bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Liberal Party of Australia and the Australian Women’s Movement Against Socialisation 1947–54
Authors: Eather Warwick
Published: March 2003

During the Liberal Party of Australia’s formative stages in the 1940s and early 1950s, the Federal and New South Wales Divisions of the Party tended to ignore and/or down play the activities of their women members and office bearers. The gulf that existed between the theory and practice in the Party was further highlighted by the formation and rapid growth of the Australian Women’s Movement Against Socialisation, a right wing organisation that was formed in September 1947 to combat the Chifley Government’s decision to nationalise the private banks. In New South Wales the AWMAS attracted a large number of women who were members and supporters of the LPA, many of whom were disillusioned with the Party. This article begins with an analysis of the rise of the AWMAS. This is followed by a review of the activities undertaken by women activists in the New South Wales Liberal Party who tried to introduce changes within the Party that would allow women members greater opportunities and thus combat the influence of the AWMAS. This is important because it sheds light on efforts to make the Party more attentive to the political needs of women, while it was still going through its formative stages. More importantly, the outcome of the conflict set the parameters for what women activists could hope to achieve in the short term in the Party in New South Wales and at the federal level.
Changing Emphases in the Activities of the Australian State
Authors: Reynolds Paul
Published: March 2003

Paul Patton and Dianne Austin, eds, Transformations in Australian Society

Paul James, ed., The State in Question

Liz Young, Minor Parties …Minor Players: The Senate, the Minor Parties and the 1993 Budget

Gianni Zappala, Four Weddings, A Funeral and A Family Reunion: Ethnicity and Representation in Australian Federal Politics
The Military: A Threat to Democracy?
Authors: Sundhaussen Ulf
Published: March 2003

The military is by its very nature a potential threat to democracy, but in well‐established democracies civilian supremacy has generally been maintained, though there are dangers of excessive military influence. S. E. Finer's seminal 1962 study of civil‐military relations distinguished between the modes and effectiveness of civilian control in mature, developed and low or minimal political cultures. These categories are distinguished in particular by varying degrees of political legitimacy. Finer's conclusion about the prospects for political stability and democracy in most developing countries was pessimistic. But Finer's conclusions can now be challenged, primarily because the nature of civil‐military relations has changed. In mature political cultures like the USA, the threat from the military‐industrial complex has receded. Japan, Germany or France — key examples in Finer's second category — have now become mature political cultures; and Russia (newly in this category) is not, despite its many problems, threatened by direct military intervention. Many countries previously classified within low political culture have moved into the second category, and despite some notable exceptions the military have become more cautious about taking responsibility for government.
Promoting an Agenda for Nuclear Weapons Elimination: The Canberra Commission and Dilemmas of Disarmament
Authors: Hanson Marianne , Ungerer Carl J.
Published: March 2003

This paper examines the role of the Canberra Commission in terms of consolidating and influencing the agenda on international negotiations towards the elimination of nuclear weapons. The Commission’s Report is significant for two main reasons. First, it represents a unique form of disarmament diplomacy by the Australian Government which combined the post‐Cold War international climate of security cooperation with the foreign policy aspirations of an activist middle power. Second, the Report refutes the strategic, technological and political arguments against nuclear elimination in a comprehensive and convincing manner, arguing that without elimination, the world faces increased threats of nuclear proliferation and nuclear terrorism. This paper thus concludes that the Canberra Commission has been instrumental in strengthening the taboo against the possession, testing or use of nuclear weapons.
Nationalism, Civil Society, and the Prospects for Freedom in Eastern Europe
Authors: Lovell David W.
Published: March 2003

The events of 1989 in Eastern Europe represented an alliance between two dynamics: anti‐Soviet and anti‐communist. Once the “double rejective” task of the revolution was complete, these dynamics began to diverge as the space created for freedom filled with the competing demands of nationalism and civil society. Building freedom in Eastern Europe today is associated with overcoming the economic and social dislocation inherited from communism and developing the institutions and attitudes required for a civil society. But it is confronted above all by the attractions of a tribal nationalism which threaten the entire project of creating an open society.
White Agitation For An Aboriginal State In Australia (1925‐1929)
Authors: Blackburn Kevin
Published: March 2003

This article evaluates proposals in the late 1920s for the creation of an Aboriginal State in either a part of the Northern Territory or South Australia. In the proposals for an Aboriginal State, Aborigines were to own their own land, live according to their own customs, govern themselves, and have Aboriginal Members of Parliament representing them in the Federal Parliament. The study analyses the intellectual foundations of the proposals in the political organisations of the Maori of New Zealand. It examines Aboriginal people’s ambivalence to the idea, which arose out of their bitter experience of living through previous plans made supposedly for their benefit by white society.
Public Opinion, Privatisation and the Electoral Politics of Telstra
Authors: Goot Murray
Published: March 2003

