| Summary/Abstract |
Australia's relations with its neighbours in the South Pacific challenge theories of international relations and foreign policy analysis. Most existing analysis eschews an explicitly theoretical approach in favour of empirical description and ‘common sense’ explanations. Yet repeated patterns of interaction suggest that there is scope for developing a more theoretical understanding of the relationships between Australia and the Pacific islands. Moreover, lying at the margins in several dimensions of interstate relations, these relationships test theories and thus provide a basis to delimit or refine them. This article explores three important ways in which theories of international relations and foreign policy analysis and the study of Australia–Pacific island relations can benefit each other. First, Pacific island resistance to the projection of Australian power tests theories about the tactics available to ‘micro-powers’. Australia's frequent reorientation of and regular distraction from its approach to the Pacific islands provide evidence about ‘under-institutionalised’ policy making. Finally, the interaction of Australia's global ‘middle power’ status with its regional dominance challenges ideas of ‘middle power leadership’ and ‘strategic personalities’. These three insights lead to novel hypotheses about the conduct of foreign policy by non-great powers under conditions of extreme asymmetry.
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