The Australian Nexus: At the Center of the Storm by Randell Doyle

The Australian Nexus: At the Center of the Storm by Randell Doyle

More historical works have been published reassessing Australian involvement in the encircling superpower battles in the Indo-Pacific region. While some studies have noted an enduring commitment to the US alliance, researchers have increasingly focused on a shift in public diplomacy towards strengthening ties with an increasingly assertive China. In historian Randall Doyle's latest book, The Australian Nexus: At the Center of the Storm, he has portrayed in epic terms the nation's role as a serious player in the region's transformative events. ‘It's time for Australia to embrace the time that has been allotted to them before the window of decision-making is closed to them’, he writes (90). Doyle turns to ancient Greek chronicles to argue that Australia faces a momentous task at a critical turning point in the region's history. He compares the rising US–China rivalries to the escalating hostilities that led to the downfall of the golden age of ancient Athenian democracy. His underlying motivation is to warn of the dangers of another international entanglement in Thucydides’ Trap. The ancient historian, Thucydides, used the metaphor to describe the conflict between prosperous Athens and the expansionist military power, Sparta, in the Peloponnesian War in the fifth century. The Australian Nexus complements a growing field of research on the hotly contested debates over the possibilities of the national destiny in influencing the power struggles of the region.

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