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
Creating and Analysing a Citizens' Parliament: Exploring the Public's Deliberative Capacity. This project will contribute to public understanding of Australia's institutions of government, and to debates about possibilities for their reform. It will also demonstrate the contributions to governance that large-scale forums composed of typical citizens could make. In so doing, the project will illuminate the possibilities for more effective citizen participation and public consultation in Australia ....Creating and Analysing a Citizens' Parliament: Exploring the Public's Deliberative Capacity. This project will contribute to public understanding of Australia's institutions of government, and to debates about possibilities for their reform. It will also demonstrate the contributions to governance that large-scale forums composed of typical citizens could make. In so doing, the project will illuminate the possibilities for more effective citizen participation and public consultation in Australia's democracy. The project will develop applied expertise on these issues, and solidify Australia's standing as a leader when it comes to innovative democratic reform.Read moreRead less
An Australian dilemma: liberal democracy, cultural diversity and the quest for national identity. This project traces how liberal nationalism and its chief rival, cultural nationalism, apply to and help make sense of Australian politics and political debate. It defends liberal nationalism as the most feasible, accommodating, and just political solution to addressing the question of national identity in Australia's multicultural democracy.
From covenant to contract: Calvinism, the written constitution and American civil religion. Although the United States is a strictly secular polity as guaranteed in the Constitution, the grounds of that secularity lie in the Calvinism of the first colonial settlements and may be traced to the Lutheran two-kingdoms doctrine. The current rhetoric of American international diplomacy, based largely on a righteous confrontation with evil, while deep-seated in American ideals of manifest destiny, str ....From covenant to contract: Calvinism, the written constitution and American civil religion. Although the United States is a strictly secular polity as guaranteed in the Constitution, the grounds of that secularity lie in the Calvinism of the first colonial settlements and may be traced to the Lutheran two-kingdoms doctrine. The current rhetoric of American international diplomacy, based largely on a righteous confrontation with evil, while deep-seated in American ideals of manifest destiny, strains at the borders of the constitutional separation of Church and State. An understanding of these tensions has strong implications for Australian collaboration in US foreign policy.Read moreRead less
Can saying something make it so? Sedition, speech act theory and the status of freedom of speech in Australia. A good grasp of the conceptual underpinnings of sedition laws and conceptual clarity is an essential precursor to law reform in this area. By applying theories of the relation between speech and action drawn from philosophy of language to the assessment of sedition laws, the project will enhance Australia's research skills in political philosophy and clarify a grey and contested area of ....Can saying something make it so? Sedition, speech act theory and the status of freedom of speech in Australia. A good grasp of the conceptual underpinnings of sedition laws and conceptual clarity is an essential precursor to law reform in this area. By applying theories of the relation between speech and action drawn from philosophy of language to the assessment of sedition laws, the project will enhance Australia's research skills in political philosophy and clarify a grey and contested area of law. Any number of groups in Australian society, including writers, journalists, artists, academics, politicians and political activists, could be affected by these laws. Consequently, a clarification of this area is both urgent and vital for national interests.Read moreRead less
A constructive critique of the political approach to the philosophy of human rights. This project explores the many uses of human rights discourse in contemporary politics. It focuses on an increasingly popular 'political' approach that identifies human rights as grounds for action against states which violate these rights. This project has implications for how the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 should be implemented.
The Foundation, Role, and Design of Democracy. Democracy now reigns unchallenged as the master ideal in contemporary societies, western and non-western, developed and developing. But what is democracy, what is its essential role, and by what institutions can that role be best played in the changing circumstances of local, national and international life? This project develops a unified theory of the foundation, role and design of democratic institutions. By establishing a permanent international ....The Foundation, Role, and Design of Democracy. Democracy now reigns unchallenged as the master ideal in contemporary societies, western and non-western, developed and developing. But what is democracy, what is its essential role, and by what institutions can that role be best played in the changing circumstances of local, national and international life? This project develops a unified theory of the foundation, role and design of democratic institutions. By establishing a permanent international research centre focused on these vital questions, it will address theoretical and practical issues of great importance to all contemporary communities, and give Australia a new and on-going voice in crucial international debates.Read moreRead less
Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and oppositio ....Governing vs. opposition parties and the global financial crisis: Comparing the United Kingdom and Australia. The Australian Prime Minister has described the global financial crisis as the 'equivalent of a rolling national security crisis'. Our project, which examines the pressures upon political parties to adopt an adversarial approach to crises as an election approaches, benefits the nation by enhancing our understanding of how political systems cope with crisis. Should governing and opposition parties unite in order to tackle the national crisis and portray consensus to the outside world? Or should they continue to engage in routine adversary criticism, facilitating dialogue and providing a 'check' on a centralised response? Our research will help develop an understanding of Australia's capacity to respond to major economic threats.Read moreRead less
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
The uneasy alliance between democracy and justice. This project will make a significant contribution to the understanding of our commitment to democratic values and practices, and what it entails for our local, regional and international obligations. It will directly address the challenge of maintaining social cohesion in an era of rapid social, economic and political change. And it will offer a fresh perspective on important public debates to do with Australian national identity and the relatio ....The uneasy alliance between democracy and justice. This project will make a significant contribution to the understanding of our commitment to democratic values and practices, and what it entails for our local, regional and international obligations. It will directly address the challenge of maintaining social cohesion in an era of rapid social, economic and political change. And it will offer a fresh perspective on important public debates to do with Australian national identity and the relation between democratic rights and individual responsibility. The project will also contribute to helping maintain and develop Australian research excellence and innovation in the field of political philosophy.Read moreRead less