Abstract
The role the armed forces play in securing Australia at various historical junctures has been determined largely by strategic assessments and defence doctrine. Yet the decision to deploy troops abroad is not solely a strategic one; its successful implementation relies heavily on the participation and consent of the population. Continuing the previous chapter’s discussion of the U.S. alliance, this chapter considers the public’s views on the role of its armed forces in security policy, through the lens of Australian military involvement in overseas missions. The focus is on the three conflicts which dominated defence and foreign policy in the immediate postwar period. The first is the Korean War which began in 1950 when North Korea invaded the South and ended with partition of the Korean peninsula in 1953. The second is the Malayan Emergency which began in 1948 when communists sought to overthrow the British colonial rule; the insurgency ended in 1960. The third and most significant conflict from the perspective of public opinion is the Vietnam War, which began in 1955 and ended in 1975, although Australian troops were withdrawn earlier in 1972.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsReferences
Albinski, H. 1970. Politics and foreign policy in Australia: The impact of Vietnam and conscription. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Australian War Memorial. nd. Malayan emergency. Australians at war. Available from https://www.awm.gov.au/articles/atwar/malayan-emergency. Accessed 20 November 2019.
Bell, C. 1988. Dependent ally: A study in Australian foreign policy. Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Bergan, D. E. 2009. The draft lottery and attitudes towards the Vietnam War. Public Opinion Quarterly, 73(2): 379–384.
Berinsky, A. J. 2009. In time of war: Understanding American public opinion from World War II to Iraq. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Cheeseman, G. 1991. From forward defence to self‐reliance: Changes and continuities in Australian defence policy 1965–90. Australian Journal of Political Science, 26(3): 429–445.
Cox, L., & O’Connor, B. 2012. Australia, the US, and the Vietnam and Iraq Wars: ‘Hound dog, not lapdog’. Australian Journal of Political Science, 47(2): 173–187.
Dennis, P., & Grey, J. 1996. Emergency and confrontation: Australian military operations in Malaya and Borneo, 1950–1966. Volume 5. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
Dingman, R. 1988. Diplomacy during the Korean War. International Security, 13(3): 50–91.
Dupont, A. 1991. Australia’s threat perceptions: A search for security. Canberra: Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University.
Ekins, A. 2016. Vietnam: A winnable war? In D. Marston & T. Leahy (eds.), War, strategy and history: Essays in honour of Professor Robert O’Neill: 15–30. Canberra: ANU ePress.
Hughes, C. 1970. The rational voter and Australian foreign policy: 1961–69. Australian Outlook, 24(1): 5–16.
Lavelle, A. 2006. Labor and Vietnam: A reappraisal. Labour History, 90: 119–136.
Lee, D. 1995. Britain and Australia’s defence policy, 1945–1949. War and Society, 13(1): 61–80.
McNeill, I., & Ekins, A. 2003. On the offensive: The Australian army in the Vietnam War, 1967–68. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
National Archives of Australia. 1958. Foreign Affairs Committee—Report on West New Guinea. A1209, 1958/6066. Canberra: National Archives of Australia.
O’Neill, R. 1981. Australia in the Korean War. Volume 1. Canberra: Australian War Memorial.
Sexton, M. 1981. War for the asking: How Australia invited itself to Vietnam. Sydney: New Holland.
Slater, J. 1993. The domino theory and international politics: The case of Vietnam. Security Studies, 3(2): 186–224.
Tiffen, R. 1983. News coverage of Vietnam. In P. King (ed.), Australia’s Vietnam: Australia in the second Indo-China war. Sydney: Allen and Unwin.
White, H. 2007. Four decades of the defence of Australia: Reflections on Australian defence policy over the past 40 years. In R. Huisken & M. Thatcher (eds.), History as policy: Framing the debate on the future of Australia’s defence policy: 163–187. Canberra: ANU ePress.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2021 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chubb, D., McAllister, I. (2021). Forward Defence: Korea, Malaya and Vietnam. In: Australian Public Opinion, Defence and Foreign Policy. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7397-2_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7397-2_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-7396-5
Online ISBN: 978-981-15-7397-2
eBook Packages: Political Science and International StudiesPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)