Australia in the Age of International Development, 1945-1975: Colonial and Foreign Aid Policy in Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia

by Nicholas Ferns

Overview

This book examines Australian colonial and foreign aid policy towards Papua New Guinea and Southeast Asia in the age of international development (1945–1975). During this period, the academic and political understandings of development consolidated and informed Australian attempts to provide economic assistance to the poorer regions to its north. Development was central to the Australian colonial administration of PNG, as well as its Colombo Plan aid in Asia. In addition to examining Australia’s perception of international development, this book also demonstrates how these debates and policies informed Australia’s understanding of its own development. This manifested itself most clearly in Australia’s behavior at the 1964 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The book concludes with a discussion of development and Australian foreign aid in the decade leading up to Papua New Guinea’s independence, achieved in 1975.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030502270
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	07/18/2020
Series:	Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World
Edition description:	1st ed. 2020
Pages:	231
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.00(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Ferns is a Teaching and Research Associate at Monash University, Australia. His research has been published in Australian and international journals, including The Australian Journal of Politics and History and Diplomacy and Statecraft.

Table of Contents

Introduction.- 1. “Stone Age to the Twentieth Century”: Trusteeship and the New Deal for Papua New Guinea, 1945-1949.- 2. “By Every Means in Our Power”: The Establishment of the Colombo Plan, 1949-1957.- 3. “New Codes and a New Order”: Papua New Guinean Development in the Hasluck Era, 1951-63.- 4. “Developed, Developing, or Midway?” Australia at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, 1964.- 5. “We Should Be Doing More Than We Are”: The Colombo Plan, Papua New Guinea, and the Australian External Aid Review, 1957-1965.- 6. Taking up the “Latest Fashions”: International Development in Flux and the Australian Response, 1965-1975.- Conclusion.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Joining a rush of innovative scholarship on international development, Ferns integrates Australian aid policy into to the complex transnational history of the “age of development.” Australia’s programs to promote development with its own “New Deal” in its colonial trust territory of Papua New Guinea and participation the multi-national Colombo Plan not only reflected but shaped international dialogues on what constituted “modernization” and, later, what bred dependency. Ferns reveals that such efforts and debates were complicated by a view that Australia itself was a society “midway” between the poles of developed and underdeveloped. Rather than a simple national story, Ferns’ fresh perspective, offered with verve, illuminates a complex global issue through Australia’s engagement with the world."
—David Ekbladh, Tufts University, USA

"How does a rich Western nation that still sees itself as developing its own economy treat its responsibilities to those less fortunately placed? How does it reconcile its responsibilities to its own little colonial empire in Papua and New Guinea with its wider aid policy? And how does a country that proclaims its policy as a ‘White Australia’ reconcile this with ‘enlightened’ support for Third World development? Nicholas Ferns here provides a fresh perspective on Australia’s engagement with its region in an age of decolonisation. But his Australian story is also revealing of how big and influential concepts such as ‘modernisation’ and ‘development’ helped to reshape the post-war international order."

—Frank Bongiorno, Professor of History, The Australian National University, Australia

"Although the history of development is a well-developed field, Australia’s enthusiastic part in that complex imperial and post-colonial past has for some strange reason rarely been studied. In a time of critical global disorientation, Ferns’ study of foreign policy and aid fills that gap.PNG, the Colombo Plan, UNCTAD, are all here, displaying the diverse dimensions of the mix of political, economic and humanitarian motivations driving Australia’s international engagement and obligation in the second half of the 20th century."

—Glenda Sluga, Professor of International History and Capitalism, EUI, Sydney.

Editorial Reviews

Ferns’ book … presents an insightful and thoroughly documented assessment of this important topic. … he examines how Australian policy over these years was both consistent and flexible as politicians, bureaucrats, and academics responded and adapted to changing international conditions and intellectual trends. … Ferns’ familiarity with the literature of development, economics, and international relations is strongly evident throughout his book and provides his analysis with a solid knowledge base. … Ferns’ book is nonetheless a timely and necessary contribution to our understanding of Australian political history.” (Jonathan Ritchie, History Australia, August 16, 2021)

From the Publisher