Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Democracy Australia'
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1
Hall, James. "Australia, March 2003 : the print media, democracy and the decision to invade Iraq." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2008. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/220.
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Models of mass media and democracy, as commonly discussed by media theorists, suggest there is a tight ideological relationship between the dominant discourse of mass media outlets and incumbent governments (Chomsky, 1997; Curran, 2002; Curran and Gurevitch, 2001; Curran and Park, 1996; Curran and Seaton, 1986; Herman and Chomsky, 1986; Herman and McChesney, 2001; Jacka, 2003; Schultz, 1998). In this thesis I analyse Australian print media opinion pages, and argue that the workings of Herman and Chomksy's Propaganda Model (1988, pp. 1-35) are evident in opinion page output on the Iraq issue. However, when applied to Australia and the Australian government's decision to invade Iraq in March 2003, as part of the Coalition of the Willing, I claim that the tight connection between mass media outlets and the dominant discourse of the government is not as evident. In other words, in this instance the dominant discourse that emerged from an analysis of print opinion pages was not as ideologically synchronised with the position of the Australian government as traditional theory would posit.
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Scott, Guy. "Resisting liberalism : social democracy and the Australian constitution /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2005. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe19282.pdf.
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Clarke, Tamsin Law Faculty of Law UNSW. "Racism, pluralism and democracy in Australia : re-conceptualising racial vilification legislation." Awarded by:University of New South Wales. School of Law, 2005. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/20530.
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Australian debates about racial vilification legislation have been dominated by mainstream American First Amendment jurisprudence and popular American notions of 'free speech' to the exclusion of alternative Europeans models. This can be seen from notions of Australian racial vilification legislation as inconsistent with 'free speech' rights as well as the influence of some of the basic assumptions of First Amendment jurisprudence on political speech cases in the Australian High Court. Despite the widespread existence of legislation that penalises racial vilification at State and Federal levels, there has been a rise in Australia over the past 10 years of divisive 'race' politics. Against that background, this thesis considers the scope and limits of racial vilification legislation in Australia. It is argued that First Amendment jurisprudence is inadequate in the Australian context, because it is heavily dependent upon economic metaphors, individualistic notions of identity and outdated theories of communication. It assumes that 'free speech' in terms of lack of government intervention is essential to 'democracy'. It ignores the content, context and effect of harmful speech, except in extreme cases, with the result that socially harmful speech is protected in the name of 'free speech'. This has narrowed the parameters within which racial vilification is understood and hindered the development of a broader discourse on the realities of racist harms, and the mechanisms necessary for their redress. The author calls for the development of an Australian jurisprudence of harmful speech. Failing an Australian Bill of Rights, that jurisprudence would be grounded upon the implied constitutional right of free political speech, informed by an awareness that modern structures of public speech favour a very limited range of speech and speakers. The jurisprudence would take advantage of the insights of Critical Race Theory into the connections between racial vilification and racist behaviour, as well as the personal and social harms of racial vilification. Finally, it is argued that the concepts of human dignity and equality, which underpin European discrimination legislation and notions of justice, provide a way forward for Australian jurisprudence in this area.
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Ivancic, Antonny John Social Sciences & International Studies Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences UNSW. "The transformation in direct private share ownership in Australia: Embourgeoisement? Democracy?" Publisher:University of New South Wales. Social Sciences & International Studies, 2008. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/42985.
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The increase in direct personal investment in capital market assets by Australians over the past two decades represents an unprecedented engagement with that sector of Australian economic life. This dissertation critically investigates claims that this engagement heralds a shareholder democracy. Increased economic participation based on private direct ownership of corporate securities could be interpreted as a weak form of democratisation. Using a class-theoretical framework, the dissertation conceptualises the private shareholder phenomenon as a process of embourgeoisement and argues that the development of a macro-level mass consumer financial products market is the result of capitalist class development and expansion. A thesis of strong democratisation proffers the notion that the private shareholder, as an ascendant class of financial actor, engages with real democratic processes in addition to simply owning securities. To test this thesis the dissertation measures the extent to which small shareholders control the objective conditions under which they accumulate greater wealth by seeking evidence of potential or actual engagement with macro-market and meso-corporate level social processes. The dissertation assesses macro-level practice by drawing on the work of Bourdieu and on notions of the social field. It considers the entry of the new class of financial actor to the financial field and analyses their capacity to accumulate and deploy informational capital, and compares their ability to influence a state-sponsored economic reform process (CLERP) with that of other actors. The dissertation analyses longitudinal ownership and shareholder voting data from a set of over 30 major Australian companies. It finds that the new class of economic actor is most prevalent in privatised state-owned enterprises and mutuals. In the context of an ideal Habermasian public sphere, the study considers the potential for small shareholders to participate in meso-level, corporate agenda-setting and deliberation. Using the ideal political space of Arendt, it searches for methods of achieving democratic outcomes. The dissertation finds that while the personal ownership of tradable financial assets may constitute a weak form of economic democratisation, small shareholders?? inability to influence real outcomes, even in companies in which they constitute the majority, places substantial restrictions on the overall strength of the share ownership-as-democracy thesis.
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Lane, Karen Lesley. "Broadcasting, democracy and localism : a study of broadcasting policy in Australia from the 1920s to the 1980s." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 1987. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09PH/09phl2651.pdf.
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Ahmad, Malik Hammad. "The struggle for democracy in Pakistan : nonviolent resistance of military rule 1977-88." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2015. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/77074/.
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Pakistan is regarded widely today as a country continuing turmoil, in which multiple centres of political and armed power compete with each other, using violence as much as due democratic processes to settle their differences. And yet, as this dissertation seeks to show, there is also a tradition of democracy that has been fought for and won in ongoing nonviolent movements For almost half its life since its creation in 1947, military dictators, of whom there have been four in all, have ruled Pakistan. Amongst these, General Zia-ul-Haq ruled the longest at more than eleven years from July 1977 to August 1988. He not only executed Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan former Prime Minister but he was also able to bring about fundamental changes in the legal, political, religious, social and cultural affairs of the country. His rule is often considered a ‘dark age’ in the history of Pakistan. Two movements – the campaign to save Bhutto 1977-1979 and the Movement for the Restoration of Democracy (MRD) 1981-1988 – were launched and led by political parties, of which the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) was leading member, against Zia’s rule. Historians have generally considered both these movements to have been a failure. In this dissertation, it is argued that although MRD took much longer than the originally-envisaged three months to achieve its aim, it did not in the end fail. It should, rather, be seen as a gradualist democratic movement, which eventually brought the country back to democracy in 1988. The process took longer than expected for several reasons, the most important of which were a lack of unity amongst the leaders of its constituent political parties, particularly the PPP, the absence of an operational corps, and Zia-ul-Haq’s ruthless response to the nonviolent resistance to his rule. Additionally, Zia’s regime was supported for many years by international powers of the Western bloc, due to the war against Soviet Union in Afghanistan.
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Keir, Warren Neill. "Voter behaviour and constitutional change in Australia since 1967." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2009. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/31139/1/Warren_Keir_Thesis.pdf.
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Australian Constitutional referendums have been part of the Australian political system since federation. Up to the year 1999 (the time of the last referendum in Australia), constitutional change in Australia does not have a good history of acceptance. Since 1901, there have been 44 proposed constitutional changes with eight gaining the required acceptance according to section 128 of the Australian Constitution. In the modern era since 1967, there have been 20 proposals over seven referendum votes for a total of four changes. Over this same period, there have been 13 federal general elections which have realised change in government just five times. This research examines the electoral behaviour of Australian voters from 1967 to 1999 for each referendum. Party identification has long been a key indicator in general election voting. This research considers whether the dominant theory of voter behaviour in general elections (the Michigan Model) provides a plausible explanation for voting in Australian referendums. In order to explain electoral behaviour in each referendum, this research has utilised available data from the Australian Electoral Commission, the 1996 Australian Bureau of Statistics Census data, and the 1999 Australian Constitutional Referendum Study. This data has provided the necessary variables required to measure the impact of the Michigan Model of voter behaviour. Measurements have been conducted using bivariate and multivariate analyses. Each referendum provides an overview of the events at the time of the referendum as well as the =yes‘ and =no‘ cases at the time each referendum was initiated. Results from this research provide support for the Michigan Model of voter behaviour in Australian referendum voting. This research concludes that party identification, as a key variable of the Michigan Model, shows that voters continue to take their cues for voting from the political party they identify with in Australian referendums. However, the outcome of Australian referendums clearly shows that partisanship is only one of a number of contributory factors in constitutional referendums.
