Re-theorising Minimalist and Maximalist Discourses in the Australian Monarchy-Republican Debate.

This paper argues that the Australian monarchy-republican debate ought to be understood as competing interpretations of the relationship between political theory and practice, reflected in competing views on the ability of Australian democratic government to withstand the introduction of a republic. These interpretations, named 'minimalist' versus 'maximalist' republicanism, transcend traditional theories of monarchism and republicanism. The first part of the paper contextualises and explains the minimalist-maximalist distinction as a way of understanding the debate. The second part of the paper analyses the language in texts of key political parties and organised movements in the debate in the 1990s. The focus on elites rather than the public is an innovative approach to this debate, as is the engagement of discourse analysis which recommends these methods to other socio-political settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]