POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY | Volume 135 Number 3 2020 | www.psqonline.org © 2020 Academy of Political Science DOI: 10.1002/polq.13068 409 Original Article That “Special Something”: The U.S.‐Australia Alliance, Special Relationships, and Emotions LLOYD COX BRENDON O’CONNOR REALIST SCHOLARS HAVE LONG CHALLENGED the claim that cultural bonds, shared values, or emotional ties between nation‐states shape, or should shape, a state’ s foreign policy. 1 In the sixteenth century, Niccolò Machiavelli set the template by arguing that we should not anthropomorphize the state and attribute to it human feelings. 2 Friedrich Nietzsche sharpened the case with his assertion that “the state is a cold monster, ” devoid of human sentiment. 3 Charles de Gaulle, paraphrasing Nietzsche, spoke directly to his own country’ s pursuit of its national interests when he famously stated that “great LLOYD COX is a Lecturer in the Department of History, Politics and International Relations at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. His book Nationalism: Themes, Theories and Controversies (2020) is about to be published by Palgrave. He publishes in the areas of U.S. foreign relations, nationalism, and the politics of emotions. BRENDON O’CONNOR is an Associate Professor at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney in Aus- tralia. He has recently published Anti‐Americanism and American Exceptionalism: Prejudice and Pride about the USA (2020), and co‐authored Ideologies of American Foreign Policy (2019) and How America Compares (2020). 1 The authors wholeheartedly thank James Curran, James McCormick, Srdjan Vucetic, and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments on this article. Their suggestions have made this a much stronger piece of scholarship. 2 Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. William J. Connell (1532; New York: Bedford/St. Martin’ s, 2015). 3 Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra, trans. Thomas Wayne (1883–91; New York: Algora Publishing, 2007), 36. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/psq/article/135/3/409/6848534 by guest on 23 February 2023