Island offthe Coast of Asia: Instruments of Statecraft in Australian Foreign Policy is an unprecedented 230-yearAustralian study that reveals the central role of economic actors in definingand pursuing the 'national interest'. Australia's search for security hasmeant much more than protection from military invasion. It includes the securityof economic interests, and the pursuit of a political order that secures them.This view of security has deep roots in Australia's geopoliticaltradition. Australia began its existence on the winning side of aworldwide confrontation between imperial powers and the rest of the world. Thebook shows that the 'organising principle' of Australian foreign policy is tostay on the winning side of the global contest. Australia has pursued thisprinciple in war and peace, using the full arsenal of diplomacy, law,investment, research, negotiations, military force and espionage. This bookuses many decades of secret files to reveal the inner workings of high-levelpolicy. 

'This deeply researchedand penetrating study of Australian foreign policy from the earliest days - withscrupulous use of secret files and close analysis of historical events - demonstratesconvincingly that its essential continuity is rooted in the power and interestsof the private sector, where fundamental economic decisions are made.  Thosedemands determine the 'national interest' and the goal of securing a politicalorder that responds to them. A very valuable and instructive exercise inauthentic realism, with lessons that generalize broadly.' - Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and theUniversity of Arizona