Fearing going home: Australia's return of rejected asylum seekers, temporary refugees and others from refugee-like situations. Recent changes in government policy, combined with international political developments, mean that increasing numbers of asylum seekers and temporary refugees are being deemed ineligible for protection and removed from Australia or from Australian-run facilities. Notwithstanding the government's assessment that such people do not have protection needs, many live in acute ....Fearing going home: Australia's return of rejected asylum seekers, temporary refugees and others from refugee-like situations. Recent changes in government policy, combined with international political developments, mean that increasing numbers of asylum seekers and temporary refugees are being deemed ineligible for protection and removed from Australia or from Australian-run facilities. Notwithstanding the government's assessment that such people do not have protection needs, many live in acute fear of their pending return. They may indeed be returned to situations of danger, deprivation and desperate poverty. This project aims to research and document the plight of 'returnees' as they face the prospect of repatriation and then, to the extent possible, after they have been repatriated.Read moreRead less
Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expandi ....Comparative Border Studies. While borders are of increasing interest to Australian scholars and policy-makers, much existing research in Australia is focused on issues of border security or border integrity. There is an urgent need to supplement this work with theoretical and empirical insights drawn from the field of border studies. North America is a key site for international research in this field. Collaboration with North American scholars is thus an important step in developing and expanding Australian expertise in border studies. This project will provide the intellectual environment and collaborative networks necessary to establish the first dedicated Centre for Border Studies in Australia.Read moreRead less
Reconciling nations: what can Australia learn from the international experience of democratic dialogue? This project will draw on international experience to explore the capacity for facilitated, democratic dialogue to revitalise the Australian reconciliation process. Using innovative case study research and an original applied theoretical approach, the project will develop new methods for resolving intercultural conflict in Australia.
Realising socio-economic rights: law and the politics of access to public services in Indonesia. This project seeks to identify the conditions under which justiciable legal frameworks or socio-economic rights are effective in promoting realisation of these rights in developing countries. The empirical focus is on Indonesia during the post-Suharto era and rights related to free basic education, water, and free health care for the poor.
Asia-Pacific Cosmopolitanisms: Managing Diversity and Identity Politics in a Changing Region. Why can people of diverse cultural and other backgrounds sometimes devise ways of living together while, at other times, they can be drawn into racism and violence? Are there ways of coping with, managing - even celebrating - human social, cultural, biological and sexual diversity that do not lead to conflict and exclusion? Are we seeing new cosmopolitanisms emerging? This research will investigate thes ....Asia-Pacific Cosmopolitanisms: Managing Diversity and Identity Politics in a Changing Region. Why can people of diverse cultural and other backgrounds sometimes devise ways of living together while, at other times, they can be drawn into racism and violence? Are there ways of coping with, managing - even celebrating - human social, cultural, biological and sexual diversity that do not lead to conflict and exclusion? Are we seeing new cosmopolitanisms emerging? This research will investigate these questions by focusing on the Asia-Pacific region. The research will result in several publications (monographs, articles, etc.), a website/discussion forum, research database/resources facilities, a conference, and the consolidation of long-term collaborative links with Asian intellectuals.Read moreRead less
Democratic dialogue and capabilities: new opportunities in post-reconciliation era Australia. In conflict and post-conflict societies around the world, democratic dialogue has proven to be an important element in processes designed to facilitate social change and create a more just and inclusive society. This project will make a significant theoretical and methodological contribution to national and international understanding of methods for resolving longstanding intercultural conflicts. It aim ....Democratic dialogue and capabilities: new opportunities in post-reconciliation era Australia. In conflict and post-conflict societies around the world, democratic dialogue has proven to be an important element in processes designed to facilitate social change and create a more just and inclusive society. This project will make a significant theoretical and methodological contribution to national and international understanding of methods for resolving longstanding intercultural conflicts. It aims to demonstrate the role that democratic dialogue can have in transforming the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. It will test the hypothesis that the social and institutional change that is possible through dialogue will have capability-enhancing effects for Indigenous Australians.Read moreRead less
Autonomy, Liberalism and the Right to Culture. The question of whether or on what terms cultural diversity may be reconciled with liberal citizenship and national identity is among the most pressing issues confronting liberal democracies today. Australia, long committed to multiculturalism, faces this challenge daily in its law- and policy-making. This project tackles this question by offering a new way of thinking about the place and import of the core liberal value of individual autonomy. Now ....Autonomy, Liberalism and the Right to Culture. The question of whether or on what terms cultural diversity may be reconciled with liberal citizenship and national identity is among the most pressing issues confronting liberal democracies today. Australia, long committed to multiculturalism, faces this challenge daily in its law- and policy-making. This project tackles this question by offering a new way of thinking about the place and import of the core liberal value of individual autonomy. Now under considerable attack in political theory and from some groups for being "too sectarian", the project defends the importance of autonomy to liberal citizenship, while elaborating its moral and political implications for liberals and cultural minorities alike.Read moreRead less
Remaking the poor: poor people's responses to donors' market citizenship programs in Southeast Asia. Contemporary international aid attempts to help the poor participate in the market economy, with highly variable results. Often poor beneficiaries appear not to co-operate with these programs. This study investigates the factors driving the responses of poor people to donors' poverty reduction programs, to offer new models for donor interventions.
The Micropolitics of Deliberation. This project will show how deliberative mechanisms can be designed and employed in Australia's system of governance (and in other countries), thereby improving the quality of citizen participation in Australian democracy and indicating more effective means of public consultation in policy making. The project will develop applied expertise on these issues, which can be put to use in the context of widespread current interest in deliberative consultation in gove ....The Micropolitics of Deliberation. This project will show how deliberative mechanisms can be designed and employed in Australia's system of governance (and in other countries), thereby improving the quality of citizen participation in Australian democracy and indicating more effective means of public consultation in policy making. The project will develop applied expertise on these issues, which can be put to use in the context of widespread current interest in deliberative consultation in government (especially in natural resource management).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.