The Causes Of Australia 's Strengthening Of The US - Australia Consortium After The Cold War

After the World WarⅡ, Australia aligned itself with the United States for fear of the revival of Japanese militarism and the so-called threat from communism. During the Cold War, U.S.-Australia alliance developed with steady progress as Australia kept pace with the U.S. on major international issues. After the end of Cold War with obviously improved security environment surrounding Australia, U.S.-Australia alliance to respond to common challenges, not being loose or collapsed, was consolidated and strengthened continuously under the new situation; the strategic cooperation between the two sides didn’t be weakened but tended to keep strengthening compared with that in the Cold War period. What leads to this? What drives Australia to maintain and boost the U.S.-Australia alliance? Under the theoretical analytical theory of constructivism, this thesis attempts to analyze the influence exerted on its identity and its perception about its external threats by Australia’s special experiences in the history and unique geographic position from the perspective of social identity. First, the identity of both being western countries and their friendly exchanges in the history made it easier for the two countries to build trust which becomes the foundation to maintain the U.S.-Australia alliance. Second, where it is located and what it experienced made Australia haunted with insecurity and anxiety, strengthening its perception of its external threats. Thanks to the very two reasons, Australia continues and intensifies, after the end of Cold War, its alliance with the U.S. as the cornerstone of its national foreign strategy.