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Andrew Carr, ‘A certain amount of public work’ Menzies as a Civic Republican

In the ‘Forgotten People’ broadcast Menzies presaged JFK by suggesting that ‘The great question is, “How can I qualify my son to help society?” Not, as we have so frequently thought, “How can I qualify society to help my son?”’. Following this, a close examination of Menzies’s political speeches demonstrates that he talked about the individual’s duties and obligations almost as much as he talked about their freedom and their liberty. In this vein, Menzies fitted into a long tradition of civic republicanism which stretched back to Ancient Rome and included such figures as Oliver Cromwell. These republicans were concerned about tyranny and domination, but they equally saw the individual as inseparable from and having deep responsibilities to the community.

In this week’s episode of the Afternoon Light podcast, Robert Menzies Institute CEO Georgina Downer talks to Dr Andrew Carr from the Australian National University who argues that we should conceptualise Menzies’s political beliefs as part of a tradition of civic republicanism that predates and is somewhat distinct from modern liberalism.

Dr Andrew Carr is a Senior Lecturer in the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at the Australian National University. His research focuses on Strategy, Middle Powers and Australian Defence Policy. He has published widely in outlets such as the Journal of Strategic Studies, The Washington Quarterly, Asia Policy, Comparative Strategy, Australian Journal of International Affairs, and the literary journal Meanjin. He has a sole authored book with Melbourne University Press titled Winning the Peace: Australia’s Campaign to Change the Asia-Pacific and has edited books with Oxford University Press and Georgetown University Press.