2025/01/02 by Mia Martin Hobbs · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Island Studies and Pacific Affairs #Military History and Strategy
paper · doi:10.1080/14443058.2024.2442414
openalex publication_date 2025/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
This article explores the recent history of the United Kingdom—Australia defence relationship in context of the Australia—United Kingdom—United States (AUKUS) submarine agreement. Drawing on defence and foreign-policy white papers as well as public polling, it analyses the framing and significance of the UK as a defence partner in the early 21st century, tracing changes against the unfolding War on Terror, the rise of China as a major power, the election of Donald Trump and the Brexit referendum. The article shows that insecurities about the US alliance and the perceived threat from China corresponded with a turning back towards the UK as a source of safety, drawing on the imperial nostalgia evident in Brexiteers’ “Global Britain” campaign to normalise the dynamic. The article argues that imperial nostalgia works to neutralise Australian anxieties about overdependence on the US by conceptualising the former colonial parent as an equal ally within the AUKUS triad.