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Obama visit looks to Asia-Pacific future |
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 This week's flying visit to Australia by US President Barack Obama is a manifestation of the White House's move to pivot US attention away from wars in the Middle East toward the growth and dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region, says US Studies Centre chief executive officer, Professor Geoffrey Garrett.
"This trip is more forward-looking than we might have anticipated even a few weeks ago," said Garrett at a packed briefing for domestic and international media held at the Centre on Monday ahead of Obama's visit to Canberra and Darwin this week.
At the briefing which is now available online, Garrett suggested that the possibility of four of China's major trading partners - Australia, the US, Korea and Japan - being part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership may push China towards membership.
He also stated that the visit will be focused on the political-military and economic aspects of the US-Australia relationship and will mark 60 years of the two countries' military alliance. |
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Diplomatic history under microscope |
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 In the lead-up to the Obama visit and the celebration of 60 years of the ANZUS Alliance, the history of Australia/US diplomacy was high on the agenda for Centre research associates Dr James Curran and Tom Switzer at the inaugural Australia in the World Conference last week.
Curran, lecturer in the history of the Australia-US alliance, and Switzer travelled to Canberra to take part in the event held by the Historians of Australian Foreign Relations network. The two-day program was marked as a celebration of the work of Neville Meaney, associate professor of US and Australian diplomatic history at the University of Sydney.
At a separate event Centre head, Geoffrey Garrett and Tom Switzer discussed the current US presidential race as part of a panel at Sydney’s Woollahra Festival of Ideas together with former ALP President and Senator Stephen Loosley. |
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Cold War foreign policy and the Third World |
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 The Cold War foreign policy agendas of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson toward Third World countries are the subject of a new book being researched by 2011-12 Centre postdoctoral fellow Dr Rob Rakove.
"It’s a broad exploration of how these two presidents dealt with the intertwined phenomena of decolonization and nonalignment in the Cold War, and a diagnosis of what caused these policies to fail," says Rakove, who holds positions as visiting assistant professor of history at Colgate University and as visiting lecturer at Old Dominion University in the United States.
In a video interview now up on the Centre website, Rakove says the events of the 1960s remain highly relevant for US foreign policymakers. "There are chastening lessons as well as reasons to pat ourselves on the back." |
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| COMING UP |
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16-17 November |
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| Visit to Australia by US President Barack Obama |
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Coming Soon |
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| Latest issue of American Review – Here to Stay: America in Asia |
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31 January - 1 February |
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Pacific 2012 International Maritime Conference:
Sustainable fuels forum to be chaired by Dr Susan Pond.
Sydney Convention Centre, Darling Harbour
Read more |
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| COMMENTARY |
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Speaking with Eleanor Hall on ABC Radio's The World Today, Geoffrey Garrett underscored the significance of the Asia-Pacific region to Barack Obama's presidency by noting that the President is taking a considerable risk in leaving his shores at a time when domestic developments such as budget negotiations are taking place. Speaking with Radio Australia's Sen Lam, Garrett said the Gillard-Obama meeting this week is likely to look forward to the prospects of the "Asia-Pacific century".
Centre research associate Tom Switzer spoke with Leigh Sales and Michael Fullilove on ABC TV's 7:30, where he discussed the rise of China potentially ending the "unipolar moment" of post-Cold War America on the world stage.
In an extract from the forthcoming edition of American Review, Professor Alan Dupont wrote in The Australian that in the face of China's rising might, most southeast Asian nations have enthusiastically welcomed a stronger US presence in the region.
And in commentary over the proposed US Marine training facility in Darwin, Brendon O'Connor told ABC Local Radio Sydney that it does not have the significance of previous US-Australia initiatives such as Pine Gap during the Cold War. Speaking with Agence France Presse, Geoffrey Garrett said the Darwin announcement reflected the strengthening of America's alliances and friendships in the region as an "insurance policy" alongside what has been a "very peaceful" rise of China.
And finally, in an interview with Geraldine Doogue for ABC Radio National's Saturday Extra, Professor James Fallows discussed the problem of income inequality in America and its likely impact on the 2012 US presidential elections. |
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