Comparing Australian/South Pacific and UK/Caribbean relations

Abstract

This article compares the relationship between Australia and the South Pacific Commonwealth states with the relationship between Britain and the Commonwealth Caribbean islands. It explores these links through strategic, economic, political, and cultural lenses, finding that while both sets of relationships contain elements of all these ties, they are characterised by fundamentally different dynamics. The Australian-South Pacific relationship revolves far more around hard-nosed calculations of security and economic advantage, while the British-Caribbean relationship exists strongly in the cultural realm, with less emphasis on strategy and politics; both cases exemplify the range of potential relationships between large and small Commonwealth states. The article also observes an increasing tendency for the small states to broaden and diversify their international relationships.