Australia, the US, and the Vietnam and Iraq Wars: 'Hound Dog, not Lapdog'

Lloyd Cox*, Brendon O'Connor

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    19 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    The authors refute the portrayal of Australia as America's pliant ally in the Vietnam and Iraq Wars, instead arguing that Australian leaders saw such involvement as strategic opportunities to strengthen the Australian-American alliance. In the case of the Vietnam War particularly, the Australian government also saw these conflicts as a way to draw America into greater military engagement in their region. The authors' interpretation follows earlier revisionist scholarship on the Vietnam War, but is strengthened by new archival evidence. In the case of the 2003 Iraq War, their position is inevitably more provisional due to the lack of archival material. However, after interviewing senior government officials to better understand the Howard government's motivations for military involvement in Iraq, they discern a similar pattern of strategic motivation. The article concludes with a discussion of the costs and benefits of using wars to strengthen the Australian-American alliance.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)173-187
    Number of pages15
    JournalAustralian Journal of Political Science
    Volume47
    Issue number2
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jun 2012

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