Good International Citizenship: The Case for Decency

by Gareth Evans

Why should we in Australia, or any country, care about poverty, human rights atrocities, health epidemics, environmental catastrophes, weapons proliferation or any other problems afflicting faraway countries, when they don’t, as is often the case, have any direct or immediate impact on our own safety or prosperity? Gareth Evans’ answer is the approach he adopted when Australia’s foreign minister. He argues that to be, and be seen to be, a good international citizen—a state that cares about other people’s suffering, and does everything reasonably possible to alleviate it—is both a moral imperative and a matter of hard-headed national interest. The case for decency in conducting our international relations is based both on the reality of our common humanity, and a national interest just as compelling as the traditional duo of security and prosperity.

Four key benchmarks matter most in assessing any country’s record as a good international citizen: its foreign aid generosity; its response to human rights violations; its reaction to conflict, mass atrocities, and the refugee flows that are so often their aftermath; and its contribution to addressing global existential threats.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

96 pages, Paperback

Published June 1, 2022

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Gareth Evans AC QC was a Cabinet minister throughout the Hawke–Keating governments, including as foreign minister from 1988 to 1996. In his 21-year parliamentary career, he served as both leader of the government in the Senate and deputy leader of the Opposition. After leaving politics, he was president of the Brussels-based International Crisis Group from 2000 to 2009, and chancellor of the Australian National University from 2010 to 2019, where he is now Distinguished Honorary Professor.

Reviews

[Thomas Maguire-Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alright, so overall I liked the book, it covered a fair bit of ground that I don't think is covered often, but even so it is thoroughly researched and excellently cited. My main issue with this is that 3/4 of the book is really really good, the other 1/4 seems to be largely self-aggrandising for the ALP and then just bashing on the coalition. To be fair, he does back this up with empirical evidence, but even so the ALP bias is only briefly acknowledged. Even so, I really liked the book, and if you're interested in Foreign Policy I would definitely read it.

[Frankie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nuanced argument, though unsurprisingly a bit understated and bare minimum-y. The section on nuclear disarmament gave me food for thought.

[David Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The master of multilateralism himself leads with a quick set of moral and humanitarian left jabs and then finishes up with a realist and national interest right hook K.O.