ROOM: HAYDON-ALLEN TANK |
STREAM: AUSTRALIA'S CONTRIBUTION TO POLITICAL STUDIES |
Chair: Joan Rydon
Professor Iain McLean, Politics, Oxford University
Australian electoral reform and two concepts of representation
The most distinctive Australian contribution to institutional
design is the construction of electoral systems. Before Federation, remote colonies
were an ideal seedbed for radical ideas on representation. Those ideas appealed
to a microcosmic concept of representation. Since Federation, politicians have
mostly stressed the rival (and partly incompatible) principal-agent concept
of representation. I analyse the work of E. J. Nanson (1850--1936; Professor
of Mathematics, University of Melbourne, 1875--1922) in this context. Nanson
was one of only two anglophones in the 19th century to understand social choice
theory (the other being Lewis Carroll). His fundamental papers were written
in what was then one of the smallest and most isolated anglophone universities
in the world. Nanson's failure to influence Australian institutional design
at the foundation of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent adoption of Nanson's
recommendations for Senate elections, both throw light on the incompatible conceptions
of representation. So does the 1983 amendment of Senate procedures, on which
see David Farrell's paper to this conference.
Iain McLean is Professor of Politics, Oxford University, and a fellow of
Nuffield College. He has held visiting appointments at Stanford, Yale, and the
ANU. He is interested in the properties of electoral systems and the history
of social choice. His books include 'Classics of Social Choice' (with A.B. Urken,
Michigan, 1995), and 'Rational Choice & British Politics' (OUP, 2001).
ROOM: G 008 |
STREAM: ENVIRONMENTAL POLITICS |
Fred P Gale, School of Government, University of Tasmania
The politicization of market Instruments for ecological sustainability: The
case of Voluntary Forest Certification in Canada
Voluntary environmental certification and labelling of products
is a market-based instrument to promote sustainability. Such certification schemes
are designed to provide consumers with information about a product's impact
on the environment. They can also function to promote market access for producers
working in environmentally sustainable niche markets (i.e. organics). In the
1990s, certification and labelling was promoted by environmental organisations
to promote better forest management practices. At the same time, forest certification
became politicized as different schemes were developed by different interest
groups and governments and each vied with each other over the forest management
standards to be applied and the processes by which certification and labelling
could be granted. This paper examines the Canadian forest certification case,
showing how a market-based instrument of sustainability became quickly politicized
by federal and state governments acting in the interests of themselves and the
wider forest industry.
ROOM: G 009 |
STREAM: POLITICAL THEORY |
Habermas
Chair: David West
Craig Browne, Department of Social Work, Social Policy
and Sociology, University of Sydney
Deliberative democracy and late-modernity
My paper compares Habermas' and Giddens' respective attempts
to delineate the potential for democratization immanent in recent social changes.
At the outset, Habermas' and Giddens' conceptions of deliberative democracy
were conditioned by the basic categories of their social theories and corresponding
models of modernity. Describing the contemporary developments promoting deliberative
democracy as part of a later reflexive stage of modernization, they also found
that the discontinuity of this new phase placed in question the expectations
of progress and improvement that have defined social democratic understandings
of the welfare state. Subsequently, Habermas and Giddens presented contrasting
and overlapping responses to this situation. But in each case their arguments
that far-reaching processes of democratization can offset the detrimental consequences
of globalization are paradoxical. Namely, they overlook some of the implications
of their earlier interpretations of modernity and Habermas' procedural paradigm
of deliberative democracy acquires greater relevance precisely due to the very
changes his social theory cannot adequately explain. While Habermas' version
of deliberative democracy clearly satisfies most of the requirements of a normative
political theory, it largely dispenses with the historical perspective of critical
theory. Alternatively, Giddens attempts to outline a way of reconciling the
dynamics of expanding capitalism and social solidarity, yet the result is less
a genuine synthesis than an oscillating between policy alternatives. Nevertheless,
I suggest that their respective arguments for expanding democracy and raising
the levels of political participation are important. Due to the foundation of
deliberative democracy in the principle of dialogue, it constitutes a counterweight
to the conflicts of late-modernity. Indeed, deliberative democracy could even
make increasing autonomy conditional on social justice. This potential is, however,
diluted in Giddens' 'third way' politics and Habermas' discourse theory curtails
the prospects for change through assimilating radical democracy to the legal
principles of the constitutional state.
