In many respects, Australia behaves as if it were still a colonial dependency. Our policies of foreign affairs, trade, human rights, and the environment seem to be uncritically allied to those of the United States.
In this provocative and timely book, Alison Broinowski argues that Australia's development as an independent nation has stalled, and asks: is this prolonged adolescence due to an inability to break free from dominating parents, or are we more like the schoolyard bully's errand-boy, always ready to "kiss up and kick down"? Nevertheless, Broinowski remains optimistic that Australia may at last be turning in the direction of genuine independence.
'Allied and Addicted' challenges many of the assumptions of conservative policy makers and is an important and powerfully argued contribution to the on-going national debate about Australian identity and our place in the world.
