India and Australia in the Twenty-first Century

The India–Australia strategic engagement is an outcome of fundamental changes occurring within geopolitics of the Asia-Pacific as well as global politics during the first decade of twenty-first century—a shift in the gravity of power from the trans-Atlantic to the Asia-Pacific, emergence of China and India as new power centres, reconstruction of regional boundaries and growing emphasis on multi-polarity, greater regional integration and multilateralism. Viewed in this perspective, the bilateral relations have grown primarily as a response to (a) emerging prospects of cooperation and integration in the Asia-Pacific, (b) strategic constraints posed by the prevailing uncertainty surrounding the rise of China as the most dominant player in the region and (c) growing de-ideologisation of foreign policy priorities. Moreover, there has been growing inter-linkages among people and the non-governmental spaces across the region, facilitated by the process of globalisation, revolution in the information technology and shrinkage of business space. Though the pan-Asia-Pacific as well as global power structure offers a conducive atmosphere for strong strategic relationship between India and Australia, the governmental actors, despite being the most important facilitating factor, have proved to be a weak enabler in the bilateral relations.