The Echidna Strategy: Australia’s Search for Power and Peace | Sam Roggeveen

With the global balance of power shifting, Australia will need to be able to defend itself without American help.

In his new book The Echidna Strategy​ (Black Inc. Books, August 2023), Sam Roggeveen – director of the Lowy Institute's International Security Program – overturns the conventional wisdom about Australia's security.

He argues that America's security is not threatened by China's rise, and that once Australia accepts that conclusion, the entire edifice on which its security has been built shifts, requiring a fresh approach. And that despite the rapid growth of China's military, defending Australia need not be particularly difficult.

The Echidna Strategy sheds new light on the contest for leadership in Asia and the strategy Australia needs to thrive. This includes a radically different approach to defence. Above all, it means a bolder Australian foreign policy, with three goals: leadership in the Pacific; a much stronger relationship with Indonesia; and a regional order centred on a gathering of its great powers. In the wake of a shift in the global power balance, how can Australia best protect itself?