Issue 2 (2010) pp. 7-38 - Australian imperialism and East Timor / Sam Pietsch

Date

2010

Authors

Pietsch, Sam

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Rick Kuhn and Tom O'Lincoln

Abstract

The Howard Government’s military intervention in East Timor in 1999 was an act of imperialism. It was not forced on a reluctant government by popular pressure, nor were its aims humanitarian. Rather, the intervention used military power to secure longstanding strategic interests of the Australian state. From 1974, successive Australian governments supported Indonesia’s occupation of East Timor in order to foreclose the possibility of rival powers gaining influence in the Indonesian archipelago, which might allow them to threaten Australian interests. But, by September 1999, the Indonesian occupation had become untenable. Australia inserted military forces into East Timor to ensure that the transition to independence would be relatively orderly, avoiding a destabilising power vacuum. The intervention also boosted Australia’s ability to defend its economic and strategic interests in the new nation. The success and domestic popularity of the intervention allowed the Howard Government to increase military spending and act more aggressively to defend Australia’s imperial interests in the Southwest Pacific

Description

Keywords

East Timor, imperialism, Australia

Citation

Source

Marxist Interventions

Type

Journal article

Book Title

Entity type

Access Statement

License Rights

DOI

Restricted until