School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemFrom Friction to Free Trade Negotiations: Australia's Engagement with the European Union(Wiley, 2019-12)Following decades of skirmishes, Australia's relationship with the European Union (EU) has finally come of age. With the commencement of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement, the outlook is promising for enhanced cooperation. Yet there are distinctive— and at times diverging— hierarchies of interests. This article argues that, although the EU and Australia regard each other as like‐minded partners, their interests and domestic pressures do not necessarily denote comprehensive convergence. This is due to the burden of memory, divergent concerns and values, some mutual neglect and an element of mutual misunderstanding.
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ItemRethinking Britain's Role in a Differentiated Europe after Brexit: A Comparative Regionalism Perspective(Wiley, 2019-11-01)Once outside the EU, the UK will have to develop a new relationship with its former partners in the EU and other pan-European bodies such as NATO, and this will require the UK to re-evaluate its sense of its global and regional importance. We argue in particular that the comparative literature on awkward states in regional integration and regionalism, as well as that on middle powers in international relations, can help us understand the ways in which the UK's likely future relations with its continental neighbours can be approached and understood. In this article we focus on future UK–EU relations, drawing on Alex Warleigh-Lack's typology of regionalization processes to develop maximalist and minimalist understandings of how the UK–EU relationship of the future could be structured. We then draw on the literature on middle powers, as well as that devoted to three other awkward states in their respective regions, namely Australia, Japan and Norway, to illustrate how these relationships have worked in practice, and thus how the UK could seek to structure its future regional role.
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Item‘Australia-style?’: a model for relations with Europe?( 2020-10-19)During the referendum campaign in 2016, Australia was a reference point for many British Conservative politicians. Since then, the UK government has increasingly looked to Australia for inspiration – it has been regarded as a possible model for the UK’s new points-based immigration scheme, and more recently, it was revealed that the UK government was considering the offshore processing and detention of asylum seekers, a policy that Australia introduced in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. A further indication of this trend is the Johnson government’s appointment of former Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, as an advisor to the UK Board of Trade, a move that was met with strong criticism from within the UK and Australia. Australia also features in discussions of the UK’s future engagement with the EU. Boris Johnson has referred to an Australian style trade deal with the EU. However, such references are misleading as there is currently no Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in force between Australia and the EU. One is being negotiated at present, but the current EU-Australia relationship is based on a network of agreements that may serve as inspiration for the UK’s future relationship with the EU.
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ItemCOVID-19 and the relentless harms of Australia's punitive immigration detention regime(SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD, 2020-08-01)
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ItemEU-Australia Relations(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)This chapter examines the development of the EU–Australia relationship from a focus on one country (the UK) and policy (agriculture) to a broadening of engagement. Engagement has long been characterised by conflict and mutual misunderstandings, underpinned by a sense of distance. For some decades, neither interlocutor featured significantly on the other’s radar screen. Increasingly, however, there has been a rapprochement based on common concerns and a shared interest in cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. The chapter examines how and why the relationship has moved from a bilateral state-to-state engagement in the early debates to an increasingly regionalised and multilateralised common agenda. It commences with an overview of the single-country emphasis of Australia in its dealings with the EU and the single-policy focus on the Common Agricultural Policy. It then examines the development of agreements and dialogues as the EU broadened its policy scope and reach and as Australia increasingly perceived advantages in engaging in a multidimensional relationship with the EU, its institutions and member states.
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ItemEurope-Asia Studies: The Contribution of Comparative Regional Integration(Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)This chapter examines the contribution of comparative regional integration studies, with particular reference to EU–Asia relations. The chapter has three core purposes. First – and briefly – it asks why scholars should study regions, regionalism and regional integration comparatively and also sets out how we understand the key terms here, that is regions and regional integration. Second, it asks how, once the matters of why and what to compare have been addressed successfully, scholars can actually go about comparative study of regions in the global polity. Finally, it sets out how comparative regional integration studies can contribute and provide fruitful research pathways capable of contributing much to Europe–Asia studies.
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ItemAustralia and the European Union: Trends and Current Synergies(Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne, 2019)Australia’s relationship with the European Union (EU) has reached a milestone. With the multi-faceted Framework Agreement (FA) signed in 2017, the bilateral relationship has moved to a treaty level engagement and offers opportunities to strengthen EU-Australia actions and interests on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. Significant challenges place the relationship at a critical juncture. Faced with the changing strategic priorities and interest of the United States’ (US) international role; the continued rise of China; and increasing regional and global instability, Australia and the EU have the opportunity to enhance their cooperation to tackle these and other challenges. In addition, Brexit presents a degree of uncertainty as to the nature of the United Kingdom’s (UK) future relationship with the EU and with the rest of the world.
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ItemAustralia and the European Union: Towards Deeper Engagement(Faculty of Arts, The University of Melbourne, 2019)The relationship of the European Union (EU) with Australia is characterised by recent achievements, with a significant Framework Agreement and negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA). At the same time, there remain some challenges in engagement, given they have some differences of interests and concerns.
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ItemEurope's wicked legitimacy crisis: the case of refugees(Routledge - Taylor & Francis, 2018-01-01)The European Union’s response to the current and persistent – if not wicked – refugee crisis has exposed a new legitimacy challenge. Characterised by interstate bickering and undignified competition for the most draconian measures, the crisis brings to the fore many inherent tensions of the EU which cannot be easily reconciled. The crisis has revealed the many shortcomings of EU governance. Deficits of leadership and solidarity and the rise of xenophobic politics across many member states exploit growing populism with pronounced effect. This multi-dimensional problem, so resistant to a distinct solution, underscores the EU’s instability in a number of ways: its foundational values have lost resonance; its institutional inadequacies have become more apparent; its leadership and agenda-setting power have been noticeably weakened. Ultimately, the EU is no longer perceived as a problem-solver, a fact that inherently tests the legitimacy of a system that was created to solve problems.
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ItemAustralia’s relationship with the European Union: from conflict to cooperation(Routledge, 2018-05-04)After decades of tension, Australia and the European Union (EU) now have a substantive relationship, interacting and cooperating with each other within a wide range of areas. The relationship is currently at a critical turning point. The Framework Agreement has, for the first time, elevated the relationship to a treaty level. It strengthens Australia–EU actions and interests on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues. There is considerable potential for closer cooperation and more extensive pooling of the resources and capacities of both interlocutors on a range of policies and within the multilateral context. This article provides an assessment of the relationship, the current state of play and key challenges facing the relationship as the EU and Australia forge stronger ties through the conclusion of a Framework Agreement and the commencement of discussions on a Free Trade Agreement at the same time as the UK’s exit negotiations from the EU. It demonstrates that, although there are challenges facing the relationship, there are also significant opportunities to further develop and strengthen ties.