Indonesian Democracy: The Politics of Failed Reform and Regime Viability. Despite high hopes following the fall of Indonesia's authoritarian regime, political reform has been limited. The project examines the reasons for slow progress. Among the areas to be studied are constitutional and electoral reform, military reform, judicial reform, decentralisation, preservation of order and economic reform. It will argue that the weakness of the state in carrying out reforms is largely due to the penetra ....Indonesian Democracy: The Politics of Failed Reform and Regime Viability. Despite high hopes following the fall of Indonesia's authoritarian regime, political reform has been limited. The project examines the reasons for slow progress. Among the areas to be studied are constitutional and electoral reform, military reform, judicial reform, decentralisation, preservation of order and economic reform. It will argue that the weakness of the state in carrying out reforms is largely due to the penetration of the state itself by vested interests. Limited reforms have only been implemented when the viability of the regime itself has been at stake. This research is significant for Indonesian politics and political theory.Read moreRead less
Remaking Australian Politics: Electioneering from the 19th Century to the 21st. Critics have lamented the apparent decline of elections as meaningful opportunities for rational deliberation; journalists' election reports increasingly focus on campaign methods; politicians have expressed alarm at how little Australians know about Australia's democratic history. This project, the first long-term study of electioneering in Australia, will address each of these issues. It will provide a scholarly pe ....Remaking Australian Politics: Electioneering from the 19th Century to the 21st. Critics have lamented the apparent decline of elections as meaningful opportunities for rational deliberation; journalists' election reports increasingly focus on campaign methods; politicians have expressed alarm at how little Australians know about Australia's democratic history. This project, the first long-term study of electioneering in Australia, will address each of these issues. It will provide a scholarly perspective on sometimes overstated claims of contemporary decline. It will offer journalists and political professionals' insights into changing campaign practices. And it will produce an accessible account of the significance and history of elections for a new generation of Australians, thereby strengthening democratic life. Read moreRead less
A naturalistic approach to rights, norms and practices of freedom. We offer a naturalistic account of the dynamic relations between rights, norms and freedom. Case studies of the emergence of new rights for women and indigenous peoples will show how this approach generates new ways of understanding human rights, cultural norms and the interactions between them. Further outcomes will include a multidimensional approach to moral cosmopolitanism which provides a distinctive pluralistic alternativ ....A naturalistic approach to rights, norms and practices of freedom. We offer a naturalistic account of the dynamic relations between rights, norms and freedom. Case studies of the emergence of new rights for women and indigenous peoples will show how this approach generates new ways of understanding human rights, cultural norms and the interactions between them. Further outcomes will include a multidimensional approach to moral cosmopolitanism which provides a distinctive pluralistic alternative to current theories.Read moreRead less
Cooperation, competition or control? Public policy and the use of tied grants in Australian federalism. Tied grants account for $26 billion worth of Commonwealth expenditure and cover everything from child care to aged care, environmental programs to road building. They crucially affect the capacity of Australian governments to make policy and deliver services. A better understanding of how they work in practice will be a great benefit in improving our capability to meet pressing social, econo ....Cooperation, competition or control? Public policy and the use of tied grants in Australian federalism. Tied grants account for $26 billion worth of Commonwealth expenditure and cover everything from child care to aged care, environmental programs to road building. They crucially affect the capacity of Australian governments to make policy and deliver services. A better understanding of how they work in practice will be a great benefit in improving our capability to meet pressing social, economic, environmental and regional development challenges.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
The science of welfare: Adam Smith's political thought. Understanding Adam Smith's political thought helps us to understand how liberal subjects live and are governed today. Little has been written about Smith's political thought, therefore this project offers the first complete account of his politics and his unique science- and welfare-based approach to statecraft.
Imagining globalisation: The world and nation in Chinese Communist Party ideology. Since the late 1990s, there has been intense interest in globalisation among leaders and theorists of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These debates on globalisation represent an important development in the Party's ideology and provide an insight into the way in which it formulates its claim to legitimacy. This project will analyse these debates in the context of the Party's ideological history, and from the pe ....Imagining globalisation: The world and nation in Chinese Communist Party ideology. Since the late 1990s, there has been intense interest in globalisation among leaders and theorists of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). These debates on globalisation represent an important development in the Party's ideology and provide an insight into the way in which it formulates its claim to legitimacy. This project will analyse these debates in the context of the Party's ideological history, and from the perspective of Western globalisation theory. The project will be of benefit to those institutions and individuals needing to understand changes in China's political elite's perception of the world and the Chinese nation's position within it.Read moreRead less
Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy. The project will investigate the professionalization of political communication with a specific focus on the role of political consultants and communication specialists in contemporary Australian politics. The principal research aim is to identify and analyse the frames of reference and evaluative modes structuring the work of political consultants. Political consultants will be analysed as a subset of new 'symb ....Communicating power: Political consultants, symbolic production and media democracy. The project will investigate the professionalization of political communication with a specific focus on the role of political consultants and communication specialists in contemporary Australian politics. The principal research aim is to identify and analyse the frames of reference and evaluative modes structuring the work of political consultants. Political consultants will be analysed as a subset of new 'symbolic' managers and mediators in a society in which information is the key productive resource. The project will generate a detailed analysis of how the professionalization of political communication is transforming representative democracy in network society.Read moreRead less
Media Change. Political Change - Developments in Australian Newspapers' Political Reporting in the Age of Television. It is frequently asserted that the role of the press has changed since the advent of television, but there is a curious lack of data documenting the changes. This project will provide extensive, systematic and analytically-informed information about trends in newspapers' political coverage. Through an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative research designs, it w ....Media Change. Political Change - Developments in Australian Newspapers' Political Reporting in the Age of Television. It is frequently asserted that the role of the press has changed since the advent of television, but there is a curious lack of data documenting the changes. This project will provide extensive, systematic and analytically-informed information about trends in newspapers' political coverage. Through an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative research designs, it will chart the extent and timing of changes, and illuminate the external and internal forces driving them. The press remains central to the quality of Australian democracy and public discourse, and so there is a strong public interest in making debates about its changing performance more empirically grounded and analytically penetrating. Read moreRead less
Democracy and the Bourgeoisie: Post-Communism and the Transition to Capitalism. There is commonly perceived to be a relationship between social structure and regime type. This proposal seeks to understand the impact the type of bourgeoisie has upon the prospects for democracy. Its principal focus is contemporary Russia. In order to obtain theoretical purchase and historical perspective, the Russian experience will be compared with the effects on political development of a range of other bourgeo ....Democracy and the Bourgeoisie: Post-Communism and the Transition to Capitalism. There is commonly perceived to be a relationship between social structure and regime type. This proposal seeks to understand the impact the type of bourgeoisie has upon the prospects for democracy. Its principal focus is contemporary Russia. In order to obtain theoretical purchase and historical perspective, the Russian experience will be compared with the effects on political development of a range of other bourgeoisies, coming from the classic early industrialiser countries, the late industrialisers, a number of third world countries, and some of the post-communist states.Read moreRead less