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Bapir, Mohammed Ali. "How the political elite view democracy in deeply divided countries : the case of Iraq." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2016. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/91090/.
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This thesis focuses on the role of agency during political transition processes in divided societies. To be more specific, it examines how the Iraqi political elites view democracy and what type of political institutions they support. The years between 2012 and 2015 are of great significance and the final US withdrawal at the beginning of the period marked the conclusion of military occupation. That event made the Iraqi political elite central to the political process. Previous studies have focused on structural issues in post invasion Iraq, highlighting factors that could facilitate democracy or systems that could undermine prospects for a democratic system in the country. A gap in the literature on Iraq is identifiable as there is a lack of any real attention to the issue of agency. The theoretical contribution of this study is that it illustrates and underlines the importance of elite perspectives for the democratisation process in a country divided along ethno-religious lines. The study argues that democratic institutional arrangements are needed as the means to reconcile different, and at times conflicting, political interests. Having established this point, the research analyses the role of agency in terms of key political players in forming, arranging, and setting up institutions. Extensive field research collating original empirical data was carried out in Iraq, Baghdad and Erbil, from 2011 to 2015. This study surveys the Iraqi House of Representatives, the Iraqi Presidency, and the Iraqi Council of Ministers, and involves interviews with highly placed decision makers in the executive, the legislative and the judiciary, as well as members of the Constitution Drafting Committee. Key participants include; the President and the Prime Minister, Speakers of the Parliament, and the Chair of Iraqi Constitution Drafting Committee. The participants include members from all the main ethno-religious groups in this divided country. Based on this new data, the specific views of Iraq's political elites are analysed, and their preferred types of political system are articulated, providing a concise contribution to current knowledge of democracy building in Iraq. The first empirical finding is that elites of the minority groups conceive democracy as power sharing, while members of the majority understand it as majority rule. The second finding is that larger groups support majoritarian institutions, while smaller groups support consensual ones. Those findings confirm previous academic thinking, for example Lijphart's theory on consensus democracy. The third finding is more surprising. All groups support a consensual arrangement of federalism and a majoritarian constitution. This unexpected support for these types of institutional arrangements required investigation in more depth to determine how political elites view federalism in Iraq, and how the constitution, if the opportunity arose, might be amended. It is argued that the future possibilities of Iraq’s polity depend largely on political agreements between the political elites representing the main groups in Iraq. The stability of the country rests mainly on the ability of its elites to arrange political institutions in such a way as to accommodate the different interests of the groups they represent.
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Fischer, Nick 1972. "The savage within : anti-communism, anti-democracy and authoritarianism in the United States and Australia, 1917-1935." Monash University, School of Historical Studies, 2001. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/9124.
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Corbett, David Ian Bedford. "Alternative forms of citymaking: Insights and implications from South Africa and Australia." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2021. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208153/1/David%20Ian%20Bedford_Corbett_Thesis.pdf.
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This study employed a comparative urbanism methodology to explore the interrelationship between formal approaches to urban governance and urban informality in Logan, Australia and Cape Town, South Africa. Through in-depth interviews, observations and a co-design workshop, the study investigates points of disconnection in the margins and ties these to issues of power, inclusion and the notion of a 'good' city. It proposes avenues for conducting comparative urban research across Global North and South cities. The thesis furthers knowledge of co-productive research with vulnerable participants, articulates the role of intermediaries in inclusive alternative citymaking, and challenges negative assumptions of urban informality.
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Kamena, Theodore Henry. "Populism and federalism, the interplay of direct democracy and federal institutions in Australia, Canada, Switzerland and the United States." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 2001. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk3/ftp04/nq64818.pdf.
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Peláez, Tortosa Antonio J. "State-society relations and grassroots democracy in rural Vietnam : institutional adaptation and limited gramscian hegemony." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2009. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/3778/.
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Heck, Deborah Anne, and n/a. "Discovering Discourses of Citizenship Education: In the Environment Related Sections of Australia's 'Discovering Democracy School Materials' Project." Griffith University. Australian School of Environmental Studies, 2003. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20030905.115718.
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This study explores the impact of neoliberal education policies on the discourses of citizenship and citizenship education in an Australian citizenship education project entitled 'Discovering Democracy School Materials.' This project is the largest national curriculum development project in Australia and represents the official discourses of citizenship in Australia. The materials were developed in response to concern about the poor understanding of civics and citizenship in Australia and the lack of quality citizenship education materials and background information for teachers. The scope of the study was managed by focusing on a corpus of twelve text groups, selected from the materials because they related to the environment - an area of citizenship of interest to young people and which allows consideration of recent trends in the practice of citizenship. An approach to critical discourse analysis recommended by Fairclough (1992) was used. This involved a three-step process of identifying and analysing: (i) the discourse evident in the words in the text, (ii) the processes of production, dissemination and consumption of the texts, and (iii) the contextual social and cultural practices that influenced the development of the text. There were six steps in the discourse analysis. The first involved identifying the corpus related to the environment. The second was to identify and describe the discourses of citizenship and citizenship education evident in the text. The third involved interviewing key participants in the processes of text production, dissemination and consumption to ascertain their perceptions of the discourses evident in the texts. The fourth was an analysis of these interviews to interpret the discourses participants acknowledged as being within the text and the discursive practices that operated to establish those discourses. The sixth was an explanation of the impact of neoliberalism on the development of the materials. The results indicate that two discourses of citizenship and citizenship education were dominant within the materials - Legal Status and Public Practice. The same two discourses were evident in the interviews with key participants in the processes of text production, dissemination and consumption. In all cases, the materials lacked any evidence of the citizenship or citizenship education discourses of Democratic Identity, World Citizenship and Democratic Participation, although Democratic Identity was a minor aspect of one of the twelve text groups. A range of discursive practices related to neoliberalism was identified as influential on this pattern of discourses. Perceptions of teacher deficiency were influential in the process of text production as was the power of key individuals and groups such as the national education minister and his department, a government-appointed Civics Education Group, the Curriculum Corporation and, to a much lesser extent, teacher professional associations. Two discursive practices were influenced in text dissemination: the materials were provided free of charge to all schools and extensive professional development was provided. These provided significant inducements to teachers to use the materials. Discursive practices operating in the process of text consumption provided added inducement by showing teachers how to select key components of the materials for local use. However, this concern for local context was undermined by the extreme strength of the presentation of what counts as legitimate citizenship and the lack of opportunity for alternative or resistant readings of the texts. Three aspects of neoliberalism were seen as especially influential in these discursive practices - the strong focus on the development of legitimate knowledge, marketisation, and an emphasis on the need for evaluation. The study concludes with an examination of the implications of the findings to identify recommendations for teachers, teacher educators, materials developers and opportunities for further research.
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Muller, Denis Joseph Andrew. "Media accountability in a liberal democracy : an examination of the harlot's prerogative /." Connect to thesis, 2005. http://repository.unimelb.edu.au/10187/1552.
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This thesis is both a normative and empirical study of media accountability in a liberal democracy. While its focus is predominantly on Australia, it contains some international comparisons. Media ethics and media performance in relation to quality of media content are identified as the two main dimensions of media accountability. They may be conceived of as the means and the ends of media work. The thesis represents the first combined survey of both external mechanisms of accountability in Australia – those existing outside the various media organisations – and the internal mechanisms existing within three of Australia’s largest media organisations. These organisations span print and broadcasting, public and private ownership. The thesis is based on substantial qualitative research involving interviews with a wide range of experts in media ethics, law, management, and accountability. It is also based on two quantitative surveys, one among practitioners of journalism and the other among the public they serve. This combination of research is certainly new in Australia, and no comparable study has been found in other Western countries. In addition to the main qualitative and quantitative surveys, three case studies are presented. One deals with media performance in relation to quality of media content (the case of alleged bias brought against the Australian Broadcasting Corporation by the then Senator Richard Alston); one deals with media ethics (the “cash-for-comment” cases involving various commercial radio broadcasters), and one deals with accountability processes (the “Who Is Right?” experiment at The Sydney Morning Herald).
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Aylward, Joe. "Electoral sources of support in South Australia : The Australian Democrats /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1998. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09AR/09ara981.pdf.
