Bridling Autocrats: Limiting Executive Power in Authoritarian Polities. This project will analyse the dynamics of elite politics in authoritarian polities, focusing in particular upon how members of the elite try to constrain would-be dictators. By showing the different patterns of elite politics in different types of authoritarian systems, the project will interrogate one of the most curious aspects of contemporary international politics, why so many authoritarian regimes have been able to stab ....Bridling Autocrats: Limiting Executive Power in Authoritarian Polities. This project will analyse the dynamics of elite politics in authoritarian polities, focusing in particular upon how members of the elite try to constrain would-be dictators. By showing the different patterns of elite politics in different types of authoritarian systems, the project will interrogate one of the most curious aspects of contemporary international politics, why so many authoritarian regimes have been able to stabilise themselves in an era commonly seen as being one of democratic advance. Understanding authoritarian elite politics and their implications for regime survival is of significant policy interest.Read moreRead less
Strategies for the stabilisation of authoritarian rule: Russia in comparative perspective. This project will explore why authoritarian rule has been consolidated in post-Soviet Russia. By analysing this in a comparative context, the project will also explore why so many countries are characterised by non-democratic political systems in this so-called age of democracy.
New models of co-operative federalism in Australia: constitutional principles and practice. This project will research the effect of intergovernmental co-operation, through bodies such as the Council of Australian Governments, on Australia's system of constitutional democracy. It will determine how federal governance can be made more effective while respecting State autonomy and maintaining parliamentary and public accountability.
Reconceiving Australian federalism: fundamental values, comparative models and constitutional interpretation. Through systematic comparison with other federal systems, this project identifies the range of fundamental principles and values that could underlie the Australian system of government, explores their application to the interpretation of the Australian Constitution and scrutinises proposed reforms to the Australian system on the basis of that analysis.
Meeting the challenges of constitutional comparison. This project offers a more genuinely global approach to comparative constitutional law. It will deepen understanding of the operation and underlying assumptions of systems of government in countries around the world, assisting Australia in its dealings with neighbours and strategic partners and in developing its own constitutional arrangements.
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130101265
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$374,009.00
Summary
Asian Australian political identities and participation across communities: comparisons with the United States. The number of Asian Australians as a percentage of the Australian population is steadily rising. This project will provide the first major comprehensive study of Asian Australian political behaviour.
Political participation and electoral representation among first and second generation migrants to Australia. How far migrants integrate politically is a concern for governments around the world. This project identifies the factors that affect the representation of migrants in Australian politics and their levels of political participation. The results will have major implications for the settlement policies that governments develop for new migrants.
Parties and Participation: Evolving Australian Party Membership. The project aims to provide new insights into how political party membership is evolving and how citizens and parties engage with each other today. The decline of party memberships is usually equated with the death of parties as participatory organisations and the erosion of their crucial role as vehicles for democratic linkage. Applying a new theoretical framework integrating individual, party and state perspectives, this project ....Parties and Participation: Evolving Australian Party Membership. The project aims to provide new insights into how political party membership is evolving and how citizens and parties engage with each other today. The decline of party memberships is usually equated with the death of parties as participatory organisations and the erosion of their crucial role as vehicles for democratic linkage. Applying a new theoretical framework integrating individual, party and state perspectives, this project plans to examine how membership is structured, how it is practised, what it means today and why membership is declining. Combining organisational analysis with survey and focus group data in an innovative mixed-methods research design, it aims to evaluate what parties can do to secure their future role in Australian democracy and to foster democratic participation through new modes of partisan engagement.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE130100309
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,065.00
Summary
The politics of party reform: who benefits from the democratisation of political parties? Political parties are currently implementing internal reforms to address public disaffection and membership decline, but with relatively little success. To find out why, this research analyses who or what drives these reforms, who benefits from them and whether they are responsive to citizens' demands and how people want to engage with parties today.
Freedom of speech in the post 9/11 era. This project will assess the place of freedom of speech in political attitudes in a post 9/11 world. It will show that, and how, liberal democracies both undermine and simultaneously assert the importance of the fundamental human rights that are the very basis for their perceived vulnerability to terrorists.