| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
A powerful orthodoxy exists in the academic literature devoted to the history of Australia's post-1945 international relations. It maintains that suspicion and condescension permeated the attitude of the Menzies government (1949-66) towards Asia. Accordingly, Menzies' regional policies not only prevented Australia from engaging meaningfully with its Asian neighbours, but they also ended up antagonising them. This article critiques this view and instead contends that the assumptions that inform the contemporary construction of Menzies' regional policy are overdetermined by an anachronistic disregard for the diplomatic dynamics, political challenges and economic realities of cold war Asia.
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