Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100603
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$337,000.00
Summary
Understanding the Causes of Political Trust through Survey Experiments. This project intends to improve our understanding of the drivers of political trust and point to ways that political trust could be improved. Despite the importance of political trust to the functioning of democratic systems, we have no experimental data on what the causes of political trust are, and political trust has been said to have reached crisis levels in many democracies. By integrating existing survey data with expe ....Understanding the Causes of Political Trust through Survey Experiments. This project intends to improve our understanding of the drivers of political trust and point to ways that political trust could be improved. Despite the importance of political trust to the functioning of democratic systems, we have no experimental data on what the causes of political trust are, and political trust has been said to have reached crisis levels in many democracies. By integrating existing survey data with experiments in five established democracies, this project aims to identify the causes of political trust and how these differ by country. Understanding political trust and how it can be improved may provide input to successful policies to deal with challenges such as ageing populations and environmental change.Read moreRead less
The political economy of military reform in Indonesia: Opportunities and challenges for civilian control of the TNI. Despite Suharto's fall, and limited reform process, the Indonesian military
(TNI) remains deeply involved in Indonesian politics, at Cabinet level, and
in state maintenance. The TNI also has substantial economic interests, about
two-thirds of which is illegal. The TNI is therefore still central to
Indonesia's political processes, and constitutes the major impediment to
Indone ....The political economy of military reform in Indonesia: Opportunities and challenges for civilian control of the TNI. Despite Suharto's fall, and limited reform process, the Indonesian military
(TNI) remains deeply involved in Indonesian politics, at Cabinet level, and
in state maintenance. The TNI also has substantial economic interests, about
two-thirds of which is illegal. The TNI is therefore still central to
Indonesia's political processes, and constitutes the major impediment to
Indonesia's democratisation. This project will locate military reform within
a broader Security Sector Reform agenda, assess the likelihood of further
voluntary TNI reform and external reform drivers, and structural problems
facing this process. It will analyse the TNI's reform process, and
investigate options for bilateral reform assistance.
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The corruption-organised crime nexus in four European states, with particular reference to people smuggling. Considering its importance to Australia, too little research is being done here on Europe. The EU alone accounts for c.40% of Australia's trade. Yet most research on Europe undertaken here is either historical (pre-1945) and/or of individual countries. Relatively little is in the social sciences. One benefit of this project is that it ensures that comparative social science research o ....The corruption-organised crime nexus in four European states, with particular reference to people smuggling. Considering its importance to Australia, too little research is being done here on Europe. The EU alone accounts for c.40% of Australia's trade. Yet most research on Europe undertaken here is either historical (pre-1945) and/or of individual countries. Relatively little is in the social sciences. One benefit of this project is that it ensures that comparative social science research on Europe is conducted in Australia. Second, Australia experiences many problems facing European states, albeit usually on a smaller scale. The potential benefits of learning vicariously from others' experiences are obvious. Third, this will enhance this country's expertise in this strategically important area. Read moreRead less
What counts is what is counted: performance measurement and its consequences. Measuring public sector performance is important as it potentially improves services and saves money, but it has become increasingly time and resource consuming. This project will analyse performance measurement and its consequences, and generate information on how governments can contain its growth and reduce its undesirable consequences.
Activating states: transforming the delivery of 'welfare to work' services to the long-term unemployed in Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands. With declining unemployment, the possibility of labour force shortages in future years, and an annual expense of $20 billion on income support in Australia, policy makers are concerned with increasing the economic participation of social security recipients. This project will provide policy makers and service providers with important comparative ....Activating states: transforming the delivery of 'welfare to work' services to the long-term unemployed in Australia, Great Britain and the Netherlands. With declining unemployment, the possibility of labour force shortages in future years, and an annual expense of $20 billion on income support in Australia, policy makers are concerned with increasing the economic participation of social security recipients. This project will provide policy makers and service providers with important comparative assessments of the way policies designed to promote economic participation are executed by frontline staff and will provide essential data for designing policy which is more effective in assisting the unemployed to find sustainable paid employment. It will address the National Research Priority of promoting and maintaining good health through strengthening Australia's social and economic fabric.Read moreRead less
Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and p ....Protecting while they prosper? Organisational responses to whistleblowing. This project aims to examine the adequacy of organisational responses to whistleblowing (employee reporting of wrongdoing). So far, research into public-interest whistleblowing has revealed much about the incidence, significance and experience of whistleblowers. This project now extends the research to the other side of the issue — the organisations. By comparing employee and managerial experience in multiple public and private sector organisations in Australia and New Zealand, the project intends to identify the factors that influence good and bad responses across a range of institutions; provide a clearer basis for reform of policies, procedures and law; and set benchmarks for comparative research worldwide.Read moreRead less
Australian Responses to Refugees, 1901-2005. Determining appropriate responses to refugees is a definitive political concern in contemporary Australia. However, conceptual and historical analysis is lacking of the global context and genealogy of Australia's current policy. This project will analyse Australian reactions to refugees from Federation to the present. It is hypothesised that positions on refugees have been integral to the constitution of Australian national identity. Using an innovati ....Australian Responses to Refugees, 1901-2005. Determining appropriate responses to refugees is a definitive political concern in contemporary Australia. However, conceptual and historical analysis is lacking of the global context and genealogy of Australia's current policy. This project will analyse Australian reactions to refugees from Federation to the present. It is hypothesised that positions on refugees have been integral to the constitution of Australian national identity. Using an innovative combination of theory (relating to nationhood), cultural reading and archival research, this project will explore the complex interaction between government policy, humanitarian concerns, and the culture of security considerations. The project will inform public and policy debate.Read moreRead less
Increasing innovation and flexibility in social service delivery. This project will use a comparative methodology to investigate how contracted social services require careful regulation to ensure service effectiveness and improved organisational capacity. The outcome will include a practice model for understanding the relationship between regulation, contract structure and forms of service delivery innovation.