Democratic Resilience: The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks. The project aims to explain responses to extremist attacks intended to sow division, and why some democracies prove fragile, succumbing to polarisation or exclusion of key groups, while others prove resilient by sustaining integrative, tolerant discourse. The project develops new knowledge through an innovative synthesis of cultural sociology and deliberative democracy to analyse nine cases of responses in the public realm to attack ....Democratic Resilience: The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks. The project aims to explain responses to extremist attacks intended to sow division, and why some democracies prove fragile, succumbing to polarisation or exclusion of key groups, while others prove resilient by sustaining integrative, tolerant discourse. The project develops new knowledge through an innovative synthesis of cultural sociology and deliberative democracy to analyse nine cases of responses in the public realm to attacks. Expected outcomes include a new account of the democratic public sphere, and identification of how meaningful, civil communication whose health is vital to democracy, especially in a multicultural society, can be maintained. Benefits include identification of measures to counter extremist political disruption.Read moreRead less
Feasibility in politics: Taking account of groups and institutions. This project aims to research feasibility in politics. Normative political discourse is pervaded by the use of claims about what is feasible and infeasible. The project will examine feasibility practices, the functions they serve, what is required to serve the functions effectively, how actual practices stack up, and how to improve them. It will fuse philosophical and empirical analysis; encompass three salient case studies (imm ....Feasibility in politics: Taking account of groups and institutions. This project aims to research feasibility in politics. Normative political discourse is pervaded by the use of claims about what is feasible and infeasible. The project will examine feasibility practices, the functions they serve, what is required to serve the functions effectively, how actual practices stack up, and how to improve them. It will fuse philosophical and empirical analysis; encompass three salient case studies (immigration, poverty and climate change); and engage practitioners, commentators and ordinary citizens. The project intends to inform the development of just and effective immigration, poverty and climate change policy, reflecting a better understanding of the role of feasibility in politics.Read moreRead less
Political normativity and the feasibility requirement. Commonsense says that claims about how social and political life ought to be arranged must not make infeasible demands. This project will investigate this piece of commonsense and explore its implications for a number of pressing issues, such as climate change, multiculturalism, political participation, inequality, historical justice, and the rules of war.
Populism’s Heartlands: Place, Identity, and Localism in Populist Politics. This project aims to investigate how populism intersects with localism through systematic, comparative, and in-depth empirical study of three populist parties inextricably associated with ‘heartlands’ in Australia, Germany and Spain. This project expects to generate new knowledge about how populists utilise the language of localism and how people’s attachment to place shapes their support for populists. Expected outcomes ....Populism’s Heartlands: Place, Identity, and Localism in Populist Politics. This project aims to investigate how populism intersects with localism through systematic, comparative, and in-depth empirical study of three populist parties inextricably associated with ‘heartlands’ in Australia, Germany and Spain. This project expects to generate new knowledge about how populists utilise the language of localism and how people’s attachment to place shapes their support for populists. Expected outcomes of the project include a new understanding of how populism and localism affect one another; and identification of how right and left populist support are differently affected by community engagement and participation. Benefits include the identification of local interventions to lessen the appeal of exclusionary populisms.Read moreRead less
Australian political rhetoric: the role of public speech by elected representatives in contemporary Australian politics. What is the public benefit of the endless rituals of rhetorical claim and counter-claim performed by members of parliament? This project demonstrates that rhetoric is central to politics, through detailed case analysis of the performative side of Australian parliamentary politics. Good rhetoric, when we have it, makes for good politics.
