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This is a tribute to the late Steve Crook who shared with us the excitement of research on environmentalism. As we predicted, environmental activism in Australia remains socially circumscribed, but its scope, and the scope of environmental concerns, have been widening. Differentiation and proliferation of environmental issues combine with social diffusion and routinization. The pro- portion of people who see the environment as a salient issue continues to be relatively high, in spite of an increasing competition from new issue concerns, including security and illegal migration. The new `white' environmental issues enter the public arena reflecting widespread (though less urgent) concerns about genetic modification of food-crops and cloning of human tissue - all interpreted as `interference with nature'. The `white' environmental issues attract the concern of new social categories of `conscience environmentalists' who are more likely to be women, tend to be older, religious; and less attracted by green organizations. They are also less metropolitan in their location, and not as leftist and postmaterial in their value preferences as their `green' and `brown' predecessors. The formation of the `white' environmental issue cluster and constituency opens the way for new ideological reinterpretations of environmental outlook - and for new political alliances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many academic and popular writers have argued that ‘compulsory voting’ is an illusion in Australia because it is not compulsory to fill out the ballot-paper. This is the orthodox assumption. I argue that this view is mistaken, and that the duty to vote clearly includes the marking of the paper. Whether and how the requirement is able to be enforced is a completely different question from whether it is indeed a requirement. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While sustained public attention is often associated with the politicization of an issue, this paper argues that certain dominant strands of public discourse in relation to animal advocacy in fact serve to depoliticize the movement. Public discussion often equates animal advocacy with veganism, with the latter typically framed or understood as an individual's dietary or lifestyle choice. Furthermore, animal activists are often associated with criminal, or even terrorist, behavior—as was highlighted when the Australian Prime Minister labelled animal activists as "green-collared criminals" in the wake of a public protest. In this paper, the implications of these two public narratives about animal activism is discussed with reference to two examples from Australia: the media coverage of a day of coordinated protests that took place on April 8, 2019, and the New South Wales state parliamentary debates surrounding the Right to Farm Bill 2019. By developing a multi-dimensional conceptual analysis of (de)politicization, this paper argues that the "veganization" (as a form of "issue-privatization") and criminalization of animal activists in public discourse are both forms of depoliticization, in that they frame activists' messages as, respectively, either more appropriately belonging within the private sphere of personal choice, or as not related to the public good at all. I conclude that to avoid the delegitimization that these discursive processes may entail, animal advocates need to develop counter-narratives that emphasize how their claims can support the strengthening of existing democratic institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent comments by the Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, have reignited the socalled history and culture war in Australian schools. Tudge has argued that the newest draft version of the Australian Curriculum is critical of Australia's proud history and does not leave students feeling optimistic about their future in Australia. This paper examines the accuracy of Tudge's claims by carefully placing them within the context of the draft and current version of the Australian Curriculum in relation to History and Civics and Citizenship and also examining them in relation to the history of political involvement in the development of curriculum. By doing so, it demonstrates that Tudge's claims are not founded on an understanding of the content and structure of the curriculum and betray a limited understanding of both the teaching of History and Civics and Citizenship, and the development of curriculum as a whole. The paper concludes with advice for teachers seeking to navigate the troubled waters of curriculum and education at this time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online petitions have become a widespread vehicle for contemporary political participation. While research tends to focus on individual factors for potential petitioners that influence signing, less attention has been paid to the influence of the actual text of petitions. This paper uses data from an original web-based survey experiment in Australia and Germany to test the influence of content factors: narratives (i.e., stories based on individual experiences and emotions) and popularity cues (i.e., high numbers of signatures) across two issues: climate change and welfare policy. We find that narratives within petition texts involve readers through the mechanism of transportation and motivate them to sign petitions, as do popularity cues. The effects of narratives were found across both countries but tended to be stronger in Germany than in Australia. We argue that our novel framework can be used for future research on how the presentation of issues shape contemporary political participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Australian Journal of Political Science is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This special section builds on Planning the Post‐Political City—Part 1 to examine if and how planning is showing signs of a post‐democratic turn taking place in Australian cities. In Part 1, we presented a collection of papers examining Australia as a post‐political landscape, exploring the new ways in which Australian publics are resisting dominant neoliberal