Australia as a compound republic

Instituting republicanism: Parliamentary vices, republican virtues?

“…All that can be attempted in this paper is a prospective reappraisal of the political history and intellectual influences at work in Australian parliamentary institutions. Following Evans and Sharman, I detect surprisingly vital republican elements at work in the design and operations of our existing parliamentary arrangements (Sharman 1990(Sharman , 1992Evans 1992). Perhaps to the embarrassment of anti-republicans, the Australian parliamentary system is, to a Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 12:43 06 February 2015 remarkable degree, covertly republican.…”

Conceptions of Australian political thought: A methodological critique

“…The most usual approach is to examine the core ideas 'embedded' in the Downloaded by [University of Cambridge] at 05:50 05 June 2016 formal practices and institutions of Australian democracy, such as the constitution, federalism, and cabinet government. These issues have been the automatic focus of attention for much empirical political science in Australia, such as in the work of Sharman (1990) and Colebatch (1992) mentioned earlier. The goals of the Australian Republican Movement may be interpreted as an attempt to jettison the residual monarchism of the Australian constitution and insert or 'embed' new principles into our political institutions and practices.…”

“…Where Hugh Collins (1985, 148) also departs from the Hancock school of thought, he conceives Australian political ideology largely in terms of a 'mental universe' and interprets it uniformly as a species of Benthamite utilitarianism. Consequently, Collins, and others like Sharman (1990) and Colebatch (1992) who take a more institutional focus, overlook both the different types of political thought, the disparate levels of analysis to which it is directed, and the diversity and quality of political ideas and traditions in Australia. 1 One of the most productive analyses to date has been Jim Walter's critique (1988,243) of the received versions, and his argument for the study of 'organic intellectuals' as the bearers of social and political ideas in an Australian political culture.…”

Rediscovering Australian federalism by resurrecting old ideas

“…Parliamentary representation relates to majoritarian aspects of the system (Lijphart 1984) whereas federal institutions embody the organising principle for political processes reflecting territorial preferences (see Frenkel 1986, 107; also Dahl and Tufte 1973). Most of the literature on Australian government deals with the majoritarian aspects of the system rather than the dynamics of federal institutions (but note Galligan 1989;Galligan and Uhr 1990;Gerritsen 1990;Holmes and Sharman 1977;Painter 1988;Sharman 1990). Also, it is common for hierarchical levels of government to be emphasised at the expense of federal processes and from a federal perspective; this leaves a rich political landscape of government organisation virtually untouched (but see Galligan and Walsh 1990).…”

“…Because federal theory in Australia is weak (see Sharman 1990), it is useful to consider the development of ideas in the context of federalism in the American system. Obviously there are institutional differences between the Australian system and the system of government in the United States.…”