Martin Leet, School of Political Science and International
Studies, University of Queensland
Relations between science, morality and aesthetics
Theorists such as Weber and Habermas argue that the disintegration
of religious and metaphysical worldviews negates the possibility of an intrinsic
harmony between different spheres of cultural value. In particular, they suggest
that a process of disenchantment has taken place in which the claims of science,
morality and aesthetics can no longer be reconciled. A holistic type of meaning
has disappeared since that which is called true cannot also be identified as
good and beautiful. Habermas argues disenchantment is a progressive development
as long as none of these three values is dominated by the others. He has set
himself the task of (re)validating the aesthetic and especially the moral spheres
of value which tend to be suppressed in an instrumentalist culture. Weber and
Habermas proceed on the assumption that only metaphysical and religious ideas
of an absolutist kind can ground the unity of science, morality and aesthetics.
This paper disputes that assumption by drawing upon recent developments in political
theory connected to the notion of 'weak ontology'. These developments, it is
claimed, point to harmonious relations between science, morality and aesthetics
by focusing more upon the affective level of sensibilities, attitudes and dispositions
than upon the plane of rational ideas. This approach, it will be argued, provides
a better way of responding to the one-sided development of culture in western
modernity.
Damian O'Leary, Political Science Program, Research
School of Social Sciences, Australian National University
Post-national belonging: Unpacking Habermas' constitutional patriotism
This paper focuses on the ethical underpinnings of Habermas'
claim that 'regardless of the diversity of different cultural forms of life,
[constitutional patriotism] require[s] that every citizen be socialized into
a common political culture.' (Habermas, 1996:500) Constitutional patriotism
is Habermas' answer to the problematic relationship of national identity to
citizenship. In contrast to republican arguments stressing the importance of
shared ends and affective attachments to one's political community, Habermas
argues for a post-national form of political belonging, secured via one's identification
with, and patriotic duty to, specific political, rather than cultural, ends.
There are two features to Habermas' approach that I focus on, each of which
exhibits ethical defects in Habermas' theoretical schema. The first relates
to the forms of socialization that the demands of constitutional patriotism
issue. Here, I examine Habermas' distinction between politics and culture and
suggest that he fails to recognize the crucial ways in which they are interdependent
and mutually reinforcing. My second focus is on the relationship between belonging
and the normative character of the state as the proper vehicle for determining
issues of belonging. Habermas' perspective on belonging remains focused on the
nation-state, even though his approach to a post-national form of belonging
emerged out of considerations of the mass-movement of people across state boundaries,
a movement heightened in intensity and importance as a result of the second
world war. So although Habermas signals an affection for a notion of world citizenship,
he continues to undermine the possible realization of such a goal by reinforcing
the normative character of state apparatus used to denote legitimate belonging.
(The paper concludes by suggesting that the conventional normative paradigms
of citizenship fail to recognize the changes in empirical conditions that render
these paradigms increasingly anachronistic.)
ROOM: G 010 |
STREAM: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS |
Rethinking security
Chair: Matthew McDonald
Robert Ayson, Australian National University
Concepts of regional stability in the Asia-Pacific context
"Regional stability" appears extremely frequently
in official, academic and media assessments of developments in the Asia-Pacific.
But while there appears to be consensus on the need to promote Asia-Pacific
regional stability, it is not always clear what this concept (and its antonym
regional instability) really consists of. This paper seeks to understand the
nature of this concept, assessing the relative importance of constituent factors
such as system stability, the likelihood of great power conflict, balances of
power, and domestic political stabilities. It will also ask whether a revised
notion of regional stability, which gives rather less emphasis to strategic
relations between the region's major powers and rather more to broader understandings
of security in the region, might be preferable and available.
Beth Greener-Barcham
Visualising a liberal military
Many states are currently reinventing (or repackaging) their
military forces. Some liberal democratic states have taken recourse to the rhetoric
of 'liberal values' in justifying the changes that their military forces have
undergone. But what would a 'liberal military' look like? The liberal political
tradition has generally been very fearful of arbitrary power, has therefore
frequently tried to offer thoughts as to how best to stem, limit or circumscribe
violence in various ways. In terms of contemporary thinking about liberal themes
as related to the use of force by states, much of the international relations
theory debate centres on the democratic peace thesis, notions of cosmopolitanism,
or the centrality of individual human rights in thinking about issues such as
humanitarian intervention. To these 'top-down' approaches we can also consider
the 'bottom-up' approach of the military sociologists as represented by the
notion that the military forces of liberal democracies are increasingly civilianised,
internationalised and structured with the soldier-scholar and the constabulary
ethic in mind. This paper draws on these main arguments to suggest some ways
in which we might try to visualise a 'liberal military', thereby allowing a
benchmark for assessing the relationship of political rhetoric to actual change.