During the 1996 election campaign, the Liberal‐National Party Coalition pledged that if elected it would partly privatise Telstra. The pledge was a central part of its campaign pitch. This paper argues that the proposal came at a time when the tide of public opinion had moved against privatisation; it shows how the Opposition used poll data both to present its own proposal in the most favourable light and to portray the difference between its position and that of Labor Government’s as minimal; and, using the surveys commissioned by both sides, it evaluates the success of this strategy. More generally, it suggests that in a “post‐ideological” age, party ideology remains important. And it illustrates how polls can be used by parties not just to establish what the majority thinks but to galvanise support, neutralise opposition and convert those who harbour doubts.
The early use of radio for political communication in Australia and Canada: John Henry Austral, Mr Sage and the Man from Mars
Authors: Ward Ian
Published: March 2003

The comparative study of electioneering is an emerging field. One of its driving concerns has been to chart the “Americanisation” or convergence of campaigning methods employed in very different settings. Sometimes the assumption is made that this convergence began with the recognition ‐ first in the USA ‐ that winning elections demands the skilful use of television. A comparison of the early use of radio in election campaigns in Australia and Canada demonstrates that the “Americanisation” of campaigning pre‐dates the advent of television. There are clearly gaps in what is known about the early use of the wireless for political broadcasting in Australia. However in 1923‐24 E.R. Voigt visited the US and, on his return, urged the NSW Trades Hall to establish 2KY for propaganda purposes. In the 1930s the NSW Labor leader Jack Lang was quick to adopt the “fire‐side chat” formula devised for Franklin Roosevelt. In the 1940s R.G. Menzies, the founder of the Liberal Party, also came to see radio as a powerful weapon after observing its political use in USA. Not surprisingly the 1949 Liberal campaign which returned Menzies to power made extensive use of radio. It is often remembered for its “John Henry Austral” radio ads which are claimed as a breakthrough, but which appear to imitate earlier US and Canadian election campaigns ‐ notably the Canadian Tories “Mr Sage” broadcasts of 1935.
Model Workers or Hardened Nazis? The Australian Debate about Admitting German Migrants, 1950‐1952
Authors: Sauer Angelika E.
Published: March 2003

Immigration policies implemented in the early 1950s by the Menzies government embraced several principles defined by the postwar Labor government, trying to accommodate employers, unions, veterans and ethnic voters within a framework of international considerations. The issue of admitting Germans severely tested the government’s ability to reconcile these divergent interests. While anti‐communism and established ethnic stereotypes were the undercurrents driving the debate, the practical demands of the Australian labour force, on the one hand, and the memories of the Second World War, on the other, also assumed much prominence in the public rhetoric. This study suggests that despite the existence of a common set of assumptions, both sides in the debate constructed opposing viewpoints to exploit them for partisan purposes. Groups or individuals whose concerns indeed focused on the advantages and disadvantages of admitting German migrants were shunted aside in this essentially political battle.
The Rise and Fall of the Jewish/Left Alliance: An Historical and Political Analysis
Authors: Mendes Philip
Published: March 2003

The disproportionate historical involvement of Jews in the political Left is well known. However, far less attention has been paid to the political and ideological factors which attracted Jews to the Left. This article attributes Jewish support for the Left to both class and ethnic considerations. Poverty and anti‐Semitism influenced Jews to join a movement which promised to end capitalist and racial oppression. However, following the Holocaust and the creation of the State of Israel, many Jews lost their faith in universalisticsolutions, and switched their commitment from international to nationalist force. Nevertheless, lingering links between Jews and the Left continue to exist to this day.
Challenging the Criteria of Significance: Lessons from Contemporary Indonesian Labour History
Authors: Ford Michele
Published: March 2003

Non‐governmental organisations' (NGOs) dominance of the Indonesian labour movement has been undermined by changes in the regulation of labour since the fall of Suharto. This article examines the effects of these changes on the form and discourse of labour representation in contemporary Indonesia. It is argued that while NGOs' renewed acceptance of unionism as the primary form of labour organisation demonstrates the strength of the ‘trade union’ as a criterion of significance, their (partial) execution of ‘trade union functions’ during the late New Order period demands that we re‐examine the ways in which we perceive and measure organised labour activism.
One Love Too Many: The Undoing of Pauline Hanson
Authors: Rutherford Jennifer
Published: March 2003