Women and leadership in a century of Australian democracy. This examination of Australian women leaders addresses the National Research Priority area, frontier technologies. Six Partner Organisations benefit through the use of new technologies that enrich their resources and disseminate new knowledge through websites, exhibitions and conferences. The returns to the broader Australian community include increased awareness of women's record of active organisational contribution including leadershi ....Women and leadership in a century of Australian democracy. This examination of Australian women leaders addresses the National Research Priority area, frontier technologies. Six Partner Organisations benefit through the use of new technologies that enrich their resources and disseminate new knowledge through websites, exhibitions and conferences. The returns to the broader Australian community include increased awareness of women's record of active organisational contribution including leadership in Indigenous, rural and migrant community organisations, in NGOs, social movements and unions. By identifying the contribution of women's leadership, nationally and internationally, the project offers Australian girls and women of diverse backgrounds encouragement to exercise their own capacities for agency and change.Read moreRead less
Sparking a National Conversation. This project aims to understand why some promises of a ‘national conversation’ on a policy issue seem to be mere hyperbole, while others seem more authentic. Using an evaluative framework based on the latest democratic theory, and the aims and understandings of key actors in each case, the project plans to compare three cases that claimed to spark a national conversation: the Scottish National Conversation 2007–14; debates around the Affordable Care Act in the U ....Sparking a National Conversation. This project aims to understand why some promises of a ‘national conversation’ on a policy issue seem to be mere hyperbole, while others seem more authentic. Using an evaluative framework based on the latest democratic theory, and the aims and understandings of key actors in each case, the project plans to compare three cases that claimed to spark a national conversation: the Scottish National Conversation 2007–14; debates around the Affordable Care Act in the United States, 2009; and the ongoing issue of Indigenous constitutional recognition in Australia. The project aims to identify why some real-world efforts work better than others, and draw lessons for replicating best practice in Australia. Project outcomes may provide advice to policy-makers on how to engage citizens better in the major issues of the day.Read moreRead less
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200739
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$202,156.00
Summary
Monitoring Deliberative Integrity in Australia. The project aims to develop and apply the concept of deliberative integrity as a counterpart to more familiar ideas about electoral integrity in the evaluation of democratic processes. The project develops significant new knowledge about the ethical conduct of Australian citizen engagement processes through conceptual and methodological innovation to produce a Deliberative Integrity Monitoring Tool that will be applied to the expanding range of del ....Monitoring Deliberative Integrity in Australia. The project aims to develop and apply the concept of deliberative integrity as a counterpart to more familiar ideas about electoral integrity in the evaluation of democratic processes. The project develops significant new knowledge about the ethical conduct of Australian citizen engagement processes through conceptual and methodological innovation to produce a Deliberative Integrity Monitoring Tool that will be applied to the expanding range of deliberative democratic innovations in Australia. Expected outcomes include a better understanding of how such innovations can and should be designed. Benefits include a set of standards for best practice in democratic innovation that will in turn help improve the quality of Australian democracy.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE140101358
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$394,105.00
Summary
Francesco Guicciardini as a Political Theorist. This project will examine the political writings of Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), aiming to disseminate Guicciardini's political theory in the English-speaking world and establish his importance as one of the great thinkers of the European political tradition. Simultaneously, it will uncover and reassess a number of his highly original theoretical insights, many still relevant today (particularly for contemporary republicanism). Guicciardini' ....Francesco Guicciardini as a Political Theorist. This project will examine the political writings of Francesco Guicciardini (1483-1540), aiming to disseminate Guicciardini's political theory in the English-speaking world and establish his importance as one of the great thinkers of the European political tradition. Simultaneously, it will uncover and reassess a number of his highly original theoretical insights, many still relevant today (particularly for contemporary republicanism). Guicciardini's political theory, in sharp contrast to that of his co-citizen and friend Machiavelli, received only limited attention, as his works were published only centuries after his death. This project will result in the first full-length monograph on the topic to appear in either English or Italian.Read moreRead less
Realising Democracy Amid Communicative Plenty: A Deliberative Approach. The ever-increasing volume of political communication (especially online) challenges democracy and effective policy making. The aim of this project is to examine whether, how, why, and to what effect discourse flows within and between different sites in the new politics of communicative plenty. This research applies the idea of deliberative democracy, which puts meaningful communication between citizens and policy makers at ....Realising Democracy Amid Communicative Plenty: A Deliberative Approach. The ever-increasing volume of political communication (especially online) challenges democracy and effective policy making. The aim of this project is to examine whether, how, why, and to what effect discourse flows within and between different sites in the new politics of communicative plenty. This research applies the idea of deliberative democracy, which puts meaningful communication between citizens and policy makers at the heart of effective governance. It develops a deliberative analysis of controversy surrounding coal seam gas in Australia, using qualitative and 'big data' techniques to collect information. The knowledge generated is expected to inform efforts to put deliberative democracy into practice, as well as more effective environmental governance.Read moreRead less