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This paper presents a comparative analysis of the extent to which party law influences the internal organisation of parties in four Commonwealth common law states: Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The research engages with recent comparative party literature that emphasises the increasingly close relationship between political parties and the state, in particular the cartel party thesis. My findings indicate that over the last few decades parties have become subject to greater legal regulation, which supports the claim that parties are now managed more closely by the state. However, it is important to distinguish between legislative and common law (judicial) regulation, as each has a different impact on the organisational autonomy of the cartel party. I argue that parties (as autonomous actors and the authors of parliamentary decrees) have been able to shape legislative regulation to their advantage by eliciting significant financial support from the state, yet minimising the corresponding degree of legislative intrusion into their internal activities. However, cartel parties have not been able to prevent judicial scrutiny of their internal workings, and have lost a significant degree of organisational independence as principles of administrative law (usually reserved for state bodies) are being increasingly applied to their structure and behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between the Pacific islands and the region’s ‘bigger brothers’ – Australia and New Zealand – is often seen in two-dimensional terms with the latter appearing to act in concert and in terms characterised by underlying neo-colonial attitudes and a determination to dominate the regional agenda. Given that both are former colonial powers with considerable political and economic resources and are the major aid donors in the region as well as being members of the powerful geopolitical entity known as ‘the West’, it is not difficult to sustain an image of neo-colonial dominance. But to do so also requires casting Pacific island countries in a certain role, not only lacking agency but also cohering around a common identity and set of interests. This article examines key aspects of regional relations as played out through the region’s premier organisation, the Pacific Islands Forum, and assesses the extent to which a simple political divide between Australia and New Zealand on the one hand, and the island states on the other, can be maintained. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article aims to explain a hitherto neglected phenomenon: whereas in Australia polls show widespread support for republicanism, most New Zealanders still prefer to retain the monarchy. The main argument of this article is that this difference can only in part be attributed to the polities of the two states or the just slightly varying political cultures. Rather, there are good reasons to assume that the republican shift in Australia was mainly brought about by an intense and lasting public debate on the future of the monarchy 'down under' throughout the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The primary objective of this study is to assess the psychological effects of the voting systems on the substantive representation of women. The central hypothesis is that voting systems influence the perception that female politicians have of their role as political representatives of women and, in particular, that women elected by PR systems are more likely than those elected by majority systems to feel they have a responsibility to represent women. Interviews conducted with 110 female MPs in Australia, Canada and New Zealand between 2001 and 2004-5 do not support this assumption. The conclusion explores how the concept of surrogate representation may improve our understanding of the psychological effects of the voting system on the substantive representation of women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent comparative studies find Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to be among world leaders in tobacco control, but the explanations differ. Are cultural or institutional factors, especially federalism, more important in making these three English-speaking countries among the strongest tobacco-control regimes in the world? This study employs data on policy instruments that have been commonly used in tobacco control policy. Paradoxically, the federation that is more fiscally centralised, Australia, has had the most decentralised process of tobacco control, which has allowed it to initiate new policies earlier. Through similar underlying 'secular morality' values of public health promotion and diffusion, both within and across countries, similar outcomes are achieved through different institutional processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]