This paper focuses on desire and its animating force in the Pauline Hanson One Nation Party. Examining the symbolic logic underpinning the rapport between Pauline Hanson and her constituency, it explores the connection between forms of love and forms of political organisation. Locating the implosion of One Nation within the context of Hanson's failure to sustain the love‐bonds of a totalitarian leader with her/his followers, it argues that the lack of democracy within One Nation was not a cause of its failure. The desire animating One Nation was for an autocratic leader and the totalitarian structure of One Nation posed no obstacle to the movement's fortunes until love shifted the libidinal field.
Globalisation and the End of Social Democracy
Authors: Pierson Chris
Published: March 2003

It has been very widely argued that processes of globalisation render traditional forms of social democratic politics impossible. The paper identifies and reviews three key claims in this debate — concerning trade, capital mobility and a new international division of labour. It is argued that, whilst much has changed, this has not always led in the direction anticipated by those who foresee an end to “traditional social democracy”. In particular, the sorts of changes that have taken place do not add up to an endorsement of recent enthusiasm for a “third way”.
One Nation's Electoral Support: Economic Insecurity versus Attitudes to Immigration
Authors: Goot Murray , Watson Ian
Published: March 2003

While acknowledging that our study represents “a considerable advance on other studies of One Nation, its electoral support and social foundations“, and “correctly identifies the importance of conservative social attitudes of One Nation supporters“, Turnbull and Wilson take issue with three things: one of our key findings, based on the 1998 Australian Election Study (AES), that the vote for One Nation was driven by attitudes to immigration (among other things) rather than by a sense of economic insecurity; our argument around the fundamental difference between explaining the One Nation vote and distinguishing it from the vote secured by any of the other parties; and our refusal to cringe before the “comparative evidence about neo‐populist parties“ or to defer to the superior wisdom of that political scientist extraordinaire, Australia’s present Prime Minister, John Howard.17 None of the points they make in relation to any of these things is even partly persuasive; for the most part, they are marred by errors of logic, fact, or interpretation. Each, however, is important ‐ or potentially so. They merit, therefore, a response.
Norfolk Island and Its Tax Haven
Authors: Van Fossen Anthony
Published: March 2003

The first Pacific Islands offshore financial centre was born in 1966 on Norfolk Island. This paper analyses the historical trajectory of Norfolk Island’s tax haven in terms of its dialectical tensions with the Australian federal government — tensions between self‐determination and subordination which emerge from Norfolk’s anomalous status as a self‐governing external territory of Australia. Promoters of Norfolk Island’s tax haven have seen its potential to become a major global offshore financial centre blocked by the Australian federal government. Yet, at major critical junctures (in 1976, 1991 and 2000) the Australian federal campaigns that threatened Norfolk’s residential tax haven disintegrated in the face of concerted local opposition, although the danger has never entirely disappeared. The island’s political economy and external relations are likely to remain inextricably bound to its tax haven.
How the High Court Considers Policy
Authors: Lavarch The Hon Michael
Published: March 2003

The Australian High Court has a long‐standing policy role. In the past this has been disguised by the cloak of literalism. Recently, the court has been more transparent about a policy function, outlining the considerations shaping its policy framework. There is, however, scope for further reform in broadening the range of materials which influence judical decisions.
Bureaucracy and Democracy in the American Century: A.F. Davies on Administration and the ‘KnowledgeableSociety’
Authors: Walter James
Published: March 2003

American observation has shaped Australian social analysis for most of the 20th century. The high point in American influence on Australia was arguably between the 1940s and the 1980s. Its influence in Australian political science can be traced through the work of an insightful interpreter of the Australian polity and its bureaucratic practices, A.F. Davies (1924‐87). The tensions between ‘knowledge criteria’ and ‘political criteria’, between bureaucracy as a ‘stain’ and the best means of delivering equalising outcomes, between the necessary skills of ‘program professionals’ and the demands of broad participation were at the core of his work. Testing his propositions 10 years after his final work shows Davies accurately foreshadowed the essentials of what he designated ‘the steady evaporation of politics’. Davies’s reflection on Australia was productively shaped by dialogue with America as the metropolitan culture. His insistence that the comparative framework, the bureaucratic imperative of complex organisation, and an interpretative sense of political cultures should inform political analysis remains an important message as we address the problems of the 1990s.
Encouraging Public Sector Employees to Report Workplace Corruption
Authors: Zipparo Lisa
Published: March 2003

