Suitable to use in a semester length introductory Australian politics course for university students but will also be useful for other students; and its free-flowing prose style gives it wide appeal to other readers.
About the Author
Acknowledgements
Preface
1. What is politics
2. Who and what do the different political parties in Australia stand for?
3. Indigenous Australians and the politics of the High Court
4. How are the formal political processes supposed to work in Australia
5. How does politics really work? Do we live in a real democracy?
6. Can hope prevail over feelings of apathy, disenchantment, and mistrust?
7. The 2001 Tampa border protection crisis
8. Australia’s 2003 decision to join the war in Iraq
9. Welfare reform
10. Power and the media
11. Should we change the Constitution to make Australia a republic?
12. Can new social movements revitalise Australian democracy?
Endnotes
A clear, concise and lively introduction to politics, the political parties, and some crucial policy issues in contemporary Australia. Includes discussion of very recent events including Barack Obama’s election to the US presidency.
Politics is introduced as being part of our everyday lives and is approached broadly, on the premise that it is about the clash of different ideas and interests and the passions involved in this should not be drained in an unrealistic quest for ‘objectivity’. Rather, expression of views should be encouraged, including to help open up questions, and to provoke expression of different views.
Dr Andrew Scott is Senior Lecturer in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT University, Melbourne. He is author of two previous books, two book chapters, four peer-reviewed academic journal articles or conference papers, and many newspaper articles on aspects of politics and history.