practices and logics of growth and, in doing so, are intervening in decision‐making practices to assert new forms of power and participation. In Part 2, we show how participatory practices continue to evolve. We use this brief editorial to ask a foundational question: have those implicated in the governance and management of Australian cities embarked on a post‐democratic path? As they are presented with new exclusionary and managerial governance systems, the public's participation suggests at the very least that post‐political and post‐democratic conditions are neither immutable nor inevitable. However, more democratic forms of governance rely on a rich array of activist types and approaches requiring greater institutional support in order to challenge Australia's post‐political condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper brings together two disparate but critical bodies of literature about contemporary citizen participation in the Australian city: transport politics and post-politics. The argument is advanced that state and citizen actor relations--as they exist in the governance and management of Australian urban transport--have taken on characteristics of post-politics. By conceiving of citizen participation in this manner, new ways of understanding it are generated and it is possible to appreciate how such participation is shaped by state actors both across time and in response to the politicisation of transport proposals. The paper illustrates the extent to which citizen engagement has become a new focal point in transport politics, particularly given citizens' capacities to politicise proposals and transport trajectories. It achieves such ends by drawing upon key-informant interviews conducted between 2013 and 2016 with public transport advocates, select resident groups, and local and state level planning officials from Melbourne, Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What motivates corporate political action? Are corporations motivated by their own narrow economic self-interest; are they committed to pursuing larger class interests; or are corporations instruments for status groups to pursue their own agendas? Sociologists have been divided over this question for much of the last century. This paper introduces a novel case - that of Australia - and an extensive dataset of over 1,500 corporations and 7,500 directors. The paper attempts to understand the motives of corporate political action by examining patterns of corporate political donations. Using statistical modelling, supported by qualitative evidence, the paper argues that, in the Australian case, corporate political action is largely motivated by the narrow economic self-interest of individual corporations. Firms' interests are, consistent with regulatory environment theory, defined by the nature of government regulation in their industry: those in highly regulated industries (such as banking) and those dependent on government support (such as defence) tend to adopt a strategy of hedging their political support, and make bipartisan donations (to both major parties). In contrast, firms facing hostile regulation (such as timber or mining), and those without strong dependence on state support (such as small companies) tend to adopt a strategy of conservative partisanship, and make conservative-only donations. This paper argues that regulatory environment theory needs to be modified to incorporate greater emphasis on the subjective political judgements of corporations facing hostile regulation: a corporation's adoption of conservative partisanship or hedging is not just a product of the objective regulation they face, but also whether corporate leaders judge such regulation as politically inevitable or something that can be resisted. Such a judgement is highly subjective, introducing a dynamic and unpredictable dimension to corporate political action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The SchoolStrike4Climate protests have renewed interest in youth political participation, but there has been little scholarly explanation for how young people came to be involved in such actions. While most studies focus on the motivations of participants, this paper considers the role of youth-led organisations in fostering political interest and action for climate justice among young people. Through a case study of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC), we argue that over 15 years this youth-led organisation has played a key role by building an enduring organisational base and using multiple strategies to foster understanding and commitment among young people in Australia towards issues of sustainability and action on climate change. Key to the AYCC approach is a climate justice narrative in which young people are legitimate political actors responding to the climate crisis. This narrative manifests in the organisational structure, youthful hybrid repertoires of action and peer-based, educative initiatives. From our analysis, we propose the concept of 'educative movement-building' to describe the unique way young people are making organisations and generating broad support for climate justice in Australia with implications for studies of environmental activism and democracy more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite growing evidence on the social determinants of health and health equity, political action has not been commensurate. Little is known about how political will operates to enact pro-equity policies or not. This paper examines how political will for pro-health equity policies is created through analysis of public policy in multiple sectors. Methods: Eight case studies were undertaken of Australian policies where action was either taken or proposed on health equity or where the policy seemed contrary to such action. Telephone or face-to-face interviews were conducted with 192 state and non-state participants. Analysis of the cases was done through thematic analysis and triangulated with document analysis. Results: Our case studies covered: trade agreements, primary healthcare (PHC), work conditions, digital access, urban planning, social welfare and Indigenous health. The extent of political will for pro-equity