Author Description

"Rarely has security been such a preoccupation of Australian politics, and rarely has it seemed so far from being achieved. This celebrated book argues that security has dominated and distorted Australia's foreign policy and national life, from Cooks first voyage to the Tampa crisis, 9/11 and Iraq. Whether in the Great War, Vietnam or the treatment of asylum seekers, Anthony Burke shows that Australia's security has been bought with the insecurity and suffering of others. Against this corrosive tradition, he offers a new cosmopolitan and non-coercive model of national existence and responsibility."--Publisher.