Fortress AUKUS: order-engineering by exclusion in the Indo-Pacific

Abstract

The article draws on the concept of “order-engineering” to analyze the strategic rationale of AUKUS from a world order perspective. The article’s argument is twofold. First, AUKUS is emblematic of Washington’s trend towards working within exclusive clubs of like-minded countries to project power further afield, but, in so doing, is creating “orders of exclusion”. Second, military interoperability envisaged through the nuclear-powered submarine program, together with unprecedented collaboration over the development of advanced military-relevant technologies, will bind the AUKUS partners almost irreversibly together in their security posture for decades to come. What is more, the interdependencies built into the shipbuilding project and technology collaboration are further enmeshed by the development of supply chains and transfer arrangements required to operationalize AUKUS. The article observes that notwithstanding the benefits to the three partners of strengthening deterrence, military projection, and alliance-building, AUKUS creates irreversible pathways for their security postures in the Indo-Pacific.