policies depended on the strength of path dependency, electoral concerns, political philosophy, the strength of economic and biomedical framings, whether elite interests were threatened and the success or otherwise of civil society lobbying. Conclusion: Public health policy actors may create political will through: determining how path dependency that exacerbates health inequities can be broken, working with sympathetic political forces committed to fairness; framing policy options in a way that makes them more likely to be adopted, outlining factors to consider in challenging the interests of elites, and considering the extent to which civil society will work in favour of equitable policies. A shift in norms is required to stress equity and the right to health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of halal commodities globally reveals how Muslims are an object of increasing commercial interest. In Australia, despite a hostile political context, the recognition of Muslims as consumers, captured by the growing availability of halal goods, is providing alternate modalities of belonging. Drawing on fieldwork from Melbourne, Australia, this paper illustrates the ways halal consumption works to produce local, national and global orientations in citizenship and belonging for Australian-Muslims. By paying close attention to ethnographic encounters, the paper demonstrates how participation in the research process played a significant role in shaping the way participants defined, delimited and expanded the meanings of halal and its relationship to identity claims and ethical consumption. The paper argues that the concept of consumer-citizenship offers an important prism for understanding these experiences and for challenging prevailing binaries of minority and mainstream belonging in a consumer society. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Large corporations in Australia have shifted from limited to more fulsome engagement in political activity (CPA) in recent decades. The paper argues that this reflects corporate institutional change in response to wider changes in the environment that have included growing government intervention, increased industry concentration and intra-sectoral competition, and a more complex and challenging discursive and issues environment. Quantitative and regression-based analysis of the drivers of CPA are employed and the analysis is extended and deepened with material drawn from interviews with twenty-five corporate government relations professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a commentary on the article "Participation of Learning Disabled People in the Parliamentary Election of 2019 in the United Kingdom". Design/methodology/approach: Personal experience of advocating in Australia for the rights of people with learning disabilities to vote and to receive the necessary support to do so. Findings: People with learning disabilities have persistently been excluded from political participation. This is an abuse of their human rights. Originality/value: There are many barriers to the political participation of people with learning disabilities, and advocacy on a number of fronts will be necessary to achieve change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stakeholder participation in regulatory processes has become increasingly common. The literature on citizen, customer and consumer participation in regulation shows a rise in these types of engagement, based primarily on individual case studies. However, we lack a solid empirical base for the discussion of this trend. This paper asks to what extent and why this rise in participation in regulatory policy-making occurs, creating a cross-sector, cross-country map of participatory regulation. The research is based on a quantitative, dictionary-based analysis of regulatory agencies' annual reports from 1998 to 2017 (n = 781). The findings show a rise in the use of terms related to participation over time, with the notable exceptions of financial and environmental regulators. These terms are most commonly used in EU level agencies, in Australia and France, while being rarely used in the German and Austrian cases. Our analysis shows that polity level variation is a key driver of how regulators use terms related to participation, and argues that such participation is less common in countries in which stakeholder participation is carried out at the national level through centralized corporatist institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distinct political lives and lifestyles of young people provide a rich arena for social research. This paper traces the origins of contemporary definitions of political participation, which are often at odds with the real experiences and aspirations of young citizens. Despite a growing body of empirical evidence in this field, researchers are still challenged to represent the unique contribution young people make to political life. This paper suggests that expanding the research focus of the study of youth political participation in Australia would offer scope for generating new knowledge and meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at aspects of the detention of irregular migrants in Australia, Malaysia, and Thailand. The principle intention of the paper is to study detention of irregular migrants as a means of understanding politics and how notions of political participation and of sovereignty are affected by the detention of certain sorts of individual. What does the identification of certain “forms of life” to be detained say about the political norms of different societies? The conduit for this examination will be the Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben's concept of homo sacer. Homo sacer is a term Agamben extrapolates from “ancient Roman law”. It denotes a naked or bare life that is depoliticized. Homo sacer is the excess of processes of political constitution that create a governable form of life. Homo sacer is thus exempt or excluded from the normal limits of the state. At the same time, however, homo sacer is not simply cast out but is held in particular relation to the norm: it is through the exclusion of the depoliticized form of life that