The Australia in World Affairs series commenced in 1950 and provides a continuous, researched scholarly account of Australia's foreign policy. This fifth volume, Australia in World Affairs 1971–1976, includes the final years of the Coalition's post-1949 time in government, and describes and evaluates the foreign policy and diplomacy of the Whitlam Labor Government. Gough Whitlam not only led his party to its first taste of power in almost a quarter of a century, but also dominated his government's dealings with the world outside. Where for so long Australia's external relations had been based on what were seen as 'natural' alignments – especially with Britain and the United States – the nation now faced the much more difficult problems involved in forging and maintaining alignments of convenience with states with whom she lacked ethnic, cultural or historical bonds, and from whom she could not expect any special consideration or tolerance.