The Rise of National Security in the 1930s: An Australian Case Study

Abstract

This article traces the evolution of ‘national security’ from a rarely used phrase to a central concept within Australian political life. Where existing genealogies have located the origins of ‘national security’ in the United States, this article reveals that the principal genesis of ‘national security’ was in the international disarmament debates of the early 1930s. Taking Australia as a case study, we show how the concept was utilized to express national identity, debate key issues, and expand federal power in a critical period of nation-building. Surveying uses of the concept across the decade, we found that issues became ‘national security’ problems when they threatened the nation in more than one way. Such dynamics manifested in two of the central security issues of the decade. In the national insurance debate, the capacious language of security gave expression to deep-seated anxieties that emerged from the Depression, while the National Security Act of 1939 that legislated emergency war powers tapped a broader sense of insecurity to centralize federal powers. By the end of the decade, ‘national security’ in Australia was closely associated with military strength, preoccupations around White identity, and entrenching political authority – an early precursor to its uses and abuses today.