Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE150101692
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$325,000.00
Summary
Getting elections right? Electoral reform in democracies & autocracies. Why do some countries manage to 'get their elections right' while others fail? What explains changes in election integrity over time? And does election integrity matter for democracy? This project aims to address these questions by developing an original theoretical framework explaining changes in election integrity over time and the consequences for democratisation. The project will empirically test the theoretical framewor ....Getting elections right? Electoral reform in democracies & autocracies. Why do some countries manage to 'get their elections right' while others fail? What explains changes in election integrity over time? And does election integrity matter for democracy? This project aims to address these questions by developing an original theoretical framework explaining changes in election integrity over time and the consequences for democratisation. The project will empirically test the theoretical framework with a mixed-method approach that combines quantitative statistical analysis and in-depth country case studies using data on election integrity in over 900 elections from over 100 electoral democracies and autocracies around the world between 1974 and 2012.Read moreRead less
Bridling Autocrats: Limiting Executive Power in Authoritarian Polities. This project will analyse the dynamics of elite politics in authoritarian polities, focusing in particular upon how members of the elite try to constrain would-be dictators. By showing the different patterns of elite politics in different types of authoritarian systems, the project will interrogate one of the most curious aspects of contemporary international politics, why so many authoritarian regimes have been able to stab ....Bridling Autocrats: Limiting Executive Power in Authoritarian Polities. This project will analyse the dynamics of elite politics in authoritarian polities, focusing in particular upon how members of the elite try to constrain would-be dictators. By showing the different patterns of elite politics in different types of authoritarian systems, the project will interrogate one of the most curious aspects of contemporary international politics, why so many authoritarian regimes have been able to stabilise themselves in an era commonly seen as being one of democratic advance. Understanding authoritarian elite politics and their implications for regime survival is of significant policy interest.Read moreRead less
Strategies for the stabilisation of authoritarian rule: Russia in comparative perspective. This project will explore why authoritarian rule has been consolidated in post-Soviet Russia. By analysing this in a comparative context, the project will also explore why so many countries are characterised by non-democratic political systems in this so-called age of democracy.
Special Research Initiatives - Grant ID: SR200200385
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$262,359.00
Summary
Transforming Democracy in the Bush: A Study of Politics in Rural Australia. This project aims to examine changing patterns of political participation and representation in rural Australia. Almost one third of our population lives outside major cities yet little is known about the democratic dynamics unfolding in rural Australia as it faces major demographic, economic and environmental change. Through in-depth case research this project will analyse how rural Australians participate in politics, ....Transforming Democracy in the Bush: A Study of Politics in Rural Australia. This project aims to examine changing patterns of political participation and representation in rural Australia. Almost one third of our population lives outside major cities yet little is known about the democratic dynamics unfolding in rural Australia as it faces major demographic, economic and environmental change. Through in-depth case research this project will analyse how rural Australians participate in politics, the interests they seek to advance and the efficacy of their political and civic activities. Expected outcomes include strengthened research capacity in rural politics, new frameworks for assessing how democracy is transforming, and reform pathways to enhance the engagement of diverse constituencies in our political system.Read moreRead less
New models of co-operative federalism in Australia: constitutional principles and practice. This project will research the effect of intergovernmental co-operation, through bodies such as the Council of Australian Governments, on Australia's system of constitutional democracy. It will determine how federal governance can be made more effective while respecting State autonomy and maintaining parliamentary and public accountability.
What Australia Thinks: A History of Australian Public Opinion Polls. Opinion polls are an increasingly prominent and problematic part of politics in modern societies. This project is expected to produce an Australian history that documents and explains the diverse and changing methods, priorities and styles of the pollsters since polling was introduced to Australia in 1941. It aims to examine the growing media coverage of the polls, their impact, and the controversies they have engendered as wel ....What Australia Thinks: A History of Australian Public Opinion Polls. Opinion polls are an increasingly prominent and problematic part of politics in modern societies. This project is expected to produce an Australian history that documents and explains the diverse and changing methods, priorities and styles of the pollsters since polling was introduced to Australia in 1941. It aims to examine the growing media coverage of the polls, their impact, and the controversies they have engendered as well as the performances of polls in predicting voter behaviour. Combining archival research, oral histories and quantitative methods, the project aims to enrich our understanding of the nature, consequences and history of polling nationally and transnationally. It also aims to produce a database containing over 75 years of poll results.Read moreRead less
Parties and Participation: Evolving Australian Party Membership. The project aims to provide new insights into how political party membership is evolving and how citizens and parties engage with each other today. The decline of party memberships is usually equated with the death of parties as participatory organisations and the erosion of their crucial role as vehicles for democratic linkage. Applying a new theoretical framework integrating individual, party and state perspectives, this project ....Parties and Participation: Evolving Australian Party Membership. The project aims to provide new insights into how political party membership is evolving and how citizens and parties engage with each other today. The decline of party memberships is usually equated with the death of parties as participatory organisations and the erosion of their crucial role as vehicles for democratic linkage. Applying a new theoretical framework integrating individual, party and state perspectives, this project plans to examine how membership is structured, how it is practised, what it means today and why membership is declining. Combining organisational analysis with survey and focus group data in an innovative mixed-methods research design, it aims to evaluate what parties can do to secure their future role in Australian democracy and to foster democratic participation through new modes of partisan engagement.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100309
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,065.00
Summary
The politics of party reform: who benefits from the democratisation of political parties? Political parties are currently implementing internal reforms to address public disaffection and membership decline, but with relatively little success. To find out why, this research analyses who or what drives these reforms, who benefits from them and whether they are responsive to citizens' demands and how people want to engage with parties today.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190100210
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,000.00
Summary
Data, digital and field: political parties and 21st century campaigning. This project aims to investigate how political parties in parliamentary democracies are responding to the digital and field revolutions in campaigning. Political parties using these campaigning modes poses challenges for electoral regulators as well as for scholars of political parties trying to understand party organisation. Using six case studies from three parliamentary democracies, the expected outcome of this project i ....Data, digital and field: political parties and 21st century campaigning. This project aims to investigate how political parties in parliamentary democracies are responding to the digital and field revolutions in campaigning. Political parties using these campaigning modes poses challenges for electoral regulators as well as for scholars of political parties trying to understand party organisation. Using six case studies from three parliamentary democracies, the expected outcome of this project is an innovative account of the implications of these changes for political parties and liberal democracy. This project will increase scholarly understanding of political parties, and inform the work of electoral regulators to ensure the integrity of election campaigns are maintained.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE240100410
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$392,161.00
Summary
Child Citizens: Young People and Australian Democracy since 1945. This project provides a new account of Australian democracy from the perspective of children and young people. It tracks changes in children’s conceptions and practices of citizenship since 1945 to explain their contested status in contemporary politics. Far from simply being ‘citizens in waiting’, the project shows that young people have long been active participants in political and civic life and reveals how their citizenship c ....Child Citizens: Young People and Australian Democracy since 1945. This project provides a new account of Australian democracy from the perspective of children and young people. It tracks changes in children’s conceptions and practices of citizenship since 1945 to explain their contested status in contemporary politics. Far from simply being ‘citizens in waiting’, the project shows that young people have long been active participants in political and civic life and reveals how their citizenship claims have expanded across this period, alongside those of other marginalised groups. Its findings will add nuance to current debates about children’s political exclusion, with its social impact enhanced through the development of an online research portal and collaboration with the Museum of Australian Democracy.Read moreRead less