Australia’s Defence Policy and South-East Asia

The Post Cold War World is termed to be in an in certain and an ambiguous phase. Within these uncertainties comes the certainty of military binding. It is interesting to note how Australia’s defence and security policy issues like self-reliance, alliance and regional security interplay with the present trends of regional interdependence. The Pacific Rim, after the end of the Cold War is considered to be the most volatile of the regions. Hence being a part of the geographical area Australila needs to think of its immediate security first. Though Australia’s dependence on America is very pronounced, its ultimately focus is towards its region. Since, security threats are visualized with proximity, one could say that Australia faces tremendous security challenges in the post-Cold War era than prior to it. South-east Asia though has similar security concerns have diverse cultural leanings, which could be seen in its relations with Australia in particular and the west in general. An attempt was made here to know as to how a country’s defence and security policy could implicate on the region both manifestly and latently.