Andrew O'Neil

Bio: Andrew O'Neil is an academic researcher from Griffith University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Nuclear weapon & International relations. The author has an hindex of 10, co-authored 52 publications receiving 326 citations. Previous affiliations of Andrew O'Neil include Flinders University.

Accommodation, realignment, or business as usual? Australia's response to a rising China

Abstract: Since normalising diplomatic relations in 1972, successive Australian and Chinese governments have focused on deepening trade and investment links to such an extent that China now looms as one of the most critical countries on Australia's twenty-first century horizon. For their part, Chinese elites have welcomed closer ties with Australia and have been particularly keen to accelerate China's direct investment in the Australian mining and energy sectors. Since the early 2000s, a number of commentators have argued that Australia has been gradually drifting towards China's sphere of influence in the Asia-Pacific. This trend, they argue, has been reinforced following the election in 2007 of the Labor party government, which has terminated Australia's involvement in quadrilateral talks with the US, India, and Japan; stepped back from commitments to export uranium to China's long-standing rival, India; and intensified Australia's public criticism of Japanese whaling practices. Meanwhile, in 2008, Prime...

Middle Powers and the Rise of China

Abstract: 1. China's Rise Through the Prism of Middle Powers Bruce Gilley and Andrew O'Neil 2. Locating Middle Powers in International Relations Theory and Power Transitions James Manicom and Jeffrey Reeves 3. China's Discovery of Middle Powers Bruce Gilley 4. US Responses to Middle Powers and China David A. Cooper and Toshi Yoshihara 5. South Korea's Middle Power Response to the Rise of China TongFi Kim 6. Malaysia, Thailand, and the ASEAN Middle Power Way Amy L. Freedman 7. Indonesia Responds to China's RiseAnn Marie Murphy 8. Australia: A Traditional Middle Power Faces the Asian Century Thomas S. Wilkins 9. South Africa's Middle Power Ambitions: Riding the Dragon or Being its Pet? Janis van der Westhuizen and Sven Grimm 10. Turkey and China in the Post-Cold War World: Great ExpectationsYitzhak Shichor 11. Brazil's Rise as a Middle Power: The Chinese Contribution Anthony Peter Spanakos and Joseph Marques 12. Conclusion: Seeing Beyond HegemonyBruce Gilley and Andrew O'Neil List of Contributors Index

China's rise and middle power democracies: Canada and Australia compared

Abstract: Assessments of how international actors are responding to China's rise typically focus on rival great powers or on China's Asian neighbors. In these cases, relative power, geographic proximity, and regional institutions have conditioned relationships with China. The relationship of China with the developing world has mainly been defined by power asymmetry and the appeal of the Chinese governance model to authoritarian regimes. Largely absent from this discussion is an understanding of how Western middle power democracies are responding to China's rise. This article compares how Canada and Australia - two Western democratic states with prominent middle power foreign policy traditions - are responding to the rise of China. The two case studies are similar in many respects: both are resource-based economies with a track record of bilateral and institutional engagement in the Asia-Pacific, and both are key US allies. These similarities allow differences in the Canadian and Australian responses to China's rise to be isolated in the political, economic, and strategic realms.

Terrorist use of weapons of mass destruction: How serious is the threat?

Abstract: This article examines the extent to which terrorist use of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons poses a tangible threat to international security. In the literature on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) some analysts have tended to exaggerate the scope of the threat and assumed that large-scale terrorist acts involving WMD are only 'a matter of time'. In short, there is a tendency among observers to converge on analogous assessments at the higher end of the threat spectrum. In this article I argue that although WMD terrorism remains a real prospect, the ease with which such attacks can be carried out has been exaggerated; acquiring WMD capabilities for delivery against targets is a lot more problematic for terrorists than is generally acknowledged in the literature. However, this is not to say that the possibility of such attacks can (or should) be ruled out. The rise of a 'new' brand of terrorism that operates across transnational networks and whose operations aim to inflict mass casual...

Australia and the ‘Five Eyes’ intelligence network: the perils of an asymmetric alliance

Abstract: Aside from NATO, the Five Eyes intelligence network between the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand is the world’s most enduring multilateral arrangement of its type. While the Five Eyes network does not constitute a formal security alliance in the classic sense of the term, it does emulate significant features of how alliances operate in practice, including active burden-sharing and intra-alliance bargaining. Most analysts claim that the USA dictates in hierarchical fashion the terms and conditions of how the Five Eyes network functions, and that junior partners have little alternative but to fall in line if they want to preserve the flow of high-grade intelligence from Washington. Using Australia as a case study, this article shows that a more fluid relationship has been at play, one that challenges conventional assumptions about asymmetrical alliances and the role of junior partners.

Dying To Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism

Abstract: Robert Pape thoroughly examines the misperceptions about and motivations behind suicide terrorism in his book, Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism. He uses empirical data and a multidisciplinary approach to support his argument that suicide terrorism is used to meet the secular and strategic goal of compelling the withdrawal of military forces.