Australian Politics: Realities in Conflict

A Problematic Discipline: The Identity of Australian Political Studies

“…Second, when undertaken, political thought in Australia has been derivative, unoriginal and by implication inferior (Stokes 1994: 240-1). This sense of de cit construed by Hancock and earlier commentators is repeated by Geoffrey Sawer (1948Sawer ( , 48, 1950a and becomes a staple of mainstream Australian political science (see Loveday 1979;Brugger and Jaensch 1985;Collins 1985;Condren 1985, 37;Emy and Hughes 1988). As a consequence, political development and debate in Australia is thus characterised in terms of a pragmatic utilitarianism.…”

Politics and Management of Recreational Lands: A Case Study of Crown Land Policy-Making in NSW, 1856–1980

“…'People argued over who was to blame and disagreed over what had to be done next. But they did agree that the public bureaucracy had grown too fat during the good years, that its managerial elite had lost touch with reality, and that public sector performance was just not good enough and had to be improved' (Caiden, 1980: 443) (also see Emy and Hughes, 1988). Several Australian governments commissioned inquiries to advise them on such matters (see Caiden, 1980;Wilenski, 1986;Alaba, 1994).…”

Triumphant, Troubled, then Terminal: An Examination of the Cain and Kirner Decade 30 Years On

“…In order to obtain a majority, the Party must reach a majority of people, but this does not equate to abandonment of working people or the union movement. 21 The traditional struggle of labour against the bourgeoisie was never as strong in Australia as elsewhere internationally, thus the ALP was never a truly proletarian party. 20 Emy and Hughes explore this transformation, noting the decline of the working-class voting base upon which the Party had traditionally relied, financial constraints when the Party was elected in 1983, and the need for the country to avoid being left behind by changing global circumstances.…”