Alex Munton, Australian National University
Regional cooperation and the governance of maritime security in the Arafura
and Timor seas
Maritime problems feature prominently in discourses of security
studies, especially in relation to the Asia-Pacific. This reflects both the
intrinsically maritime nature of the region and also the increasingly geostrategic
significance of the marine environment. In this paper I explore the concept
of maritime security and suggest that, as currently used, the concept is incoherent,
has little analytical utility and obscures an understanding of the actual relationship
between regional cooperation and the maintenance of peaceful marine co-existence.
In this paper I indicate a more coherent framework for analysing maritime security
which focuses on empirically observable sources of maritime conflict that are
categorised according to 'type'. This framework is designed to facilitate an
intended empirical investigation of the relationship between regional cooperation
and the governance of maritime security in the Arafura and Timor Seas.
ROOM: G 015 |
ROOM: G 030 |
STREAM: AUSTRALASIAN POLITICS |
Paul Strangio, School of Political and Social Inquiry,
Monash University
Jim Cairns
The proposed paper will build upon the pyscho-social analysis
of former Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Jim Cairns, which the author presents in
his recently published study Keeper of the Faith: A Biography of Jim Cairns
(Melbourne University Press, 2002). It will draw upon literature in the field
of political psychology, as well as making use of a broad range of material
focussed on Cairns, including the author's numerous interviews with Cairns,
interviews that were conducted with Cairns in the late 1960s by Dr John Diamond
as part of an early experiment in political psychology, and an unpublished Masters
thesis (Diane Wieneke, 'Personality and Politics: Three Case Studies', University
of Melbourne, 1975), which also attempts a psychological profile of Cairns.
The paper will be particularly interested in exploring the characteristic of
Cairns that rendered him so rare a political phenomenon, but which also disabled
him politically, that is, his ambivalence towards power. The paper will show
how this characteristic manifested itself at the personal level of Cairns' political
career in the form of muted ambition and an aversion to political infighting,
but which was also reflected in the role Cairns carved out in public life as
a voice of dissent against the established order and the growing doubts he had
about executive government. The paper will argue that Cairns' ambivalence towards
power, while consistent with his ideological commitment (particularly the evolving
direction of his thinking on social change), was also an outcome of psychological
forces at work in the mature Cairns. Those forces will be traced back to the
events of his childhood, especially the dichotomous pattern of his upbringing,
which was marked, on the one hand, by adulation and, on the other hand, by extreme
emotional deprivation.
ROOM: G 031 |
STREAM: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS |
East Asia & International
Politics I
Chair: Kathy Morton
Alex Stephens, School of Political and International
Studies, Flinders University
Japan, leadership and theory: Constraints, problems and present implications
Leadership in international relations theory is one of those
often used but little understood aspects of this social science. This paper
will outline the three major interpretations (liberal/public choice, realist
and Gramscian) of leadership theory in international relations theory and the
weaknesses inherent in the discourse. These include the preoccupation with hegemony
as the main form of leadership in international affairs and the almost total
ignorance of those states being led (otherwise known as followers). It will
also demonstrate the troubled partnership between Japan and Leadership - from
realist interpretations to the use of economic pluralism to remove some of the
arguable theoretical aspects. Subsequently, it will be argued that the leadership
debate surrounding Japan has always been flawed, not only because of the theories'
own internal deficiencies but through the theory‚s application to Japanese leadership
in the Asia Pacific. In particular, in relation to Southeast and East Asia,
the belief that Japan could act as a hegemonic-style leader to the region was,
and continues to be, misguided. Despite largely US calls for Japan to play a
larger role in providing regional public goods to the region from the late 1960s,
SE Asia has only shared the same desire for greater Japanese leadership in the
region in limited circumstances. Finally, it will be argued that the problems
that Japan has faced in current leadership theory, with its overwhelming concentration
on hegemonic leadership, are universal and face any potential hegemon in international
affairs. This important point is of current salience considering the study of
China, its near exponential growth over the past 20 years and the belief that
it will be the next hegemon.
Donna Weeks, School of Political Science and International
Studies, University of Queensland
‘Comprehensive security’ and Japan's security policy
In recent years, The Pacific Review has hosted an increasingly
vigorous debate by a wide range of participants over the past, present and future
Japanese security policy, particularly in light of the demise of the Cold War.