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van, Vuuren Catharina Cornelia Maria (Kitty), and n/a. "Community Participation in Australian Community Broadcasting: A Comparative Study of Rural, Regional and Remote Radio." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2004. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20040720.153812.
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This study investigates the relationship between media and democracy with a particular focus on Australian community broadcasting. I put forward the thesis that the value and purpose of community broadcasting are located in its community development function, rather than in its ability to transmit alternative information. This suggests that an analysis should emphasise community rather than media. Community development promotes the empowerment of ordinary people so that they can confidently participate in management and decision-making - that is, the procedures and norms that underpin democratic practices. In the case of community media, the relationship between democracy and media is located primarily in its volunteers. To understand this relationship, I link together concepts of the public sphere and social capital. The public sphere is understood as multiple and diverse and linked to other publics via the web of relationships forged among people with shared interests and norms. I argue that a community public sphere should be understood as a cultural resource and managed as a common property. The public sphere is thus conceived to have a more or less porous boundary that serves to regulate membership. Understood as a bounded domain, the public sphere can be analysed in terms of its ideological structure, its management practices and its alliances with other publics. This approach also allows for a comparison with other similar public spheres. The study identifies two main ideological constellations that have shaped the development of Australian community broadcasting - professionalism and community development, with the former gaining prominence as the sector expands into rural and regional communities. The ascendancy of professional and quasi-commercial practices is of concern as it can undermine the community development potential of community broadcasting, a function that appears to be little understood and one which has attracted little research. The study presents a case study of three regional and remote rural community radio stations and compares them from a social capital perspective. Social capital is a framework for understanding the relationship between the individual and the community and explores this relationship in terms of participation in networks, reciprocal benefits among groups and individuals and the nature of active participation. Demographic and organisational structures of the three stations are also compared. By taking this approach, each station's capacity for community development and empowerment is addressed. The results of the fieldwork reveal that the success of a community radio station is related to 'community spirit' and demographic structure. They reveal that the community radio station in the smallest community with the lowest per capita income was best able to meet the needs of its community and its volunteers.
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Wambali, Michael Kajela Beatus. "Democracy and human rights in Tanzania Mainland : the Bill of Rights in the context of constitutional developments and the history of institutions of governance." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1997. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/4207/.
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This thesis is an examination of human rights and constitutional development in Tanzania Mainland. The colonial and post-colonial history is used to analyse the development of human rights struggles, as well as institutions such as the Bill of Rights in the recent development of multi-party democracy. The thesis intends to establish that in spite of global factors such as pressure for democratisation from international institutions, the achievement of the Bill of Rights in Tanzania Mainland is part of a wider rights struggle of the people of Tanzania. The effective legal and political implementation of specific rights such as the right to vote, freedom of association and assembly reflect the state of that struggle. The thesis further seeks to establish that while the government sponsored the enactment of the Bill of Rights in 1984 and the re-introduction of multi-partism in 1992, it has always preferred to exercise extreme control over the enjoyment of political rights. This has often involved curtailing the establishment and free operation of institutions of popular democracy. The thesis goes on to suggest that unless a democratic culture and civil society are restored in the country, the success of the rights struggles of the people will be far-fetched. Together with the above it is argued that the struggle for rights could be enhanced by working from what is provided as legal rights, all interested parties pushing for the expansion of the human rights field. This can only be attained if the majority of Tanzanians are made aware of the existence of such rights through legal literacy programs.
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Cully, Mark. "The South Australian experiment with industrial democracy /." Title page, contents and introduction only, 1987. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09EC/09ecc967.pdf.
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Wise, Rod. "Deepening Australian democracy : what can schools do? /." Connect to thesis, 2000. http://eprints.unimelb.edu.au/archive/00000695.
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Saint-Laurent, Geneviève. "Le droit de vote limité par la condamnation pénale ou la quête d'un équilibre entre droit fonctionnel et droit individuelcomme limite au droit de vote ou la quête d'un équilibre entre droit fonctionnel et droit individuel." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015AIXM1048.
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Bien que le caractère fondamental du droit de vote ne soit plus contesté dans les pays démocratiques, il semble néanmoins subsister un fort a priori quant aux qualités morales requises pour pouvoir disposer de la capacité électorale. En effet, dans de nombreux États, on considère que les détenus doivent systématiquement être privés de leur droit de vote, car indignes de participer à la vie démocratique. Néanmoins, tant la Cour constitutionnelle d’Afrique du Sud que la Cour suprême du Canada et la Cour européenne des droits de l’Homme ont invalidé des dispositions législatives qui allaient en ce sens. L’analyse comparative de ces décisions, doublée d’une étude de l’évolution historique du droit de vote, révèle que ce droit, autrefois conçu comme un droit fonctionnel – soit un droit de vote ayant d’abord pour objectif la protection de la démocratie en tant qu’institution – est aujourd’hui perçu essentiellement comme un droit individuel - soit un droit de vote avant tout défini comme un droit fondamental attaché à l’individu et à sa dignité. Or, outre le fait que cette sacralisation de l’aspect individuel du droit de vote laisse désormais peu de place aux limitations étatiques, elle a aussi pour effet d’occulter les valeurs collectives qui sont, autant que la participation individuelle au suffrage, au cœur de la démocratie. Cette thèse propose ainsi certaines pistes de solutions qui visent à rétablir un équilibre entre les deux pôles du droit de vote, en cherchant à la fois à préserver la dignité individuelle attachée à l’acte électoral et à valoriser la dignité de la fonction électorale comme élément essentiel de l’intégrité du processus démocratiqueWhile the fundamental and universal nature of a citizen’s right to participate in the electoral process through voting is no longer disputed in democracies, the degree of morality required for electoral capacity is still up for debate. Indeed, in many countries, felons are thought unworthy of participation in the democratic process and are thus systematically disenfranchised. However, the Constitutional Court of South Africa, the Supreme Court of Canada and the European Court of Human Rights have all, in recent years, invalidated legislation that provided for general and automatic disqualification of convicted felons. A comparative analysis of these rulings, paired with a study of historical evolution of the right to vote, reveals that what was once designed as a functional right, one primarily aimed at protecting democracy as an institution, is now perceived strictly as an individual right attached to one’s personal dignity. The shift from a right focused on its “subject” rather than its “object” has had unexpected consequences. The sanctification of the individual’s right has not only encroached on the government’s ability to limit the franchise, it has also undermined the collective values that are, as much as is the individual right to participate in the election, at the heart of democracy. This thesis proposes a number of solutions to the current imbalance between the two aspects of the right to vote, all aimed at preserving the individual dignity tied to the right to cast a ballot but also at promoting the electoral function, crucial to the integrity of the democratic process
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Dann, Christine R. "From earth's last islands: The global origins of Green politics." Lincoln University, 1999. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1905.
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Since World War Two the world has undergone a profound economic and political transformation, from an international economy and internationalist politics to a global economy and globalist politics. The Bretton Woods international financial institutions have 'structurally adjusted' Third World countries, and similar structural reforms have occurred in First World countries. The environmental consequences of globalising economic activity have been severe and also global; the social consequences of the structural reform process are equally severe. National sovereignty has been radically compromised by globalisation, and previous nationally-based initiatives to manage the activities of capital in order to mitigate its negative impacts on society and the environment, such as social democrat/labour politics, have ceded their authority to globalism. Green parties have arisen to contest the negative environmental and social consequences of the global expansion of capital, and are replacing socialist parties as a global antisystemic political force. Green politics had its origins in the world-wide 'new politics' of the New Left and the new social movements of the 1960s, and the world's first two Green parties were formed in Australia and New Zealand in 1972. A general history of the global forces which gave rise to Green politics, and a specific history of the first two Green parties, demonstrate the interplay of global and local political forces and themes, and provide an opportunity to redefine the core elements of Green politics.
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Vine, Josie, and josie vinces@rmit edu au. "The Larrikin Paradox: An Analysis of Larrikinism's Democratic Role in Australian Journalism." RMIT University. Applied Communication, 2009. http://adt.lib.rmit.edu.au/adt/public/adt-VIT20090721.140654.
