Managing the Unbreakable Alliance

Introduction by Dr Michael J. Green

The United States Studies Centre is pleased to work with the Yokosuka Council on Asia Pacific

Studies to publish this collection of seven decades of bilateral agreements and joint statements that underpin the unbreakable US-Australia alliance.

From the Battle of Hammel on the Western Front in 1918 to Afghanistan in 2021,Americans and Australians have fought side-by-side to defend freedom around the globe, often at great sacrifice. Australian public views of America and American presidents have sometimes been tumultuous but support for the alliance has remained strong for decades in both countries.

But as the Australian Defence Strategic Review warned in 2023, the alliance faces the most severe strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific since 1945. Much will be asked of both publics.

Australians will need access to the alliance for Five Eyes intelligence, sea-lane protection, extended nuclear deterrence, and for advanced systems such as nuclear powered submarines and missile defence. At the same time, Americans will increasingly need Australia for access to the Indian Ocean, strategic oversight of the Pacific and Southeast Asia, defence production and innovation, and connectivity across alliances and partnerships in the region. It will be more important than ever that both publics, politicians and officials understand the institutional basis for the alliance and the evolution of our cooperation.

In that context this volume should provide an unprecedented resource alongside its companion volumes on the U.S.-Japan Alliance and Japan-Australia Special Strategic Partnership.

Whether the reader is Commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet or a Year Eleven student doing research for extension history courses in Toowoomba, we trust the collection will prove useful.