaining Change in Australia's Foreign Policy Engagement with Africa

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From Howard to Abbott: Explaining change in Australia’s foreign policy engagement with Africa Nikola Pijovic MA (Global Studies), University of Wroclaw/Roskilde University BA (Hons) Classics, University of Adelaide A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University. 21 February 2017 © Copyright by Nikola Pijovic 2017 Statement of originality This thesis represents my original work unless otherwise acknowledged. Research from this thesis has also been published in the following journal articles: Nikola Pijovic, “The Commonwealth: Australia’s Traditional ‘Window’ into Africa”, The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs 103:4, August 2014, 383-398. David Mickler and Nikola Pijovic, “Engaging an Elephant in the Room? Locating Africa in Australian Foreign Policy”, Australian Journal of Politics & History 61:1, March 2015, 100-120. Nikola Pijovic, “The Liberal National Coalition, Australian Labor Party and Africa: two decades of partisanship in Australia’s foreign policy”, Australian Journal of International Affairs 70:5, October 2016, 541-562. Nikola Pijovic, 21 February 2017 Acknowledgements In the process of researching and writing this thesis I have become indebted to a whole lot of people, either for their insights and guidance, remarks and criticism, patience, or simple company. I would like to acknowledge and thank my supervisors. I thank Professors John Ravenhill, Roger Bradbury, Michael L’Estrange, and Dr Tanya Lyons for their guidance, support and insights which made my PhD experience thoroughly rewarding. John’s support and guidance in the early months of my PhD were key in introducing me to literature that would influence my thoughts throughout the research; Roger’s kind words and mentoring were much appreciated particularly with administrative matters; Michael’s insights into Australian foreign policy were unique, sophisticated, and provoked much thinking which I hope has benefitted this study; and Tanya’s wealth of knowledge on Australia’s engagement with Africa coupled with her personal dedication to maintaining African studies alive in Australia have not only benefitted my research but inspired me to try and follow in her footsteps. A particular thank you is due to my principal supervisor and the person who consistently exhibited what I have always perceived as an unusual open-mindedness and interest in a study of a rather ‘obscure’ area of Australian foreign policy, Professor Michael Wesley. It would be fair to say that I have learned a lot from Michael about foreign policy in general, but I learned much more about what it means to be a scholar and a thinker. Throughout this PhD, Michael has offered me great support, guidance, and patience, and for that I express my greatest gratitude. If I ever amount to anything as an academic, it will be largely due to the guidance he has given me. Given that Australia’s engagement with Africa is still such an understudied field I recognize the great courage and dedication of those who have tackled this topic before me. Although I have never met them, I would like to acknowledge the debt I owe to Robert Jansen and Yaw Osei-Amo for conducting their PhD studies on this topic before me. At the Australian National University a special acknowledgement and thank you is due to colleagues at the National Security College. I particularly need to thank Dr Adam Henschke and Dr Timothy Legrand who in many ways initiated me into the life of a young academic, and provided very helpful and insightful comments on my thinking. However, their impact was much broader than that, both personally and professionally. I would also like to thank Professor Rory Medcalf for his overall support and maintaining an inclusive and stimulating intellectual atmosphere at the College, all of which made the PhD a highly enjoyable endeavour. At the Crawford School, a very special thank you is reserved for Dr Bjorn Dressel. He has suffered through many of my drafts and discussions of this thesis and other topics, and his support and insights have greatly improved my thinking. I have often found myself reflecting on the nature of the PhD experience. In this three or four year project many things can go wrong and having someone to talk to about them was highly therapeutic. In this context I acknowledge my PhD colleagues. Their academic and personal companionship was on many occasions a respite from a very solitary endeavour. A significant thank you is necessary for those whose participation in this research made the project possible in the first place. I would like to thank all of the participants in this research, and in particular Australia’s previous foreign ministers Gareth Evans, Alexander Downer, and Stephen Smith. Out of the scores of interviews they had done during and after their political careers, I believe few people had ever asked them about Australia’s foreign policy towards Africa, and all three of them were very generous with their time and knowledge. I would also like to extend a special thank you to Mr Matthew Neuhaus, one of the few Africanists left in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and one whose services would be much desired even in the foreign affairs departments of countries who take engagement with Africa much more seriously than Australia. Finally, I thank my parents Panda and the late Radovan, and my brother Marko for the kind of upbringing that allows one to feel emboldened to engage with the often precarious nature of the PhD experience. My last and most important gratitude is expressed to my wife Soma Tata for being the most persistent and understanding critic, supporter, discussant, and promoter of my ideas and work. With her usual grace and understanding she has endured both my absentmindedness from family life and obsession with this PhD. I cannot thank her enough for her support, confidence, and understanding. Hvala ti ljubavi. *** I dedicate this thesis to the under-appreciated gems of Australia’s foreign policy-making bureaucracy; to the women and men of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and what once used to be AusAID, who have through the past two decades and beyond helped Australia maintain expertise and interest in African issues. Their hard work and dedication inspired me throughout the research. Nikola Pijovic February 2017 Abstract This thesis examines Australia’s foreign policy engagement with African states and issues between 1996 and 2015. However, it effectively tells the story of Australia’s foreign policy engagement with Africa in the quarter century since the end of the Cold War. Examining the rule of three ideologically different Australian governments, the thesis argues that Australia’s foreign policy engagement with Africa between the mid- 1990s and mid-2010s experienced notable changes. The purpose of this thesis is to explain why these changes came about and what drove them. It argues that in order to understand changes in Australia’s foreign policy towards Africa, it is necessary to appreciate both structural and agential factors which have jointly impacted this foreign policy engagement. On the structural side the thesis recognizes issues such as the end of the Cold War and particularly apartheid in South Africa, as well as Africa’s post-millennial economic growth and the global commodities boom as highly salient factors underpinning a changing foreign policy engagement with Africa. On the agential side, the thesis recognizes the primacy of the interconnectedness of political party foreign policy outlooks and Australia’s key decision-makers (prime and foreign ministers) in affecting that changing foreign policy engagement. In utilizing the case study of foreign policy towards Africa, the thesis highlights a significant degree of partisanship in Australian foreign policy. This has broader implications for the understanding of Australian foreign policy in general. The thesis makes a distinction between what are perceived as core or fundamental, versus marginal or peripheral areas of Australia’s overall foreign policy agenda. It argues that while on core or fundamental issues and relationships, Australian foreign policy may exhibit a great degree of bipartisanship, on what are perceived as marginal or peripheral issues and relationships, the country’s’ foreign policy can be quite partisan. This thesis offers a four-fold contribution: firstly, to the understanding of Australia’s foreign policy engagement with African states and issues; secondly, to the understanding of Australia’s foreign policy more broadly; thirdly, to the field of Foreign Policy Analysis and its emphasis on the importance of agents in foreign policy-making; and fourthly, to Political Science, recognizing the importance of both structure and agency in driving political change. 1 Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................... 1 Acronyms ...................................................................................... 5 Maps .............................................................................................. 7 CHAPTER I: Introduction ....................................................... 14 I.I Setting the scene: the value of studying Australia’s foreign policy towards Africa ..................................................................................................................................... 14 I.II State of the literature ............................................................................................
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