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The Larrikin Paradox is concerned with the unexplored nexus between Australian journalism's larrikin tradition and Enlightenment-informed normative theories relating to journalism's public responsibility in liberal democracy. Australian journalism's larrikin tradition, with its connotations of irresponsibility, has so far been considered an inappropriate lens through which to conceptualise Australian journalism's public role. Yet, paradoxically, it is the larrikin's capacity for irresponsibility that gives him, or her, the potential to be an enacting agent of Australian journalism's public responsibility. Using a form of Cultural Historiography, The Larrikin Paradox tests this Thesis Statement: In Australian history, larrikin journalists have been responsible for facilitating and protecting democratic freedom in the public sphere from authority. Because this freedom is in a state of vulnerability, contemporary Australian journalism still needs its larrikin tradition to vouchsafe a work culture capable of maintaining its declared responsibility to 'inform citizens' and 'animate democracy'. However, the dearth of theory concerning the larrikin as a democratic figure has meant that The Larrikin Paradox has had to conceptualise it, more or less, from scratch. After first assembling the figure from over a century of references to the larrikin, The Larrikin Paradox approaches this conceptualisation using a process of historiographical recovery and interpretation. Using a literature review of larrikinism in general, The Larrikin Paradox investigates a possible larrikin axiology relevant to Australian journalism micro-culture. This axiology is gleaned from an analysis of the term's meanings in sources such as dictionaries and commentaries on Australian English, as well as biographical and autobiographical material directly related to Australian journalism. Once gleaned, this axiology is used to inform an investigation into the history of larrikinism in Australian journalism. The history is drawn from those salient sources of journalism as a micro-culture: biographies and autobiographies by, or about, Australian journalists. Here we assume that our axiological 'compass' can help us seek out the larrikin elements in those micro-cultural sources; thereby identifying manifestations of larrikinism within almost 150 years of Australian journalism history. With larrikinism's historical and axiological significance established, The Larrikin Paradox moves on to a comparative analysis of Australian journalism during the Whitlam (1972 - 1975) and Howard (1996 - 2007) eras using oral history and industry-specific publications. This part of the investigation finds there is marked divergences in Australian journalism's cultural interpretation of its larrikin tradition arising from distinct socio-political contexts. In short, the Howard generation (1996 - 2007) of journalists is found to be less larrikin than those of the Whitlam generation (1972 - 1975). However, with the cultural theories of Stuart Hall (1978) and Raymond Williams (1958, 1977) in mind, The Larrikin Paradox concludes that the larrikin, as a democratic figure, can be re-constructed within the micro-culture of Australian journalism.
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Marchant, Sylvia, and srmarch@internode on net. "The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate: the Upper House we Had to Have." The Australian National University. ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, 2009. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20100723.095617.
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Abstract
This thesis examines the raison d�etre of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Australian bicameral parliament, established in 1901. It explores the literature that might have influenced its establishment and structure, and the attitudes, ideals, experience and expectations of the men (and they were all men) who initiated its existence and designed its structure during the Federation Conventions of the 1890s. It goes on to study whether similar western and British influenced institutions were seen as models by the designers of the Senate, followed by an examination of its architecture, d�cor, and procedures, to determine the major influences at work on these aspects of the institution.
The study was undertaken in view of the paucity of studies of the history and role of the Senate in relation to its powerful influence on the Government of Australia. Its structure can allow a minority of Senators to subvert or obstruct key measures passed by the lower house and is a serious issue for Governments in considering legislation. Answers are sought to the questions of how and why it was conceived and created and what role it was expected to play. The study does not extend beyond 1901 when the Senate was established except to examine the Provisional Parliament House, opened in 1927, which realised the vision of the Convention delegates who determined that the Senate was the house we had to have.
The research approach began with an exhaustive study of the Records of the Federal Conventions of the 1890s, where the Constitution of Australia was drawn up, along with contemporary writings and modern comment on such institutions. A study of the men who designed the Senate was carried out, augmented with field visits to the Australian State Parliaments. Research was also conducted into upper houses identified by the delegates to the Australian Federal Conventions, to consider their influence on the design of the Senate.
The conclusion is that the Senate was deliberately structured to emulate the then existing British system as far as possible; it was to be an august house of review and a bastion against democracy, or at least a check on hasty legislation. The delegates showed no desire to extinguish ties with Great Britain and their vision of an upper house was modelled directly on the House of Lords. The vast majority of delegates had cut their teeth in colonial upper houses, which were themselves closely modelled on the Lords. To not establish a Senate would have been to turn their backs on themselves. The Senate then, is not a hybrid of Washington and Westminster: the influence of the United States was limited to the composition of the Senate and its name and mediated through the filter of its British heritage. The example of other legislatures was unimportant except where it solved problems previously experienced in the Colonial Councils and which might have otherwise occurred in the Senate. The Senate was the upper house we had to have; it was a decision that was taken before the delegates even met.
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Tickle, Sharon. "Assessing the "real story" behind political events in Indonesia : email discussion list Indonesia-L's coverage of the 27 July 1996 Jakarta riots." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 1997. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/35887/1/35887_Tickle_1997.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
The government-backed invasion of the Indonesian Democratic Party's Jakarta headquarters on the morning of27 July 1996, and the resulting violent riots in which
at least five people died marked a pivotal point in Indonesian politics generally, and the pro-democracy movement specifically. This was a newsworthy event which was covered extensively by the broadcast and print media globally, however the time taken to relay the story and the credibility of the reports was highly variable for
domestic as well as foreign media. Coverage by a national and regional Indonesian newspaper, as well as a national and regional Australian newspaper was compared
with the email discussion list Indonesia-L's coverage for the news values of timeliness and accuracy. The October 1996 reports into the incident by the Indonesian National Commission for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch/ Asia
were used as reference materials to evaluate the accuracy of the media reporting. The degree of government involvement in the attack on the PDI HQ was not reported by the Indonesian daily newspapers which also under-reported the number of victims while focussing on the law and order aspect of the story. Reportage by both the
national and regional Australian papers focussed on the violence of the riots which
posed a threat to President Soeharto 's rule, the role of the armed forces in
maintaining law and order, and also underestimated the number of victims. Indonesia-L disseminated the fastest and most accurate reports of the event with eyewitness
accounts providing considerable detail. Only two of the 18 postings were found to be sensationalistic and inaccurate. Implications for the future use of
computer-mediated communication, such as email discussion lists, as an alternative source of news which circumvents government control, as well as the time and commercial constraints of print media are discussed.
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Mantki, Sangar Musheer. "The impact of ethnosectarianism on Iraqi power sharing democracy, 2003-2014." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2017. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/43635/.
Full textAbstract:
Since the regime was brought down by coalition forces in 2003, Iraq has been undergoing the process of democratisation through some significant political changes, namely, relatively free and competitive elections, and the freedom to form political and civil organisations. However, it faced crucial challenges that undermined this process such as ethno-sectarian violence/conflict. This thesis examines the impact of ethnic and sectarian conflict on the failure of the power sharing democracy. The thesis covers the period from 2003 until April 2014. The main themes that the thesis analyses are societal security/ethnic and sectarian violence, ethnic and sectarian inclusion, proportionality, and power devolution/federalism. For the purposes of the thesis, the societal security dilemma (SSD) theory, which focuses mainly on the roles of elites and external actors in societies that experience a power vacuum or institutional collapse in divided societies, is adopted. This theory is used for two purposes: firstly, to examine why and how the ethno-sectarian behaviour of elites affects societal security and the failure to establish a stable democracy; and secondly, to examine the viability of consociational design for the Iraqi case with the existence of distrust, fear and uncertainty among identity groups. The thesis argues that, due to fear, distrust and grievance among groups, the implementation of ethnic regions that draw lines between groups and localise the armed and security forces under a locally elected government is one of the mechanisms for reducing identity based violence and ensuring an effective power sharing democracy.
