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Australia Tries to Forget Africa

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Australia and Africa

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Abstract

Pijovic examines Australia’s ‘episodic’ engagement with Africa during the reign of Prime Minister John Howard’s conservative government (1996–2007), arguing that Australia during this time for the most part tried to forget about Africa. Pijovic also outlines the structural issues—termed the ‘Decline of Africa’—which underpinned engagement with Africa in the 1990s, before arguing that it was the agency of the Howard government that ultimately determined Australia’s disengagement from the continent. The most high-profile episode of Australia’s engagement with Africa during this time revolved around Prime Minister Howard’s bruising encounter with African leaders during the 2002/03 Commonwealth suspension of Zimbabwe, and particularly his falling out with South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On the Americans in Zaire, see Clough (1992, Chapter 10) and Meredith (2006, Chapter 17). On the Soviet Union in the Horn of Africa, see Patman (1990). In general on foreign intervention in Africa, see Schmidt (2013).

  2. 2.

    Interview with Gareth Evans , Canberra, 17 September 2015.

  3. 3.

    Interview with Gareth Evans , Canberra, 17 September 2015.

  4. 4.

    Interview with Gareth Evans, Canberra, 17 September 2015.

  5. 5.

    For Paul Keating ’s focus on Asian integration, see Keating (2000). Keating’s general lack of interest in African issues can also be gauged from Don Watson’s portrait of Paul Keating , Recollections of a Bleeding Heart, which in over 730 pages offers almost no reference to African issues; one reference each to Rwanda and Somalia , and one to the 1991 CHOGM in Zimbabwe ; see Watson (2002).

  6. 6.

    Interview with Gareth Evans , Canberra, 17 September 2015.

  7. 7.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  8. 8.

    Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 13 October 2014.

  9. 9.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  10. 10.

    Both quotes are from a phone interview with a senior DFAT official, 13 October 2014.

  11. 11.

    Interview with senior DFAT official, Canberra, 9 September 2014. Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  12. 12.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer, 28 October 2014.

  13. 13.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  14. 14.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer, 28 October 2014.

  15. 15.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  16. 16.

    This paragraph is based on work previously published in Pijović, Nikola. 2014. The Commonwealth : Australia’s Traditional ‘Window’ into Africa. The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs, 103:4, 383–397, parts of which are reprinted here by permission of Taylor & Francis Ltd, on behalf of The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs.

  17. 17.

    Interview with retired senior DFAT official, Canberra, 7 April 2014.

  18. 18.

    Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 13 October 2014; Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 8 April 2014.

  19. 19.

    Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 13 October 2014.

  20. 20.

    Interview with senior DFAT official, Canberra, 12 August 2014.

  21. 21.

    Although some have argued that Howard’s involvement in the CHOGM troika was ‘virtually accidental’, see Hawker (2004, 8).

  22. 22.

    Phone interview with Alexander Downer , 28 October 2014.

  23. 23.

    Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 13 October 2014. Phone interview with senior DFAT official, 15 October 2014. Phone interview with senior Paydirt Media official, 31 July 2014.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Africa Research and Engagement Centre, University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, Australia

    Dr. Nikola Pijović

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  1. Dr. Nikola Pijović
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Pijović, N. (2019). Australia Tries to Forget Africa. In: Australia and Africa. Africa's Global Engagement: Perspectives from Emerging Countries. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3423-8_3

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