Upholding the order in Afghanistan. Image from Flickr, courtesy of ResoluteSupportMedia.
Playing by the global rules
27 February 2016
Australia's 2016 Defence white paper uses the term 'rules-based global order' 56 times, compared with just nine instances in its 2013 predecessor.
This order, we are told, is 'a shared commitment by all countries to conduct their activities in accordance with agreed rules which evolve over time, such as international law and regional security arrangements'. This is curiously self-contradictory; if 'all' countries were in 'regional security arrangements', wouldn't those arrangements be better described as 'global'?
