Australia as a southern hemisphere ‘soft power’

The 2014 Group of 20 (G20) leaders’ meeting in Brisbane was hailed as the largest gathering of international leaders ever held in Australia. While media attention was focused on the presidents of great powers of the northern hemisphere—the USA, China and Russia in particular—the meeting also featured the first Australian gathering of the major powers of the southern hemisphere, including Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, South Africa and, of course, Australia itself. was significant not just for its symbolic heralding of the rise of the Global South in international affairs, but also for its implications for Australian foreign policy. While Asia is clearly the main game for Australia’s hard economic and security interests, southern regions such as sub-Saharan Africa and South America are becoming increasingly important to Australia across a range of other ‘softer’ dimensions of power. This commentary, drawing on an earlier Australian Strategic Policy Institute paper, investigates Australia’s emerging role as a southern hemisphere ‘soft power’.