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Hendriks, Carolyn Maree, and C. M. Hendriks@uva nl. "Public Deliberation and Interest Organisations: a Study of Responses to Lay Citizen Engagement in Public Policy." The Australian National University. Research School of Social Sciences, 2004. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20050921.103047.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis empirically examines how lobby groups and activists respond to innovative forms of public participation. The study centres on processes that foster a particular kind
of deliberative governance including citizens’ juries, consensus conferences and planning cells. These deliberative designs bring together a panel of randomly selected lay citizens
to deliberate on a specific policy issue for a few days, with the aim of providing decision makers with a set of recommendations. While policy makers worldwide are attracted to these novel participatory processes, little consideration has been given to how well they work alongside more adversarial and interest-based politics. This doctoral research project examines this interface by studying what these processes mean to different kinds of policy actors such as corporations, advocacy groups, government agencies, experts
and professionals. These entities are collectively referred to in this thesis as ‘interest organisations’ because in some way they are seeking a specific policy outcome from the
state – even government-based groups.¶
The empirical research in this thesis is based on comparative case studies of four deliberative design projects in Australia and Germany. The Australian cases include a citizens’ jury on waste management legislation and a consensus conference on gene
technology in the food chain. The German case studies include a planning cells project on consumer protection in Bavaria, and a national consensus conference on genetic diagnostics. Together the cases capture a diversity of complex and contested policy
issues facing post-industrialised societies. In each case study, I examine how relevant interest organisations responded to the deliberative forum, and then interpret these responses in view of the context and features of the case.¶
The picture emerging from the in-depth case studies is that interest organisations respond to deliberative designs in a variety of ways. Some choose to participate actively,
others passively decline, and a few resort to strategic tactics to undermine citizens’ deliberations. The empirical research reveals that though responses are variable, most
interest organisations are challenged by several features of the deliberative design model including: 1) that deliberators are citizens with no knowledge or association with the
issue; 2) that experts and interest representatives are required to present their arguments before a citizens’ panel; and 3) that policy discussions occur under deliberative conditions which can expose the illegitimate use of power.¶
Despite these challenges, the paradox is that many interest organisations do decide to engage in lay citizen deliberations. The empirical research indicates that groups and experts value deliberative designs if they present an opportunity for public relations, customer feedback, or advocacy. Moreover, the research finds that when policy actors
intensively engage with ‘ordinary’ citizens, their technocratic and elite ideas about public participation can shift in a more inclusive and deliberative direction.¶
The thesis finds that, on the whole, weaker interest organisations are more willing to engage with lay citizens than stronger organisations because they welcome the chance to influence public debate and decision makers. It appears that powerful groups will only
engage in a deliberative forum under certain policy conditions, for example, when the dominant policy paradigm is unstable and contested, when public discussion on the issue is emerging, when policy networks are interdependent and heterogeneous, and when the broader social and political system supports public accountability, consensus and
deliberation. Given that these kinds of policy conditions do not always exist, I conclude that tensions between interest organisations and deliberative governance will be common. In order to create more cooperative and productive interfaces, I recommend
that interest organisations be better supported and integrated into citizens’ deliberations, and that steps be taken to safeguard forums from strategic attempts to undermine their
legitimacy.¶
The thesis also sends out three key messages to democratic theorists. First, the empirical research shows that different kinds of groups and actors in civil society vary in their
willingness and capacity to participate to public deliberation. Second, the deliberative design model demonstrates that partisan actors, such as interest organisations, will engage in public deliberation when they can participate as strategic deliberators. In this role
partisans are not expected to relinquish their agendas, but present them as testimonies before a group of deliberators. Third, the empirical research in this thesis should bring
home to theorists that deliberative forums are closely linked to the discursive context within which they operate.
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Atherton, Hugh. "The potential for political literacy in the Australian curriculum." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2020. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/204157/1/Hugh_Atherton_Thesis.pdf.
Full textAbstract:
This qualitative study investigates the potential for the development of political literacy through the Australian Curriculum subjects of History and Civics and Citizenship. It argues that political literacy is important in the context of the significant challenges facing liberal democracies. Taking a policy trajectory approach, the study analyses the views of curriculum formulators along with its state adaptors and teacher interpreters. Findings indicate acceptance of the importance of political literacy but limited potential for its development. Notably, data indicate the limited implementation of Civics and Citizenship and a disjunction between scholars and teachers over what constitutes political literacy education.
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Geiselhart, Karin, and n/a. "Does democracy scale?: a fractal model for the role of interactive technologies in democratic policy processes." University of Canberra. Information Management and Tourism, 1999. http://erl.canberra.edu.au./public/adt-AUC20050628.122941.
Full textAbstract:
The development of interactive communication technologies, such as email and the Internet,
has stimulated much discussion about their potential to assist in the renewal of democracy.
Globalisation, intimately connected with technological advance, has likewise led to
considerations of 'governance' that transcend the nation state. This thesis poses the general
question: Can the efficiencies and economies which drive commercial applications of
interactive technology be applied to democratic policy processes? What conditions will
facilitate this?
The perspective taken here views policy as a communication process between networks of
actors who seek to use resources and decisions to promote their value systems (Considine
1994). Democracy is also seen as a communication process, with a set of criteria which
ensure equal access to information and agenda setting among participants (Dahl 1989).
These definitions and criteria have been chosen for their generality. They apply at all levels
of analysis, and thus may be used for comparison across scales. These are aligned with
concepts from complexity theory as applied to human nonlinear systems and organisational
dynamics, drawing mostly on Kiel(1994) and Stacey (1996). The inherent unpredictability
of these systems and their capacity for complex learning and adaptive self-organisation
offers an alternative paradigm to linear, hierarchical management models.
A combination of literature analysis and case study evidence leads to three extensions of
complexity theory as applied to human systems: Firstly, interactive technology is proposed
as a technique for the potential re-pluralisation of democratic processes in complex human
systems. The possibility of adding many new non-elite voices, and of making these available
to all others, relates to both chaotic forms of self-organisation and the benefits of electronic
democracy. Secondly, evidence is presented for the existence of fractal, or self-similar
patterns in the ways information technology is applied at different levels of governance. It is
shown that instrumental approaches which emphasise efficiency dominate technology use at
the global, national and organisational levels, and these are interdependent. Alternative
patterns which encourage participation also exist at every level. Thirdly, it is argued that the
values of the dominant actors are the main determinants of whether interactive technologies
will be structured to favour democratic forms of communication at every level.
Three theory chapters in Part I develop these arguments by extensive reviews of relevant
literatures. On the global level, convergent media, telecommunications and technology
conglomerates underpin a global 'nervous system' which discourages government
intervention, promotes a global monoculture, inhibits pluralistic debate by minimising access
to alternative forms of information, and emphasises individualism and consumption. Within
nations, widespread uniformity of public sector reform is sympathetic and responsive to
these globalising pressures. Deregulation, privatisation, retreat from public broadcasting,
down-sizing and outsourcing have become standard approaches, and are reflected in
Australian information technology policy and programs. Several exceptions demonstrate
more participatory approaches. At the organisational level, instrumental approaches to
management and computerisation also prevail. In each case, a shift towards globalising
values corresponds to applications of information technology which dampen the complex
interactivity required for democratic policy processes.
Part II supplements this analysis with case study evidence. The organisational data were
collected primarily during a two year qualitative study of interactive technology use in the
Australian Department of Finance and Administration. The researcher found technology use
was inseparable from other change processes, and these were found to have strong elements
inhibiting participation in internal policy. An instrumental approach to interactive technology
use reinforced hierarchical decision processes.
Three minor case studies looked at an internal mailing list in a federal agency, a mostly
national list on Internet and telecommunications policy, and an experiment in electronic
democracy at the local level. These offered additional insights into the ways interactive
technologies can contribute to complex but adaptive policy processes, if normative
democratic values guide their design.
The researcher proposes a set of communication protocols for the use of interactive
technologies in democratic policy processes. These would enable the forms of
communication necessary to reinvigorate democracy in an information age. It is also argued
that these protocols, if applied at the organisational level, and particularly within the public
sector, could become part of a reaffirmation of industrial democracy. This is necessary to
ensure the integrity and accountability of the public sector, given the progressive
intermingling of these institutions with private enterprise. Additional suggestions are made
for research into government uses of information technology as an important focus for policy
analysts.
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Henehan, Kathleen. "Whose party? Whose interests? : childcare policy, electoral imperative and organisational reform within the US Democrats, Australian Labor Party and Britain's New Labour." Thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science (University of London), 2014. http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/1070/.
