Australia in the second half of the ХХ century: in search of national and political identity

Abstract

The processes of national and political identity are of extreme importance in the modern world. Their underestimation leads to numerous conflicts and to a loss of civilized guidelines (Libya, Syria, Ukraine, the migration crisis in Europe). Study of the experience of the Commonwealth of Australia in pursuing the multiculturalism policy in the 1980s – 1990s is of interest to the wide range of researchers and readers. Australia was one of the first countries trying to determine its place during the world globalization processes. The paper “Australia in the second half of the XX century: in search of national and political identity” is aimed at comprehensive study of the Australian authorities’ activities in the tough transition period from the “white Australia” policy to the “multiculturalism” policy in the context of determining the national and political identity. This research results are instructive for the Australians themselves as well as for many other countries that are determining the national identity and searching for the political guidelines. The paper used the traditional methods of the historical science: comparative-historical, problematic-chronological methods and a system analysis. They made it possible to find out the peculiarities of Australia’s internal policy during the globalization, to determine the common goals, methods and modes of this policy. The research found out that Australia has never been an “Asian country” and will not be such a country, its cultural and political ideals are connected with the Western civilization, its Anglo-Saxon guidelines in determining the national identity and the preservation of the AmericanBritish area in the political identification.