Australian Outlook

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Australian Soft Power (And Soft Thinking) in the Indo-Pacific

07 Oct 2019
By Professor Benjamin Reilly
Kangaroo, koala soft toys AUD10 for 3 - Australia Map Souvenirs, Melbourne - Flickr: Alpha

Australia is a country with considerable, if under-utilised, reserves of soft power – the ability to achieve influence internationally via attraction rather than compulsion.

In this presentation Professor Ben Reilly will discuss some claims regarding Australian soft power, including our democratic political system, multicultural society, and open economy, all based on broad-based norms of social equality and the rule of law. It will then discuss how these ideas have found their way into recent Australian foreign policy doctrine via recent White Papers, in which norms and values have been elevated to frame the Indo-Pacific region.

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