{"product_id":"51st-state","title":"51st State?","description":"Australian prime ministers since Harold Holt have all fostered close  relationships with the United States, but John Howard has initiated  economic and military policies that have bound the two countries even  tighter. As a result, many Australians now believe that not only our  sovereignty but also our very identity as a nation is under threat, and  that we are fast becoming America's 51st state.\u003cbr\u003e If this view is  correct, it should be reflected not only in our foreign policy but also  in our domestic policies. Indeed, the weakening of social safety nets,  the privatisation of areas long seen as government responsibilities, and  the signing of the Free Trade Agreement all point to the triumph of  US-style neo-liberalism.\u003cbr\u003e Yet, as Dennis Altman shows, the story  is not so simple. Even as official rhetoric immerses us ever deeper into  the US worldview, the resilience of the Australian social contract is  imposing real limits on the application of neo-liberal principles. And,  despite his enthusiastic membership of the coalition of the willing,  Howard has assiduously cultivated economic and political ties within our  region which, as the global balance of power shifts, will become  increasingly relevant.\u003cbr\u003e In this elegant and sophisticated  meditation on Australian identity, Altman suggests that the tendency to  attribute malign American influence to everything we dislike about the  contemporary world is the flipside of seeing the US as the only model  worthy of emulation, and serves to conceal the deeper questions we face  namely, how does Australia imagine its future?\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Dennis Altman","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43516717301821,"sku":null,"price":20.9,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0597\/7689\/2989\/files\/9781920769987.jpg?v=1787568253","url":"https:\/\/www.palmleaf.com.au\/products\/51st-state","provider":"Palmleaf","version":"1.0","type":"link"}