Security and prosperity will always be the primary foreign policy motivations of any government elected to protect and advance the interests of its society. But to these self-interested, instrumental priorities, Australian governments typically add a third, more altruistic, self-affirming and amorphous category: values. Of course, security and prosperity are also values, but in the context of Australian foreign policy, references to “values” are taken to connote foreign policy goals that are less narrowly self-interested, more normative and more concerned with a nation's sense of self and responsibilities to people and institutions beyond its borders. Realist scholars of international relations have typically been suspicious of factoring such values into foreign policy making, believing they either lead to disastrously naive diplomacy, or that high-sounding ideals are often used to cloak the selfish interests of the powerful. But there are many who argue that such views are outdated. Some commentators suggest that advancing literacy and the communications revolution have not only increased the public's knowledge of international affairs, they have facilitated the rise of international networks dedicated to mobilising people around different ethical issues, from human rights to the environment.