the politicized norm exists. This essay seeks to contextualize aspects of Agamben's argument by looking at detention as a form of exclusion in three different contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the politics of neo-liberal reform of education and training in the specific context of social partnerships. Social partnerships are hybrid social spaces formed when a range of interests/partners work together for mutual benefit. Partnerships are one of a series of hybridized social spaces which have been formed as a consequence of the trend to neo-liberal governance. The paper begins by situating the study of social partnerships in wider concerns about neo-liberal reform and politics. It reviews literature on social partnerships as a way of identifying the different approaches to the conceptualization of conflict or practical politics. These are role conflict, interest conflict, and regime conflict. It also draws on a series of empirical research projects on social partnerships in Australia which have identified persistent points of tension within partnership formation and maintenance. Drawing these conceptualizations and persistent points of tension together provides a framework which can guide systematic inquiry of social partnerships. The paper suggests that this framework facilitates research by naming different types of political action. It encourages a multi-dimensional analysis of partnership politics rather than presenting partnerships as either a celebratory or categorical expression of neo-liberal political rationality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the current endeavours to render the Australian economy more economically efficient. While the case for microeconomic reform is clear in economic theory, Australian public policy analysts are less sanguine about the possibilities for its long-term success. This paper seeks to develop the parameters of a simple general model to explain both why microeconomic reform proposals are dominant today on the Australian policy agenda and, more importantly, what the conditions are for their success or failure. This general model provides a framework that will allow further elaboration in case studies of particular episodes of microeconomic reform. The paper concludes pessimistically; micro- economic reform has been subsumed into the normal political agenda contests of Australian party politics. The pressures of such ‘politics’ inclines Australian reforming towards incrementalism, rather than the Simon-style rationalism implicit from microeconomics. This mode of policy implementation will inhibit microeconomic reform in the longer term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online petitions are an important feature of contemporary political engagement in advanced democracies. In this paper we report on a unique data set - covering a five year period and over 17,000 petitions - documenting the development of the Change.org platform in Australia. Australia presents an interesting case as, until very recently, there was no national government hosted online petition site. Our analysis results in three findings that advance scholarship on online petitions. First, we find the majority of petitions are in fact targeted at government, and that their issue area is of a political nature. Second, we find that most signers of petitions sign a single petition - they are not serial participants. Finally, we show that ‘super users’ of the online petition system engage broadly as well as often. Together these findings demonstrate that online petition creation and signing - even on commercial platforms - is a distinct and important part of citizen engagement in politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study offers a new framework for understanding the decision-making strategies of first-time voters. Using data from in-depth interviews with young people prior to the 2013 Australian federal election, the paper explores the extent to which our participants were knowledgeable about the upcoming election and the degree to which they invested cognitive effort into making their voting choice. The analysis reveals five distinct voting strategy typologies, which we use to construct a conceptual model that identifies and describes different voting approaches employed by young people. The findings show that young people are not a homogenous group of disinterested and disengaged voters. Instead, within a population of young citizens there are varying levels of interest and effort being invested into electoral participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the complex and continuously evolving processes of de-democratisation evident in urban planning practice in Sydney between 2011 and 2017. New South Wales' successive rounds of planning reform, establishment of a metropolitan commission, and amalgamation of local governments over that period have aimed to reduce local democratic participation in planning decisions, but they have had uneven success. I argue that while New South Wales' efforts to streamline development and de-democratise planning have evolved considerably in response to multiple forms of opposition, the success of the neoliberal project is still uncertain. The insights this story offers add complexity to theorists' claims about the inevitability of depoliticisation and the end of meaningful democratic engagement. The story also offers insights about how power is created, lost, and regained in particular local circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special section examines the possibility of meaningful debate and contestation over urban decisions and futures in politically constrained contexts. In doing so, it moves with the post-political times: critically examining the proliferation of deliberative mechanisms; identifying the informal assemblages of diverse actors taking on new roles in urban socio-spatial justice; and illuminating the spaces where informal and formal planning processes meet. These questions are particularly pertinent for understanding the processes shaping Australian cities and public participation today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnographic practice in contentious and high-risk