This paper aims to do two things: (1) report the findings of a survey of 800 public sector employees regarding attitudes to reporting workplace corruption; and (2) offer suggestions for practical strategies which managers can employ to encourage employees to report wrongdoing. Survey responses indicated that the existence of whistleblower protection legislation might encourage people to make a report which they may not normally consider making. The majority of respondents indicated that they believe that it is their responsibility to report corruption. The majority, however, are also unsure about their organisation’s ability and/or willingness to protect them if they do make a report. Not surprisingly, then, most also expect that people who report corruption will suffer for it.
The Australian Public Sector and New Governance
Authors: Moon Jeremy
Published: March 2003

The AJPA resumed publishing the Administrative Chronicle in 1996. Each year the editors invite a distinguished writer to contribute an administrative essay reviewing developments in the previous year. They are asked to examine trends and topics of major importance rather than simply providing a chronology of events. In inviting contributors the editors have attempted to incorporate different views across Australia. Previous chronicles have included J Stewart (55)1; S Prasser (56)1 and J Homeshaw (57)3.
Service Delivery: The Audit Dimension
Authors: Pallot June
Published: March 2003

Reporting of performance information on public sector services has increased substantially in recent years. The audit of such information, however, is still relatively uncommon. In 1989 the Audit Office in New Zealand was confronted with a legislative requirement to audit Statements of Service Performance (SSPs). This paper backgrounds New Zealand’s shift in emphasis from program effectiveness audits to the audit of non‐financial performance information, describes the development of audit methodology in this area and identifies lessons learned.
Private Provision of Services and Infrastructure – An Expanding Industry of the Nineties
Authors: Vertigan Michael J.
Published: March 2003

A conference devoted to the public sector a decade ago is unlikely to have paid any attention to the private provision of public services and infrastructure, as at that stage such activities had had very little impact on the operations of governments in Australia. This article argues that private provision is an important emerging element of public sector service delivery.While generally supportive of such developments, the article presents reasons why governments have increasingly turned to private provision including the benefits involved, but also raises potential management and accountability considerations.
Electronic Service Delivery: Achieving Accuracy and Consistency in Complex Transactions
Authors: Johnson Peter
Published: March 2003

This article discusses the use of rule‐base technology in the administration of legislation. It first looks at determinative processes, the management of assessments of entitlement and obligations that form much of the operational work for many government agencies. It examines existing problems that agencies experience when attempting to secure accurate and consistent primary decision‐making when administering complex legislation. It also examines the way in which traditional techniques for administering legislation constrain the service delivery methods open to an agency. It suggests that rule‐base systems are a peculiarly appropriate technology for improving these determinative processes. It then argues that the use of rule‐base systems offers two main benefits to agencies. They can improve the quality of primary decision‐making and they can provide a means for dramatically widening the range of service delivery options open to an agency. Finally, the article argues that, until agencies have applications that are capable of automating complex transactions, such as the determination of entitlements, they will not be able to achieve large‐scale benefits from electronic service delivery.
Joining‐Up Government in the UK: Towards Public Services for an Information Age
Authors: Bellamy Christine
Published: March 2003

The reform of public services has preoccupied managers for several decades. Nevertheless, it is my contention that the present reform agenda has some plausible claims to be different from much that went before. The vision that has come to the fore in the Australian federal government’s Clients First Program (Information Technology Review Group 1995), in the Clinton/Gore administration’s Access America report (Government IT Services 1997) andthe recent British White Paper, Modernising Government (Cabinet Office 1999) not only promotes the ‘client orientation’ in public administration, but also reflects a belief in the crucial contribution to be made by information and communication technologies (ICTs). This is a vision for an information age (POST 1998). It is being driven by the conviction that public management has too often been modelled on business ‘as it was in the age of US Steel, not the age of Microsoft, Apple, Wal‐Mart and Federal Express’ (Gore 1993:xiii).
Centrelink – Viewed from the Community Sector
Authors: Raper Michael
Published: March 2003

The government’s introduction of a new service delivery agency, Centrelink, to deliver a range of programs including income support has been heralded as a major step forward in government service provision. Certainly no one would dispute that an improved level of service delivery can have major benefits for many low‐income and disadvantaged people. However, it is becoming more apparent that there are tensions between the strong emphasis being placed on improving customer services and a social security system predicated on rights and entitlements under legislation. In a system where the former takes priority, the satisfaction of numerous customers with relatively uncomplicated situations may well be considered a more valuable outcome than the satisfaction of one person with a very complex situation that may require a high input of resources. When dealing with a ‘service’ such as income support – where people’s access to assistance can make a fundamental difference to their ability to live decently – it is imperative that great care is taken before managerial and administrative models, such as a ‘purchaser‐provider split’, are imported from other sectors. This article will explore these issues from the perspective of the community sector, particularly those who assist and advocate on behalf of low‐income and disadvantaged people.
The Tender Trap – Tendering for Public Sector Work
Authors: Bremen James
Published: March 2003