Tsuyoshi Kawasaki's latest contribution, however, despite its confident assertions,
cannot pass with out response. He rightly challenges the short-comings of the
so-called 'domestic-constructivists' especially Berger and Katzenstein. However,
in attempting to demolish their cases for 'selective biases' he then proceeds
to selectively argue a similarly biased case in asserting the superiority of
yet another derivation of the realist cause-'postclassical realism'. His key
premises are based on his interpretations of the architect of Japan's NDPO,
Takuya Kubo and in doing so 'proves' the military aspect of Japan's security
policy and its 'inherent superiority' as an explanatory framework. There are
several problems with this argument. Firstly, it continues to perpetuate a 'one-size-fits-all'
approach to understanding Japan's multi-dimensional national security interests-it
is either the economy or self-defence rationales; secondly, this kind of explanation
seeks to maintain the kind of paradigmatic hegemony of the realists that some
of us had hoped might have been diluted in the post-Cold war era; thirdly, Kawasaki
sets up a thin defence by citing the work of one bureaucrat-this is his selective
bias. Equally, one can mount a case, far stronger I think, for the 'comprehensive
security' proponents by citing the life-work of the late Okita Saburo-arguably
the architect of Japan's comprehensive security policy, with a legacy of writings
which stretches back to 1946, more than twice the length of the 25 years of
Kubo's work. This paper will demonstrate a similar argument to that of Kawasaki's
based on an analogous analytical framework, using the example of Japan's post
war relationship with Australia. I agree with Kawasaki on the shortcomings of
the domestic constructivists case for Japan as an anathema to realism. Nonetheless
I prefer to persist with a 'social-constructivist' understanding of Japanese
security. My contentions differ substantially from Kawasaki's assertions, however,
inasmuch as one proffers the social-constructivist case not as superior to existing
explanations, be they realist variants, liberal-institutional or constructivist,
but as something to offer 'in tandem' with the otherwise quality analysis that
Kawasaki has offered in recent years.
Purnendra Jain and John Bruni, Centre for Asian Studies,
Adelaide University
Australia, Japan and the United States:Towards a new security architecture
in the Asia-Pacific?
This work-in-progress paper examines the possibility of whether
Australia, Japan and the US can develop an informal trilateral security architecture,
as was suggested by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, during the
ASEAN Regional Forum and Australia-US Ministerial meeting in 2001. The paper
will analyse the complementarity of these countries to support such an architecture
in the light of ongoing tensions on the Korean Peninsula, the Taiwan Straits
and international terrorism. Importantly, it will assess how the proposal has
been received in the region and implications for Australia's regional status.
ROOM: G 053 |
STREAM: POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY |
Giorel Curran, Elizabeth van Acker & Robyn Hollander,
Griffith University
Xenophobia: Is it enough? Populist parties in Australia and Europe
The rise and fall of Pauline Hanson and her One Nation party
remains a fascinating episode in recent Australian political history. Australia's
flirtation with this example of far right populism lasted less than a decade.
Elsewhere far right populist political parties have proved to be far more successful
and enduring. This paper is interested in why Australia's One Nation Party withered
while European far right counterparts thrive. The paper thus focuses on recent
developments in France, the Netherlands and Austria in looking for clues to
explain the Australian experience. While the far right populist experience in
these European countries and in Australia has much in common including a strong
anti-immigrant stance, there are also elements that are significantly different.
This comparative research focuses on three key areas. First, it investigates
the degree to which a particular country's electoral method contributes to both
the emergence and endurance of their populist parties. Second, clues to explain
endurance are sought in comparisons of party dynamics. Finally, the contribution
that the incorporation of populist policies into the platforms of mainstream
parties is also explored. Overall, what this research shows is that there are
no simple explanations for the rise of these parties and we need to avoid crude
generalisations.
Toby Ganley, University of Queensland
Australia the show-dog: An identification and analysis of the mongrel metaphor
in The Bulletin
In this paper I offer an analysis of what I have identified
as the Mongrel Metaphor — a structuring metaphor in the popular discourse
of early 20th century Australia which allowed people to articulate their concerns
about race, immigration, and population in the language of animal breeding.
I trace the deployment of this metaphor in popular discourse through the examination
of articles published in The Bulletin in the early 20th century. This analysis
is part of on-going doctoral work exploring the construction of whiteness in
Australia.
Jack Vowles, Political Studies, University of Auckland
Is responsible party government dead? Government strength or weakness, globalisation,
and public perceptions in 27 countries, 1996-2001
Responsible party government is one of the key concepts in contemporary
democratic theory. A series of empirical studies question whether responsible
party government is feasible given low voter information, and where governments
are weakened by divided constitutional powers or multi-party coalitions. More
recently, there have been claims that responsible party government cannot survive
under conditions of economic globalisation that are said to promote policy convergence
between countries, and policy convergence of parties within countries. This
paper identifies some key cross-national differences in political institutions
and in exposure to the international economy. Using data from the Comparative
Study of Electoral Systems (CSES), it tests whether and how these influence
the voter perceptions and expectations that are needed to underpin the effective
practice of responsible party government.
Website maintained by Phil Griffiths. This page updated 30 September 2002