spaces raises important ethical and methodological questions. When working with grassroots activists who actively avoid forms of surveillance, the boundary between consensual observation and potentially harmful documentation becomes difficult to discern. This article aims not only to identify the gaps in qualitative research methodologies for scholars working with grassroots activists, but also to think of practical ways in which researchers should mitigate concerns both for participants and themselves. Based on fieldwork in Australia, the author explores the ethical, methodological, and emotional dilemmas of conducting research with activists as a militant ethnographer. The article argues that activist-centred project designs must consider the challenges between the researcher's mandate to collect data and their responsibility to uphold security culture both in and outside activist spaces. Reflexive research ethics, further, should be a part of ongoing research engagement to address the emotional tensions overlooked in standardized ethical protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on data from a large-scale sample survey conducted in 2016 within the contemporary ethnic Japanese migrant community in Sydney, Australia, this article focuses on demographics and the political culture of this community to determine the context for Japanese migrants' attitudes, with a focus on gender. Findings suggest that the Japanese community is statistically less politically involved than the wider Australian population, possibly reflecting general attitudes towards politics in Japan, and unique social profiles within the Australian community. Superficially, the lack of interest in political commitment appeared to signify less integration into Australian society. However, our triangulation of the data, combined with follow-up interviews found a new form of political engagement within the Japanese community in contemporary Australia. This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the Japanese ethnic community in Australia and overseas, as well as broadening scholarship about the political awareness and activities of ethnic communities in settler societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines patterns of political activity and campaigning onTwitterin the context of the 2012 election in the Australian state of Queensland. Social media have been a visible component of political campaigning in Australia at least since the 2007 federal election, withTwitter, in particular, rising to greater prominence in the 2010 federal election. At state level, however, they have remained comparatively less important thus far. In this paper, uses ofTwitterin the Queensland campaign from its unofficial start in February through to the election day of 24 March 2012 are tracked. Using innovative methodologies for analysing Twitter activities, developed by the research team, this study examines the overall patterns of activity in the relevant hashtag #qldvotes, and tracks specific interactions between politicians and other users by following some 80 Twitter accounts of sitting members of parliament and alternative candidates. Such analysis provides new insights into the different approaches to social media campaigning which were embraced by specific candidates and party organizations, as well as an indication of the relative importance of social media activities, at present, for state-level election campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers patterns of political participation in Australia in the early 21st century, using recent data from the Australian Election Study. The paper reassesses how Australia fits within broader patterns of political participation and investigates major predictors of participation in Australia to see how these have or have not changed in a globalised era that has brought new challenges. Factors considered include socio-demographic variables, such as education, age, gender, birthplace and place of residence and also attitudinal orientations towards politics, such as political interest, efficacy and trust. The paper pays particular attention to those who have moved to Australia from other countries. One of the most important findings is that immigrants show little or no sign of any participatory disadvantage and indeed tend to participate more than the Australian-born in some modes of participation, such as campaign activities. The analysis also identifies a clear participatory divide within a number of socio-demographic groups in use of the internet for gaining election information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception that young women are disengaged from feminist politics has provoked a great deal of tension between feminist generations. Recent feminist research into generational change has largely avoided this tension by focusing on the shifting meanings of feminism and the discrepancy between young women's reluctance to identify as “feminists” and their general acceptance of feminist attitudes toward gender issues. Nevertheless, in an era when gender equity goals seem to be if not slipping backwards then lacking urgency, young women are less likely to identify with a collective feminist politics than are older women. Underpinned by the findings of a major study of the attitudes toward work, family, and retirement of three generations of Australian women, this paper develops an approach that helps explain this reluctance. Drawing on the work of Karl Mannheim, the paper suggests that the cultural currents shaping the consciousness of different generations of women impact significantly on gender identity. The implications of this cultural shift are considered in the context of feminist politics and the contemporary “culture wars.” [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In November 2008, voters in Victoria participated in local government elections under a system that has been subject to significant reform since the 1980s. This paper seeks to discern trends from the outcomes and identify significant structural features of the reformed system. With regards to outcomes, the paper highlights the high success rate amongst incumbent councillors and the strong sense