Australia's Foreign Economic Policy: a 'State-Society Coalition' Approach and a Historical Overview

Okamoto Jiro

No 55, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: This paper aims to explain the historical development of Australia's foreign economic policy by using an analytical framework called a 'state-society coalition' approach.This approach focuses on virtual coalitions of state and society actors that share 'belief systems' and hold similar policy ideas, goals and preferences, as basic units (policy subsystems) of policy making. Major policy changes occur when a dominant coalition is replaced by another.The paper argues that, in Australia, there have been three major state-society coalitions in the foreign economic policy issue area: 'protectionists', 'trade liberalisers' and 'optional bilateralists'. The rise and fall of these coalitions resulted in distinctive shifts of Australia's foreign economic policy in the 1980s towards unilateral and multilateral liberalisation and in the late 1990s towards bilateral trade and investment arrangements.

Keywords: Australia; Foreign economic policy; State-society coalitions; Belief systems; Changes in dominant coalitions; Economic policy; Trade policy; International trade; International economic relations; オーストラリア; 経済政策; 貿易政策; 国際経済 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F00 F13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006-03-01
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Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 55. 2006-03-01

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