Full textAbstract:
The US Democrats, Australian Labor Party and British Labour Party adopted the issue of childcare assistance for middle-income families as both a campaign and as a legislative issue decades apart from one and other, despite similar rates of female employment. The varied timing of parties’ policy adoption is also uncorrelated with labour shortages, union density and female trade union membership. However, it is correlated with two politically-charged factors: first, each party adopted childcare policy as their rate of ‘organised female labour mobilisation’ (union density interacted with female trade union membership) reached its country-level peak; second, each party adopted the issue within the broader context of post-industrial electoral change, when shifts in both class and gender-based party-voter linkages dictated that the centre-left could no longer win elections by focusing largely on a male, blue-collar base. Were these parties driven to promote childcare in response to the changing needs of their traditional affiliates (unions), or was policy adoption an outcome of autonomous party elites in search of a new electoral constituency? Using both qualitative and quantitative techniques, this research analyses the correlates of policy adoption and the specific mechanisms through which party position change on the issue took place (e.g. legislator conversion versus legislator turnover). It finds that parties largely adopted the issue as a means to make strategic electoral appeals to higher-educated, post-materialist and in particular, female voters. However, the speed in which they were able to make these appeals (and hence, the time at which they adopted the issue) was contingent on the speed in which elites were able to reform their party’s internal organisation and specifically, wrest power away from both the unions and rank-and-file members in order to centralise decision making power on election campaigns, executive appointments and candidate selection processes into the hands of the leadership.
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Kinuthia, Wanyee. "“Accumulation by Dispossession” by the Global Extractive Industry: The Case of Canada." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/30170.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis draws on David Harvey’s concept of “accumulation by dispossession” and an international political economy (IPE) approach centred on the institutional arrangements and power structures that privilege certain actors and values, in order to critique current capitalist practices of primitive accumulation by the global corporate extractive industry. The thesis examines how accumulation by dispossession by the global extractive industry is facilitated by the “free entry” or “free mining” principle. It does so by focusing on Canada as a leader in the global extractive industry and the spread of this country’s mining laws to other countries – in other words, the transnationalisation of norms in the global extractive industry – so as to maintain a consistent and familiar operating environment for Canadian extractive companies. The transnationalisation of norms is further promoted by key international institutions such as the World Bank, which is also the world’s largest development lender and also plays a key role in shaping the regulations that govern natural resource extraction. The thesis briefly investigates some Canadian examples of resource extraction projects, in order to demonstrate the weaknesses of Canadian mining laws, particularly the lack of protection of landowners’ rights under the free entry system and the subsequent need for “free, prior and informed consent” (FPIC). The thesis also considers some of the challenges to the adoption and implementation of the right to FPIC. These challenges include embedded institutional structures like the free entry mining system, international political economy (IPE) as shaped by international institutions and powerful corporations, as well as concerns regarding ‘local’ power structures or the legitimacy of representatives of communities affected by extractive projects. The thesis concludes that in order for Canada to be truly recognized as a leader in the global extractive industry, it must establish legal norms domestically to ensure that Canadian mining companies and residents can be held accountable when there is evidence of environmental and/or human rights violations associated with the activities of Canadian mining companies abroad. The thesis also concludes that Canada needs to address underlying structural issues such as the free entry mining system and implement FPIC, in order to curb “accumulation by dispossession” by the extractive industry, both domestically and abroad.
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Mahony, JT. "Industrial democracy and employee participation in Australia." 1988. http://eprints.utas.edu.au/216.
Full textAbstract:
This paper on industrial democracy and employee participation aims at reaching a conclusion on the likely future of these concepts in this country over say, the next decade. An integral part of this aim will be some observations on what might be the most appropriate form(s) which will serve the wide-ranging interests of the protagonists and what strategy options might be available to encourage and facilitate an expansion of participative practices. The approach adopted relies on a search of the extant literature including research findings and reviews, theoretical analyses, documented experiences and comments and observations by a wide range of writers on the subject. From these sources a background of historical and current expectations, attitudes and activities is built up to provide the basis for the conclusions which this paper aims to make. Worker alienation in industry has been debated since Karl Marx wrote of the plight of workers under industrial capitalism. Alienation exists and can be identified when 'workers are unable to control their immediate work processes, to develop a sense of'purpose and function which connects their job to the overall organisation of production, to belong to integrated industrial communities and when they.fai1 to become involved in the activity of work as a mode of personal self-expression'.Alienation is characterised by powerlessness, meaninglessness, isolation and selfestrangement. The concept of alienation is still of importance throughout the world today and seems to be reduced significantly by the introduction of participative practices directly involving the worker. There is an impressive array of research findings which show consistently that satisfaction in work is enhanced by a genuine increase in workers' decision-making power. Since the days of the industrial revolution few ideas have persisted and been pursued from a multitude of directions as some form of democracy in the arena of industrial labour. Clearly, the concept is one of long standing and there are a number of compelling reasons why it should be addressed by contemporary society. In general, the case for industrial democracy and worker participation rests on a number of arguments which may be classified as the political, moral and economic arguments. The political argument relates to the need to extend democracy from the political to the industrial arena and this can be achieved by allowing workers to have a greater say in decision making at work. The moral argument is about the need to provide for the personal development and satisfaction of individual worker. The several tenets of democracy, viz., freedom of expression, access to information, participation and equality, must be the prerogative of everyone if we are to have a truly democratic society. These principles must extend into every facet of life, not least of all, the workplace. Efforts to improve the quality of worklife must be regarded as a social issue because it impacts on the lives of such a large proportion of the population. The moral argument is of such fundamental importance and has such far reaching implications for society that the case for industrial democracy and participation conceivably could be justified on this ground alone. Finally, the economic argument relates to the belief that participation will improve productivity and industrial relations. One of the prime reasons advanced is that participation fosters a more cooperative attitude between workers and management which raises productivity by reducing industrial stoppages. It can be argued that this concept of using participation to improve productivity looks upon the worker as a special kind of factor of production and whose special characteristics must be taken into account if effectiveness is to be maximised. This contrasts with the view that democracy is a right of the worker. The continuing debate suggests that there are some basic human problems of industrial organisation for which various concepts of industrial democracy and participation are seen as possible solutions. In essence, the debate indicates that the fundamental concerns relate to the sharing of power between workers and management; effective co-operation between all members of an enterprise in the interests of efficiency and effectiveness and/or industrial harmony; and the personal fulfillment of the members of the enterprise. There is adequate justification for the debate to be continued and intensified in this country. Certainly, in recent years there has been renewed interest in the subject brought about largely by the need for improved competitiveness and efficiency and by the demands of a better educated and organised workforce for greater involvement in those aspects which impact upon their worklife. The relevance of this paper is thus will established. The subject is approached by firstly examining in Chapter 2 definitions, forms and levels of implementation of participation. Understanding the concepts involved is of greater importance than lengthy definitional debates but clarification of the meanings of the terms 'industrial democracy' and 'employee participation' does facilitate further discussion. Along with these considerations the chapter also examines the primary forms of participation and whether there is any relationship between the form of participation practised and the level within the enterprise at which this occurs. Chapter 3 analyses three models of participation in use in development, implementation and effectiveness of such schemes and to ascertain what lessons these hold for the development of participatory schemes in Australia. Three European schemes have been selected, viz., joint consultation, co-determination and worker management, as they represent quite a broad spectrum of participatory processes. Contemporary Australian developments are examined in Chapter 4 to determine the form, content and thrust of the activities undertaken, the current state of progress including the attitudes of the principal parties and whether there has been any shift in direction and/or emphasis since the early 1970's.. Chapter 5 then provides information about specific Australian experiences with the European models of participation dealt with in Chapter 3 together with the effectiveness of these models in the Australian industrial environment. It seems that the way ahead in Australia will be predicated on the basis of factors such as the attitudes and actions of governments, employers and unions; the experiences of the last decade or so and the barriers to an expansion of democracy in the workplace. Chapter 6 examines these factors to determine the likely future of the democratisation of work and the strategy options available to encourage and facilitate an expansion of participatory practices.
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Mahoney, J. T. "Industrial democracy and employee participation in Australia /." 1987. http://adt.lib.utas.edu.au/public/adt-TU20051012.112200.
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Klugman, K. "Democracy and the new communication technologies." Phd thesis, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/145937.
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Clarke, Tamsin. "Racism, pluralism and democracy in Australia : re-conceptualising racial vilification legislation /." 2005. http://www.library.unsw.edu.au/~thesis/adt-NUN/public/adt-NUN20050317.121845/index.html.
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Porsborg, Sussi. "Re-politicising cultural democracy: not social policy." Thesis, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1060195.