of successful candidates being independent of political parties. The paper argues that these outcomes have been particularly influenced by the proliferation of electoral districts with relatively small voting populations or by the use of multimember electoral systems in larger districts. The variety of systems used underpins a localised and 'clientelist' politics that militates against the dominance of political parties over the contest. The paper also draws attention to the comparatively low rate of voter participation in an election in which compulsory voting applies. It argues that voter absenteeism was particularly noticeable in municipalities with large numbers of residents renting properties and might be explained as a form of 'renters' illusion' impacting on voting behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Canadian Muslim women, as opposed to their Australian counterparts, have attained prominent social status not only in terms of their contribution to electoral politics but also in other political spheres. With its focus on the Sharia debate, this paper investigates one potential explanation for this difference. Challenging Okin's feminist perspective, which claims that multiculturalism is an undesirable policy for emancipation, it is argued that multiculturalism facilitates agency of female members of Muslim communities. A comparative examination of the Sharia debate between the two secular countries of Canada and Australia demonstrates that the former's more robust multicultural polity in terms of responding to requests to adopt the Sharia have not only culminated in Muslim women's empowerment but have enhanced their political representation. In contrast, Australian Muslim women have neither had the opportunity to articulate their position with regard to Sharia nor to contribute to an important issue that could have empowered them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographies of activism draw on many traditions but few have charted social movements over time. This paper suggests that the consideration of action over time not only enhances our understanding of the degree of social change that occurs, but also the way activists’ interests are acknowledged, or contained, by those they seek to influence. The paper reviews existing literature and proposes the adoption of a particular conceptualization of time–space geometries. The case is made for attending to kairological and topological notions of time–space while recognizing these involve complex geometries of power relations, meanings, resources and social actions. The variability of these patterns in different time–spaces can stimulate multi-dimensional studies and the example of women's agricultural activism in Australia is employed to explore the usefulness of these ideas for geographies of social movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Women continue to be under-represented in senior positions in local government. This study draws on interviews with 19 women mayors who held office in the Australian state of Queensland during the period 2000–2004. The paper finds that the profiles of women in these positions has markedly changed over the last decade, and concludes that if the local government sector is to remain robust and viable in these changing social and economic times there is a need to focus on dismantling the stereotypes and implement well-designed and considered strategies to develop women leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is a preliminary attempt to evaluate changing patterns of democratic governance, at least in Westminster-style parliamentary settings, and possibly more generally. It has two specific purposes: first, to propose a paradigm for evaluating the empirical evolution of democratic governance; and second, to illustrate the explanatory potential of this paradigm through a mini-case study of changing patterns of governance in one particular polity. The conceptual framework is drawn from March and Olsen's eponymous study (1995) from which polar (‘thick’ and‘thin’) forms of democratic governance are derived. Four conjectures about its evolution are then explored. First, in its mass party phase, the pattern of democratic governance approximated the‘thick’ pole. Second, the subsequent evolution of democratic politics has been in the direction of the‘thin’ (minimalist or populist) pole. Third, the cause of this shift was a failure to adapt political institutions to changing citizen identities, which was masked by the ascendancy amongst political elites of the neo-liberal account of governance. Fourth, the paper considers the means by which democratic governance might be renewed. The approach is applied to explain changes in Australian politics over recent decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the relationship between the decriminalization of abortion and women's access to abortion services. It focuses on the four Australian jurisdictions which are, with Canada, the only jurisdictions in the world where abortion has been removed from the criminal law. Tis paper draws on documentary evidence and an oral history project to give a "before and after" account of each jurisdiction. The paper assumes that the meaning and impact of decriminalization must be assessed in each local context. Understanding the conditions that shape access must incorporate analysis of the broader social, political and economic environment as well as the law. The article finds that decriminalization does not necessarily deliver any improvement in women's access to abortion, at least in the short term. Further, it is not inconsistent with the neoliberal policy environment that characterizes the provision of abortion care in Australia, where most abortions are provided through the private sector at financial cost to women. If all women are to enjoy their human rights to full reproductive health care, the public health system must take responsibility for the adequate provision of abortion services; ongoing and vigilant activism is central if this is to be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Almost since its inception, the internet has been seen as a means of reinvigorating political knowledge and engagement among the young. Early studies showed small but significant effects for internet use and increased political knowledge among the young. Using a large, national election survey conducted in Australia in 2013, this paper examines the role of the internet in shaping political knowledge among the young and, in turn, its effects on electoral participation. The results show that use of the internet during an election campaign significantly increases political knowledge among the young, and that such political knowledge enhances the likelihood of turning out to vote. Overall, the results extend the findings of other studies which have demonstrated the potential of the internet to re-engage young people into the political process. