The limits of influence: The political economy of Australian commercial policy after the Ottawa conference

• Published in: Australian historical studies Vol. 29; no. 111; pp. 325 - 343
• Main Author: Attard, Bernard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 01.10.1998
• ISSN: 1031-461X; 1940-5049
• DOI: 10.1080/10314619808596076

This article evaluates the old and the neonationalist interpretations of Australian commercial policy in the 1930s by examining the influence of a complex structure of pressure groups and political, bureaucratic and regulatory institutions on Australian commercial policy towards Britain in the three years after the Ottawa Conference of 1932. While agreeing with neonationalists like Kosmas Tsokhas that domestic factors were critical, it argues that they often led to the adoption of inflexible positions that limited Australia in the conduct of its international economic relations.