Full textAbstract:
Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)In the context of arts and cultural funding agencies, the definitions of cultural democracy and the democratisation of culture blur. They are not two sides of the same coin – they are polar opposites. The two opposing forces have been discussed and dismissed for over a fifty-year period; as such both have been expediently reduced to a series of oneliners, or catch phrases – herein lies the problem. The practice of cultural democracy can be historically evidenced in labour-based cultures such as trade unions. The direct connection of labour to community, continues to grow through heritage. Cultural democracy flourishes in the collaborative community through activity, activism and action. It is fundamentally based on equity, in both participation and access to social processes. It will be referred to as a ‘continuous political system’. When this system is blocked or silenced, oppressive forms will appear. Brazilian Educator Paulo Freire astutely recognised this, and provided a framework to locate these mechanisms of oppression. His theories have guided the proposed differences between cultural democracy and the democratisation of culture in this thesis. Cultural democracy has always been aligned with community arts practice. When funding agencies and competing interests guide a community based project, the concept is often negated. Three separate community based works are scrutinised in the framework of cultural democracy. This thesis aims to provide guidelines and questions that can inform social policy and arts practice; and can continue to be utilised as a form of check and balance through procedure.
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Lane, Karen Lesley. "Broadcasting, democracy and localism : a study of broadcasting policy in Australia from the 1920s to the 1980s / Karen Lesley Lane." Thesis, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/18715.
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Felicetti, Andrea. "Deliberative and democratic qualities in the public sphere : a comparative study of transition initiatives in Italy and Australia." Phd thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/150025.
Full textAbstract:
Citizen deliberation is a fundamental concern for deliberative theories of democracy. Early deliberative theorists tied the prospects for a democratic society to the possibility of realising democratic deliberation within publics at large, not just institutions. Nonetheless, circumscribed citizens' or representatives' assemblies have often been identified as the very loci where democratic deliberation could be pursued, whilst the possibility of deliberation within the public sphere has been neglected. The empirical investigation of the deliberative and democratic qualities in the public sphere remains necessary, as well as an understanding of what aspects may hinder or foster quality discursive engagement. The increasingly advocated systemic approach to deliberative democracy calls for a refined understanding of organisations in the public sphere. This study provides an investigation of the qualities of citizens' engagement from a deliberative democratic standpoint. The key concept through which such qualities are investigated is 'deliberative capacity', which is seen in terms of the extent to which organisations host authentic, inclusive, and consequential discursive processes. This work, in particular, is based on a comparative study of four grassroots local initiatives, two from Australia (in Tasmania and Queensland) and two from Italy (in Emilia-Romagna and Sicily). The case studies under examination are associated with Transition, a contemporary movement fighting peak oil and resource depletion through the development of community-level activism. In the initial part, this work discusses the idea of deliberative capacity in light of the wider debates in the field and adapts this concept to suit the empirical investigation of organisations in the public space. Next, the interpretive and qualitative research methodology and relevant literature are presented. Social movement scholarship emerges as the area which has most closely investigated the issues under examination in this work and therefore it receives particular attention throughout the text. The Transition movement is then introduced. After presenting the main features of the movement, Transition is examined through social movement literature and framed within deliberative democratic theory. Four case studies are thus developed. Each of them provides an in-depth understanding and an assessment of the discursive processes characterising the various activities taking place. The ensuing comparative analysis sheds light on the overall deliberative and democratic qualities of these organisations and the way in which deliberative capacity was developed. This research shows that the deliberative and democratic qualities of community-based organisations vary significantly, from particularly problematic to satisfying. In line with earlier studies, the main dynamics accounting for the development of deliberative capacity are found in the interaction of two sets of aspects: the organisations' internal features and the context surrounding them. Deliberative capacity is generated when participants find that adopting and developing deliberative and democratic qualities is valuable in itself and necessary in influencing the local publics and institutions. The findings may inform future theoretical advancement, particularly with regard to the role and potential that organisations in the public space may have in deliberative systems.
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Ker, Walsh Jean. "Do you hear what I hear? Reception in Australian political discourse and effects on engagement with democracy." Thesis, 2016. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/31035/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis in political communication details a qualitative investigation into how citizens receive and make sense of political discourse in a twenty-first century democracy. Recognising criticism of the national discourse as ‘dumbed down’, it explores with a cohort of Australian citizens what meaning they receive from contemporary discourse and how it affects their engagement with democracy. The project employs an innovative method of recruiting participants at a polling booth in Australia’s most typical suburb, followed a month later by same day data collection from three wide-scope groups in facilitated discussion. Analysis of the data finds citizens diagnose the discourse as negative and of poor quality, for which they first blame the media. There is an expressed fear that the shallowness of discourse is dumbing them down. In contradiction to their expectations of democratic citizenship, they are powerless to make themselves heard within a discourse which neither recognises nor respects them. They find the discourse alienating, although overwhelming support for compulsory voting militates against democratic dis-engagement. Digital age communications are used to support unstructured democratic engagement and circumvent the banality of local political discourse.
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Boswell, John. "Between facts and fictions : narrative in public deliberation on obesity." Phd thesis, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/155860.
Full textAbstract:
It is now widely accepted that political actors think and talk about matters of common interest through narratives. But there has been relatively little attention on the consequences of this phenomenon for deliberative conceptions of democracy. On one hand, many of the qualities associated with narrative would tend to suggest it is a pathology of deliberation: in this sense, narrative might be seen as sensationalising and polarising issues, and manipulating and ultimately corrupting rational consideration of the facts. On the other hand, other qualities would suggest that narrative could be a key resource for deliberation: it can also be seen as facilitating communication between diverse actors and mobilising opinion on intractable issues, thereby legitimating political decisions and decision-making processes. This thesis probes these apparently contradictory understandings of narrative by asking: what impact does narrative have on public deliberation? It examines this impact, understood in terms of narrative's influence on deliberative practice, both empirically and normatively. It seeks to determine how narrative influences public deliberation on a complex and contested issue and to interpret what these impacts mean for deliberative democratic ideals. The research explores this question through a comparative case study of public deliberation on the issue of obesity in Australia and the UK. In line with recent developments in deliberative democratic theory, the research adopts a 'deliberative systems' approach to public deliberation on obesity, on the basis that democratic deliberation does and should take place across a range of differentiated but interconnected sites of discussion. As such, it examines the interplay between narratives in various sites of public deliberation on the issue of obesity in Australia and the UK between 2007 and 2011. This study explores how political actors think and talk about obesity as a policy problem through a narrative analysis - a method firmly lodged in the interpretive tradition, in that its focus is on the meanings that political actors ascribe to events. The research, drawing on extensive textual data and over 35 semi-structured interviews with relevant policy actors, identifies the different narratives that actors engaged in policy debate on obesity adhere to and assesses how and to what effect they are performed across sites. The findings challenge prevailing assumptions about the role of narrative in public deliberation. They indicate that the different narratives on obesity do not simply polarize or sensationalise deliberation, nor do they unproblematically facilitate it. Instead, the research produces a rich analysis which shows how the narratives on obesity collectively work to blunt the force of critical or urgent voices, orchestrate and mask conflict on key aspects of the issue, and fudge the detail of specific claims, especially in or near decision-making sites of deliberation. It documents how this discursive process constructs 'wiggle room' around the issue which is more easily exploited by powerful and well-resourced actors, albeit more acutely in Australia than in the UK. The project concludes by exploring this comparative difference to suggest ways in which such deliberative systems might be strengthened. Overall, this research makes crucial methodological, empirical and conceptual advances to scholarship on narrative in politics and policymaking, as well as providing salient lessons for general policy scholars and public health scholars, too. Its ultimate contribution, though, is to the broader effort to understand and improve public deliberation on complex and contested issues in theory and in practice.
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Gordon, Simon James. "Deliberating with Leviathan : addressing complex ecological problems in the administrative state." Phd thesis, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/151060.
Full text
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Bruerton, Mark Kenneth. "COAG, democracy and the Australian Constitution: you can choose two." Thesis, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2440/101787.
Full textAbstract:
A ‘democratic deficit’ has been well identified in the operations of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). This has previously been identified as a primarily political problem. However, perhaps there is more to the story. If COAG is fulfilling a constitutional role as well as a political role, the consequences of its democratic deficit could be far more wide-reaching, threatening the democratic integrity of the constitutional system. In order to determine whether this is the case, this thesis will do two things. First, it will establish whether COAG is a constitutional convention. If this is the case, COAG will be fulfilling a constitutional role and should be considered part of the constitutional framework. Second, this thesis will extrapolate what the consequences of the democratic deficit would be if COAG was a constitutional institution rather than a political one. Answers to these questions will be crucial in developing our system of government to accommodate both democracy and federalism. To do nothing would see democracy further sacrificed in the face of federalism.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, Law School, 2016.