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports on findings of recent empirical research which deals with the prevalence and role of government relations functions in large companies in Australia. It is argued that large firms have become more politically active in the last two decades and that many of the largest firms have established specialised government relations functions. The operation of such functions is discussed and the implications of such 'in house' corporate political activism for the role of business associations is explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines a model of political participation and political protest that includes the several well-established modes of orthodox participation as well as a number of dimensions of political protest, and also takes account of the causal order between conventional participation and protest. The analysis indicates that previous findings demonstrating a substantial positive association between unidimensional measures of conventional and unconventional political behavior are incomplete and indeed somewhat mis-leading. The connection between orthodox participation and protest weakens as the style of protest becomes more unorthodox, to such an extent that none of the separate modes of conventional participation are directly related to "radical" protest. Using sheaf coefficients, the paper also tests the relative explanatory power of three sets of determinants of participation and protest: social background characteristics, general orientations toward politics, and attitudes toward issues. Issues are repeatedly weaker than the other two groups of variables in predicting conventional participation but have relatively strong effects on political protest, particularly compared with political orientations, while social structure is consistently influential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The party-money nexus has long excited concerns about corruption and undue influence. However, much of the scholarship in this area has focused on the funding parties receive from external donors or the state. One area of party financing that is underexplored is that of party-controlled commercial enterprises. We examine the nature and scale of the commercial activities engaged in by the two major governing Australian parties: Labor and the Liberals. We find that while commercial activities are long-standing practices, they have diversified over time, becoming more sophisticated and professionalized. Importantly, some of these activities have become decoupled from the proper purposes of parties. The upscaling of party fundraising practices introduces new tensions for parties - both normatively and practically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The political influence of the food industry, referred to as corporate political activity (CPA), represents a potential barrier to the development and implementation of effective public health policies for non-communicable diseases prevention. This paper reports on the feasibility and limitations of using publicly-available information to identify and monitor the CPA of the food industry in Australia.Methods: A systematic search was conducted for information from food industry, government and other publicly-available data sources in Australia. Data was collected in relation to five key food industry actors: the Australian Food and Grocery Council; Coca Cola; McDonald's; Nestle; and Woolworths, for the period January 2012 to February 2015. Data analysis was guided by an existing framework for classifying CPA strategies of the food industry.Results: The selected food industry actors used multiple CPA strategies, with 'information and messaging' and 'constituency building' strategies most prominent.Conclusions: The systematic analysis of publicly-available information over a limited period was able to identify diverse and extensive CPA strategies of the food industry in Australia. This approach can contribute to accountability mechanisms for NCD prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Australian Journal of Political Science is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Recently proposed Anti-Racism Strategy established within a framework of the Australian Government's multicultural policy,People of Australia, identifies ‘youth engagement’ as one of the key areas that needs to be promoted and supported. Young people have been invited to join youth councils and youth forums and work with national, state and local policy-makers. Some have taken up this challenge and became public faces and active members of anti-racism campaigns. Others, however, either remained silent about the discrimination they face, or organised their own grassroots youth-based and youth-led initiatives. This paper discusses individual and collective responses to racism among young people in Australia, focusing on Melbourne, and examines possibilities in which racism, as a common experience among migrant youth, can be utilised to form alternative spaces for political action, challenging not only interpersonal, but also systemic forms of racism. By drawing attention towards institutional and systemic forms of racism, and the historical perpetuation of racist practices, these youth initiatives rely on legal measures, and argue that racism should be discussed in the context of the broader Australian society, not only in relation to minority groups. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]