The Political Objectives of Foreign Policy Reviews Comparative Study of Australia and Canada

While Canada has reviewed foreign policy for the last three decades, the first Australian white paper on foreign policy was not published until 1997. "In the National Interest" sought to articulate a strong national-interest conception of foreign policy. In October 2002, Australia published "Advancing the National Interest", which sought to articulate Australia's response to the war on terror. The purpose of this paper is to examine these two white papers as a tool of foreign policy by Australia as it sought to relocate itself in global politics. We will compare the different uses of white papers in Australia and Canada, arguing that in Canada they have been driven by domestic dynamics, notably the efforts by new prime ministers to articulate their foreign policy perspectives. In Australia, the purposes of the two foreign policy statements have been more global than domestic.