The State, War and Strategy: Australia’s Strategic Disconnect with its Wars of Choice in Iraq and the wider Persian Gulf Region, 1990–2014

Abstract

This dissertation examines the strategic significance of Australia’s deployment of elements of its military power to a series of wars of choice in the Middle East region between 1990-2014. From a Realist perspective, it establishes a series of strategic misalignments between Australian government decision and the state’s involvement in war. It demonstrates Australia displayed consistent strategic inconsistency between the nation’s strategic outlook and its approaches to war, military power, and strategy.