Diplomacy in the 1990s: Issues for the Washington embassy

The 1990s was a period in Australian foreign relations and diplomacy book-ended by two major geopolitical events: at the beginning, the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe (though at the same time its resurgence in China), and at the end, the terrorist attacks of September 11. The former led to what appeared to comprise an entirely new international environment, opening the way for many diplomatic and regional initiatives; the latter, according to Richard Clarke’s memoir, was hardly anticipated even at the highest levels in Washington,¹ and thus raised problems for a future time,