The two streams of Australia's middle power imagining and their sources

Abstract

This essay identifies two streams of middle power imagining in Australian foreign policy. The first springs from four sources, forming a version of middle power imagining that emphasizes security challenges facing Australia, requiring alliances with "great and powerful friends". The second stream, springing from the fifth source outlined below, reflects an ambiguous idealism in the middle power imagining it produces. The essay notes that the first stream of middle power imagining is the dominant one in Australian foreign policy thinking.