A Meta-study of democratic deliberation: advancing theory and practice. This project aims to reconcile conflicting findings and develop the first comprehensive account of defensible claims about political deliberation. The project will analyse and synthesise results from available studies of deliberation. Source material and findings will be compiled in a publicly-available database to facilitate standardisation and enhancement of future research in the field. This will provide significant bene ....A Meta-study of democratic deliberation: advancing theory and practice. This project aims to reconcile conflicting findings and develop the first comprehensive account of defensible claims about political deliberation. The project will analyse and synthesise results from available studies of deliberation. Source material and findings will be compiled in a publicly-available database to facilitate standardisation and enhancement of future research in the field. This will provide significant benefits, such as settling important questions that remain among deliberative democrats and, more practically, facilitate potential avenues for democratic reform.Read moreRead less
Deliberative democracy in the public sphere: achieving deliberative outcomes in mass publics. This project will systematically explore ways in which citizens can engage more deeply with complex policy issues without the need to resort to massive expenditure on running multiple deliberative forums, such as citizens' assemblies. It will identify the language is needed to deliberatively inform and the vehicles for providing that information.
Feasibility in politics: Taking account of groups and institutions. This project aims to research feasibility in politics. Normative political discourse is pervaded by the use of claims about what is feasible and infeasible. The project will examine feasibility practices, the functions they serve, what is required to serve the functions effectively, how actual practices stack up, and how to improve them. It will fuse philosophical and empirical analysis; encompass three salient case studies (imm ....Feasibility in politics: Taking account of groups and institutions. This project aims to research feasibility in politics. Normative political discourse is pervaded by the use of claims about what is feasible and infeasible. The project will examine feasibility practices, the functions they serve, what is required to serve the functions effectively, how actual practices stack up, and how to improve them. It will fuse philosophical and empirical analysis; encompass three salient case studies (immigration, poverty and climate change); and engage practitioners, commentators and ordinary citizens. The project intends to inform the development of just and effective immigration, poverty and climate change policy, reflecting a better understanding of the role of feasibility in politics.Read moreRead less
Village democracy in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This project aims to understand variation in village politics in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and the effects of that variation on development outcomes, democratic participation, and gender equity. It will generate new knowledge on how micro-level power structures affect citizens’ experience of government. Expected outcomes include a new framework for understanding how community power structures shape and constrain governme ....Village democracy in Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This project aims to understand variation in village politics in Indonesia, the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, and the effects of that variation on development outcomes, democratic participation, and gender equity. It will generate new knowledge on how micro-level power structures affect citizens’ experience of government. Expected outcomes include a new framework for understanding how community power structures shape and constrain government action. Benefits will include strengthening Australia’s position as a world leader in Asian and Pacific studies, generating a new framework for understanding the effects of village political dynamics, and guidance for Australian and other policy makers planning grassroots development interventions.Read moreRead less
Democratic Resilience: The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks. The project aims to explain responses to extremist attacks intended to sow division, and why some democracies prove fragile, succumbing to polarisation or exclusion of key groups, while others prove resilient by sustaining integrative, tolerant discourse. The project develops new knowledge through an innovative synthesis of cultural sociology and deliberative democracy to analyse nine cases of responses in the public realm to attack ....Democratic Resilience: The Public Sphere and Extremist Attacks. The project aims to explain responses to extremist attacks intended to sow division, and why some democracies prove fragile, succumbing to polarisation or exclusion of key groups, while others prove resilient by sustaining integrative, tolerant discourse. The project develops new knowledge through an innovative synthesis of cultural sociology and deliberative democracy to analyse nine cases of responses in the public realm to attacks. Expected outcomes include a new account of the democratic public sphere, and identification of how meaningful, civil communication whose health is vital to democracy, especially in a multicultural society, can be maintained. Benefits include identification of measures to counter extremist political disruption.Read moreRead less
Presidential Power and its Limits in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia. This project will study the development of the Indonesian presidency after the fall of long-time autocrat Suharto in 1998. While much of the recent research on this subject has focused on the personalities of the four post-1998 presidents, this project intends to highlight institutional and structural aspects of the presidency. In particular, the proposed research aims to explore to what extent democratisation, decentralisation a ....Presidential Power and its Limits in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia. This project will study the development of the Indonesian presidency after the fall of long-time autocrat Suharto in 1998. While much of the recent research on this subject has focused on the personalities of the four post-1998 presidents, this project intends to highlight institutional and structural aspects of the presidency. In particular, the proposed research aims to explore to what extent democratisation, decentralisation and power diffusion have constrained Indonesian presidents in exercising executive authority. When completed, the project aims to deliver a comprehensive picture of Indonesia's post-authoritarian presidency, describing in detail its constitutional powers, institutional set-up and structural limitations.Read moreRead less
Innovative democracy? Changing approaches to citizen engagement in Australia, the UK and Denmark. Many question the future of representative democracy in its current form given growing levels of civic disengagement. This project charts, explains and critically examines government responses to this disengagement in three countries, Australia, the UK and Denmark, and across three policy areas, environment, immigration and youth.
Public Interest Advocacy in Australian Policymaking. The project aims to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of public interest advocacy, via the media, in elevating the responsiveness of elected political elites. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how the advocacy and media agendas are set, examine the way elected elites access and ingest news media, and conditions under which advocacy groups access to news changes political priorities. It is expected that the project will pr ....Public Interest Advocacy in Australian Policymaking. The project aims to evaluate the impact and effectiveness of public interest advocacy, via the media, in elevating the responsiveness of elected political elites. The project expects to generate new knowledge about how the advocacy and media agendas are set, examine the way elected elites access and ingest news media, and conditions under which advocacy groups access to news changes political priorities. It is expected that the project will provide an evidence base for citizens and policy makers to assess the effectiveness of public interest advocacy, and deliver benefits such as strengthening the quality of Australia’s representative democracy, and offer scholars new theories on the role of public interest advocacy on policy priorities.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101144
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$411,167.00
Summary
Gender, political parties and representation: A virtuous circle? The project aims to study how political parties represent women and men differently and the consequences this has on citizen political behaviour. By engaging in comparative analyses of gender, political parties and representation among established democracies, this project expects to generate new understandings about the complex relationships between what citizens want, what parties do, and how citizens feel about politics. This pr ....Gender, political parties and representation: A virtuous circle? The project aims to study how political parties represent women and men differently and the consequences this has on citizen political behaviour. By engaging in comparative analyses of gender, political parties and representation among established democracies, this project expects to generate new understandings about the complex relationships between what citizens want, what parties do, and how citizens feel about politics. This project seeks to identify specific contexts, actions, and policies that allow political parties to equally represent men and women in the political process to better understand how to eliminate gender inequalities in the representation process. Read moreRead less
Governing China's multi-ethnic frontiers in the twenty-first century. This project investigates the recent wave of violence in China's ethnically complex western regions and the reasons why some areas have become more violent than others. Using case studies from China's Tibetan areas, this study examines how local government actions and policies shape local conflict dynamics.