Middle powers in the modern state system : a case study of Australia's role as a regional actor

Foreign policy represents the effort of a state to defend its interests in international relations, and power encapsulates the various factors that measure the limits of a state's capacity in the promotion of its national interests. This thesis examines the various factors, under the rubric of power, which has guided the foreign policy of a middle power, Australia. It argues that middle powers occupy a special niche within the context of regional subsets of the general state system. It demonstrates that a middle power, like Australia, is attracted to the use of multilateral institutional arrangements, as a vehicle for influence in foreign policy, to defend general interests within its geographic region. Four geographic regions, the South West Pacific, the Antarctic region, the South East Asian region and the Indian Ocean region, are surveyed. This thesis finds that multilateral institutional arrangements have become the primary agency of Australia's regional influence as a middle power but concludes that the utility of regional arrangements varies with the geographic context in which a middle power is situated.