Global Strategy: Australian Economic Statecraft

- Great power politics has returned and this necessitates a shift from economic policy to economic statecraft - Australia’s economic interests and its security interests pull in different directions, making effective statecraft all the more important - Consequently, Australia is shifting from an idealist to a more realist view of foreign policy - Pressures are mounting to increase Australia’s defence spending, necessitating ‘Guns or Butter’ choices over how best to use limited funds - Markets will be impacted as governments become less preoccupied by the question of “What is GDP?” and more interested in the question “What is GDP for?”