Strategic studies in a changing world: global, regional and Australian perspectives

Abstract

To mark its 25th anniversary, in 1991 the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre held a major conference to consider how strategic studies has changed over that period, and where it should be heading. An outstanding group of specialists - both academic and practitioners - brought global, regional and Australian perspectives to a range of issues that will be important in the next decade. This volume consists of the revised and edited versions of the papers prepared for the conference. It was an appropriate time for this examination as the world was and is still undergoing the most fundamental transformations since the end of the Second World War. But while at first glance the strategic environment is more benign there are new world tensions. What will happen to the Soviet nuclear arsenal? What new challenges are ahead? What are the prospects for stability and security in our region? Security studies is becoming more complex. In our region there are more actors, both within the ASEAN countries and among the extra-regional countries such as China, Japan and India. A more profound complexity is the broadening concept of security, with the traditional concerns of insurgencies, separatism, expansion of maritime capabilities and power projection, being supplemented by issues of economic and environmental security. In a challenging way this volume examines the issues that will be crucial for security in the years to come. Show more