The Domestic Politics of International Relations: Cases from Australia, New Zealand and Oceania.

• Author: O'Brien, Terence
• Position: Books

THE DOMESTIC POLITICS OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Cases from Australia, New Zealand and Oceania Author: Roderic Alley Published by: Ashgate, Aldershot, 286pp, 40 [pounds sterling].

The forces of so-called globalisation have breached irretrievably the boundary lines between what is domestic and what is external, or international, in the business of governments. The way they and their peoples behave, and the influences on that behaviour, are no longer purely internal matters. In this short but close-textured book, Rod Alley, an associate professor of politics at Victoria University of Wellington, illustrates such essential connections in regard to certain key issues that have, in recent times, concerned New Zealand, Australia and the Pacific Island region.

Over the course of six chapters Rod Alley focuses successively upon nuclear disarmament (New Zealand and the World Court), climate change (Australia and the Kyoto Protocol), the Bougainville issue, de-colonisation, indigenous rights (in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji) and, then, on good governance plus environmental challenges generally, in the Pacific Island region. In each case his purpose is to illustrate how domestic politics and international relations intersect in key ways. The six chapters are sandwiched between an introduction and conclusion that are concerned primarily with the theory of international relations and its relationship to the particular issues that Alley elaborates.

This is primarily an academic book in the authentic sense of that term. It is an attempt to nourish better understanding of the complex and paradoxical factors that shape events in modern international relations. In a world dominated by instant imagery and short attention span, where dogmatism prevails (`either you are with us or against us'), the need to nourish deeper and wider perception in this whole area remains indispensable.

This book, for the generalist at least, is best consumed in bites -- chapter by chapter. Some of the theoretical content contains rotund language and the author, in places, employs a narrative of lists, simply itemising a range of considerations to substantiate a point. The generalist might be more comfortable with some slightly fuller explanation of supporting factors. But be that as it may, the chapters on the specific issues make insightful observations for both the specialist and generalist, especially those that address Pacific Island issues, where Alley is at his best. His...