Australia’s role in organisational maintenance, reform, and adaptation

The chapter examines the role Australia has played in helping the OECD retain its comparative advantage by defending the features that give it its special character: a relatively small, relatively like-minded membership of liberal democratic countries, with market economies committed to the disciplines of peer review and improving policy through learning and sharing best practice. It examines Australia’s strategy and tactics in seeking to both preserve the special qualities of the OECD, and in attempting to ensure that it adapts to the emergence of dynamic Asian economies in its region, and pushing for reforms of the internal management of the organisation and enlargement of the membership to adapt to the global economy of the 21st century. The chapter also reflects critically on the value of the OECD, especially as alternative forums such as the G20 have grown in importance. Key words: reform; adaptation; European Union; Asia-Pacific