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Marchant, Sylvia. "The Historical Traditions of the Australian Senate: the Upper House we Had to Have." Phd thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/49337.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the raison d’etre of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Australian bicameral parliament, established in 1901. It explores the literature that might have influenced its establishment and structure, and the attitudes, ideals, experience and expectations of the men (and they were all men) who initiated its existence and designed its structure during the Federation Conventions of the 1890s. It goes on to study whether similar western and British influenced institutions were seen as models by the designers of the Senate, followed by an examination of its architecture, decor, and procedures, to determine the major influences at work on these aspects of the institution. The study was undertaken in view of the paucity of studies of the history and role of the Senate in relation to its powerful influence on the Government of Australia. Its structure can allow a minority of Senators to subvert or obstruct key measures passed by the lower house and is a serious issue for Governments in considering legislation. Answers are sought to the questions of how and why it was conceived and created and what role it was expected to play. The study does not extend beyond 1901 when the Senate was established except to examine the Provisional Parliament House, opened in 1927, which realised the vision of the Convention delegates who determined that the Senate was the house we had to have.
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King, Thomas Francis. "The Rise and Fall of Minor Political Parties in Australia." Master's thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/147961.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis contributes to the political science
literature by exploring why minor parties arise and decline.
This thesis explores the rise of Australian minor parties in
Australia from the time of the Labor ‘Split’ in 1955 that led
to the formation of the DLP through to the rise and continuing
rise of the Australian Greens in the 1990s and beyond. In that
time the Australian Democrats emerged in 1977 and in 1996 and
1997 Pauline Hanson’s One Nation first appeared. The thesis
goes behind these parties to explore and analyses the underlying
factors that caused these parties to be established in the first
place and succeed electorally, before, in the case of three of
the parties, meeting their decline. The Australian Greens have
not declined to any significant degree and One Nation has
experienced a political resurrection. The four parties
considered in this thesis were the minor parties that were in the
Federal parliament as at 1 January 2009 or had being in the
Federal parliament and had lost all of their seats in parliament
before that that date.
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Lo, Yu Hong. "Deliberative Monetary Valuation as a Political-Economic Methodology: Exploring the Prospect for Value Pluralism with a Case Study on Australian Climate Change Policy." Phd thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/8949.
Full textAbstract:
This research concerns the role of public deliberation in monetary valuation of the environment. The objective is to evaluate the value pluralistic potential of an innovative methodology known as "deliberative monetary valuation" (DMV). The research includes a series of theoretical discussions and an empirical study.
Recent attempts to redesign environmental valuation surveys are reviewed. The theory of deliberative democracy is explained and compared with the other intellectual current influencing the development of DMV, i.e. the science of analytic deliberation. Current practice is critically assessed to identify major problems. It is argued that capacity for value pluralism does not grow with privilege given to alternative values. The crux is the excess of pre-definitions and pre-judgements. Using deliberative methods to repair or reject the economic conception of value is problematic. Public deliberation plays an emancipatory role of exposing the contested and makes room for different frames of reference of valuing public goods. DMV is an inquiry into the level and quality of WTP articulated under value difference. Deliberative elements serve to ensure that the valuation processes be reflective and self-critical, on the part of the valuing agents and also the researcher. The practice
lacks pluralistic potential as the method has been used to reinforce an established or alternative conception of value. A discourse-based approach is proposed which defines deliberative WTP as an "agreement to pay" to highlight its interactive nature and varying ethical composition.
The empirical study involves an experimental deliberative forum on climate change policy. Twenty four ordinary Australian citizens participated in a one-day workshop to discuss a range of carbon pricing issues, including emission trading and carbon tax. Discussions were audio-recorded and responses to questions about climate change and emission mitigation, including a willingness-to-pay (WTP) request, were assessed. Results show little normative consensus on subjective values, but an initial agreement on preferences. Alternative perspectives became more accessible to participants. The improving discursive communication was related to the invocation of a communicative device that played a rhetorical function. Division was respected while a qualitative convergence on WTP decision was not precluded. Plurality of perspectives was preserved without compromising the capacity for making collective decision. In this light, the stated WTP is understood as a political or social agreement developed upon conflict and contradiction. An "agreement to pay" is illustrated.
This conception of DMV returns economics to politics. The kind of "economic" valuation is a topical and not theoretical one, invariably about money and values yet allowing varying possibilities of theorization. Seeking monetary expressions is not unacceptable where economic frame is not privileged. A pluralistic economic order requires unconstrained, self-critical paradigmatic norms being actively embraced.
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Mitchell, Euan Wallace. "Making noises: contextualising the politics of Rorty’s neopragmatism to assess its sustainability." Thesis, 2005. https://vuir.vu.edu.au/1462/.
Full textAbstract:
This creative thesis is written in two parts: Volume 1 is a novel and Volume 2 is the accompanying exegesis which explains the process of contextualising a school of philosophy’s politics within the novel. These volumes combine to build a new window onto contemporary theoretical debate regarding the sustainability of so-called liberal democracy. Volume 1, the novel, provides a fictionalised account of federal government involvement with the popular music industry in Australia during the 1990s. The story is told from the point of view of a newcomer to a music industry organisation funded by the federal government called the ‘Oz Rock Foundation’. This organisation is run by a former federal politician who maintains close links with his political colleagues still in government. When the newcomer discovers a young Aboriginal prisoner with exceptional musical talents, the former politician seizes this opportunity to help launch the Oz Rock Foundation in the ‘Year of the Indigenous Person’. This venture, however, has unexpected consequences which emerge as the story develops. Volume 2, the exegesis, employs a narrative framework to explain the process by which an analysis of philosopher Richard Rorty’s version of neopragmatism fed into the creation of the novel. Political issues raised by neopragmatism are thematically linked to fictional contexts informed by the history of government experimentation with the Australian music industry. The process is guided by questions designed to assess whether a neopragmatic version of liberal democracy is sustainable in this form. The novel is further shaped by its attempt to extend a particular tradition, within the genre of the political novel, that contextualises themes related to ‘natural rights’ as the foundation of liberal democracy. The exegesis, in its discussion of issues raised by the completed novel, then draws on existing research into the sustainability of democracy in order to synthesise an overall perspective. NOTE: Due to copyright arrangements with the publisher of Making Noises, the text of the novel (Volume 1) is not available as part of the digital version of this thesis. The novel was published in November 2006 by OverDog Press (Melbourne, Australia). The ISBN is: 9780975797921
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Stephenson, Scott. "Oligarchy contested and interconnected: The New South Wales Labor Party and the trade unions from 1910 to 1939." Phd thesis, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/132077.
Full textAbstract:
The period from 1910 to 1939 was one of the most turbulent chapters in New South Wales labour history. It was defined by intense ideological conflict, winner-take-all factional warfare, widespread accusations of corruption and multiple Labor Party splits. Intertwined within these issues were questions of democracy and oligarchy within the labour movement. To what extent should members control labour institutions? Democracy within unions and parties means control by the ordinary members and, where necessary, their accountable representatives. Oligarchy sits at the opposite end of the spectrum from democracy and entails organisational domination by a small group of leaders. This thesis examines the tensions and struggles between democracy and oligarchy within three key labour organisations. Events inside one major organisation affected what happened inside the others and my study is therefore relational and comparative, examining the Australian Workers Union (AWU), the Miners Federation and the NSW Labor Party. Both the AWU and NSW Labor Party were oligarchies and became more oligarchical over time. Conversely, the Miners Federation was highly democratic, although it too became less democratic over time. The NSW Labor Party was an interconnected oligarchy, both influencing and influenced by its affiliated trade unions. These influences were complicated and sometimes counterintuitive. At times the effects were straightforward, with organisations and leaders transposing their own methods into another organisation, but in other instances the participation of oligarchical unions and union leaders enhanced democracy within the Labor Party and vice versa. Oligarchy predominated in the AWU and NSW Labor Party but it was always contested. Countervailing tendencies against oligarchy were continuously operating in some form, even when the organisations were at their least democratic. My analytical framework comes from the sociological literature on trade union and political party democracy and I compare each organisation’s community, rules, local autonomy, rank-and-file decision-making, internal opposition, free communication and equality between officials and members. The key factor that separated the democratic Miners Federation from the oligarchical AWU and Labor Party was that the miners worked and lived within united, stable occupational communities in which the majority of union members and officials believed in democracy and worked towards its realisation.