オーストラリアの提携外交に関する一考察 : APECイニシアティブにおけるミドルパワー外交
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概要
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The concept of `middle powers' has received little attention in international relations theory, since traditional international relations have mainly focused on the great powers. Therefore, there is no single definition of the term `middle powers' and hence, the concept of middle powers' have been approached from various perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the term `middle powers', and to clarify the role of middle power diplomacy in the process of multilateral cooperation by analyzing Australian coalitional diplomacy in the APEC initiative. In January 1989, Robert Hawke announced in Korea that the time had come for closer regional economic cooperation. Following the statement, Australia started active diplomatic efforts to convene ministerial-level meetings to deal with trade and monetary problems in the Asia Pacific region. This Australian trade initiative has become known as the APEC initiative. In this initiative, Australia used the diplomatic skill of coalition building and fostered multilateral cooperation among diverse countries with different backgrounds. Coalitions are defined as cooperative efforts to attain short-range, issue-specific objectives. Australia tried to make multilateral cooperation realistic by focusing only on economic issues in the region. In the APEC initiative, Australia took advantage of its status as a middle power. Since middle powers are not likely to be suspected by other countries of intentions of domination, it was easier for Australia to act as a catalyst through careful negotiations with Asian countries, and to take a leadership role in collecting support from those countries. It seems that the characteristics of middle powers can be effectively used as potential assets of diplomacy. In this paper, a definition of the term `middle powers' is offered in chapter 2. Then chapter 3 deals with the APEC initiative. Firstly, it briefly summarizes the process of the APEC initiative, then the preconditions for the effective coalition building in the initiative are analyzed, and finally the type of leadership which Australia took in coalitional diplomacy is discussed.
- オーストラリア学会の論文
- 1997-12-25