Overview

On many criteria, Australia has been a pioneering democracy. As one of the oldest continuing democracies, however, a health check has long been overdue. Since 2002 the Democratic Audit of Australia, a major democracy assessment project, has been applying an internationally tested set of indicators to Australian political institutions and practices. The indicators derive from four basic principles-political equality, popular control of government, civil liberties and human rights and the quality of public deliberation. Comparative data are taken from Australia's nine jurisdictions, as well as from three comparator democracies, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, to identify strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for reform. Some of the findings are disturbing. For example, Australia has fallen well behind in the regulation of private money in elections and in controlling the use of government or parliamentary resources for partisan benefit. Transparency and accountability have suffered from relatively weak FOI regimes and from executive dominance of parliaments. For those studying democracy or wanting to reform Australian politics, The State of Democracy provides a wealth of evidence in a well-illustrated and highly accessible format. Internationally, it is an important contribution to the democracy assessment literature and pushes into new areas such as the intergovernmental decision-making of federalism.

Full Product Details

Author:   Marian Sawyer ,  Norman Abjorensen ,  Phil Larkin
Publisher:   Federation Press
Imprint:   Federation Press
Dimensions:   Width: 24.30cm , Height: 1.80cm , Length: 15.60cm
Weight:   0.538kg
ISBN:  

9781862877252

ISBN 10:   1862877254
Pages:   300
Publication Date:   02 July 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock  
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Reviews

...I found Australia: The State of Democracy a succinct, highly readable and useful reference tool. It is an excellent contribution to the nation, particularly I imagine for students, journalists and politicians. For the overseas reader studying Australia it brings a wealth of material and a depth of perspective. It also adds to the global democratic picture - which is important considering that one of the aims of developing the international Audit framework in the first place was to assist newer democracies. It deserves to be widely read and discussed... - Senator the Hon Joe Ludwig, Cabinet Secretary, Special Minister of State, taken from the Launch Speech, Wednesday 14 October 2009.

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