The evolution of the relationships among the ANZUS nations--the acronym for the Australia, New Zealand, and U.S. alliance for common security formed in 1951--is examined in this volume's essays. They also look at the implications of changing relationships for the entire Asia-Pacific region. Editor Richard W. Baker, director of the East-West Center's Australia-New Zealand-U.S. relations project, has commissioned experts from academia, government, and other backgrounds from the three countries to research the full range of sociopolitical change in the three nations and the changing perceptions of their national roles and relationships. This study comes at a particularly relevant juncture in world affairs because the defusing of the Cold War has prompted nations worldwide to rethink their national and international security measures and allied priorities.

Throughout the volume's main divisions: Social Dynamics, Political Evolution, Images and Attitudes, and Implications for Relationships, the interdisciplinary team of writers takes a hard look at the long-held assumption, based on common language and cultural roots, of fundamental shared values among the three nations. Each society has evolved in individual and dramatic ways based on changes in demographics, political agendas, and outlooks on their international roles, security situations, and appropriate national policies. Individual chapters zero in on key elements in the national experiences of each country that have influenced the nature and conduct of the relationships among the three partners. Finally, the volume draws a balance between elements of distinctiveness and similarity and projects implications for the future of the relationships. For academics and students of international relations, the book provides a case study of the long-term evolution of alliance relationships and provides instructive comparisons and contrasts with the post-Cold War circumstances of other American alliances. For professionals and others whose interests involve working in or between two or more of these countries, this volume is an invaluable handbook that contains an excellent summary of their recent histories, major social and political developments, and problems, as well as their characteristic world views and the major factors which affect the dynamics of their interrelationships.

This is the third and final volume in a series examining the southern anchor of the American alliance network in the Pacific--the ANZUS alliance linking the United States with Australia and New Zealand. This volume considers the policies of the three partners toward the region in which their defense alliance operates and the implications of trends in these policy areas for the future of their relationship. The work analyzes trends in three policy areas--regional security, the Pacific Islands, and regional economic cooperation--each of which provides a distinct window on the relationship. The dynamic Asia-Pacific region is of growing importance to each of the ANZUS states, and the approaches of the three to regional cooperation can only become increasingly important.

This work is the second in a series examining the changing nature of one of the United States most important relationships, the ANZUS Alliance, linking the U.S., Australia, and New Zealand. The volume describes the evolution of the three countries respective domestic economic structures, international economic orientations, and relationships with each other in the period since World War II. The study concludes that the most significant common economic interest of the three is the preservation and strengthening of an open international economic order and trading system, an interest sorely tested in the present difficult economic times. Still, the experts here find that Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. must match trends toward greater economic interdependence with workable mechanisms and concerted action to achieve their truly common interests in the international economic system.

This important work will be of interest to scholars in international relations, generally, and international economic systems, specifically.