With the government’s current focus on a managerial approach to resource management there are many opportunities for private sector businesses to obtain contracts for the provision of public services. While government work may appear attractive and lucrative, there are new issues that have arisen as a result of this trend that both tenderers and administrators need to be wary of. This article will examine two of these issues and suggest some ways in which these risks may be minimised.
Ethics and Government: Preliminary Considerations
Authors: Preston Noel
Published: March 2003

This symposium reproduces several of the papers presented during the international conference sponsored by the Queensland University of Technology Centre for the Study of Ethics, at Parliament House, Brisbane, 11‐13 February, 1999. The theme of the conference was ‘Government and Business: Integrity and Accountability’. The papers have been revised following discussions within a research colloquium associated with the conference. They were initially presented within a strand entitled ‘Competition, Marketisation, Public Services and Public Ethics’ which explored ethical issues for contemporary government within different national contexts (New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Malaysia and Australia) around the impact of economic policies that have reframed the role of government primarily as a servant of the international market.
To PPB or Not PPB – Budgeting in Victorian Local Government
Authors: Kluvers Ron
Published: March 2003

Budgeting is an important element in a public sector organisation’s accounting control system. There are a number of budgetary methods that could be used, each with an explicitly different focus. This article investigates possible reasons for Victorian local government selecting line item budgeting, planning programming budgeting (PPB) or a combination of the two. While program budgeting arguably failed in the USA, research shows it was adopted by local government. Australian researchers report similar findings, yet the introduction of program budgeting into local government has not been explored. Four reasons are postulated: (1) PPB will be adopted because of the complexity of the organisation; (2) PPB will be adopted because it is perceived as an aid to planning; (3) line item budgeting will continue to be used because users are familiar with this type of budgeting; and (4) management’s support for the adoption of PPB will be a significant factor in its introduction. A questionnaire was distributed to all the local governments in Victoria and 60 percent were returned. The findings reported in this article confirm the reasons postulated.
Youth Homelessness: Early Intervention and Prevention
Authors: Smith Paul
Published: March 2003

Books reviewed in this essay:

A Jamrozik and L Nocella, The Sociologyof Social Problems: Theoretical Perspectives and Methods of Intervention

L Hancock (ed.), Health Policy in the Market‐State
Policy Formulation in Australian Government: Vertical and Horizontal Axes
Authors: Matheson Craig
Published: March 2003

Studies of the policy process in Australia have focused on particular institutions or decisions rather than on its overarching properties. One such property is the vertical and horizontal ‘axes’ of policy‐making. The former comprises hierarchical relationships whereas the latter comprise relationships of bargaining, negotiation and persuasion. Vertical axes enable governments to take and enforce technically rational decisions in pursuit of consistent goals whereas horizontal axes permit governments to make broadly‐based decisions that have group assent and electoral support. Vertical axes have strengthened in recent years and have brought increased technical rationality and consistency. This has come at a cost of limiting of the scope of political debate and a loss of electoral support for government though.
Accountability: Is Westminster the Problem?
Authors: Chapman Ralph
Published: March 2003

The outcome of the Symposium reported in AJPA 58(1) is said by the convenors to be that there are many different kinds of accountability and that there may be clashes between them. This paper suggests one possible reason is that the Westminster label hides the potential tensions between the increasing demands for accountability, more responsiveness and responsibility, the new public management and the institutional framework. Everyone wishes to cover perceived unmet demands and expectations, providing we remain with basic Westminster as our starting point. The paper suggests that commitment to what we call Westminster is the problem. It restricts understanding of the reality of Australian governance because it is not an uncontested term. Westminster is made to mean whatever the normative stance of the commentator requires. The paper argues that it is an opportune time to answer some basic questions about responsible parliamentary democracy in Australia.
Responsible, Representative and Accountable Government
Authors: Aldons Malcolm
Published: March 2003

As an evaluation of the health of Australia's political system, this article offers a perspective different from the lament over the loss of responsible government. It finds that responsible government is not compatible with representative democracy. Peculiar to Australia is conflict between ‘responsible party government’ and ‘responsible parliamentary government’. Nevertheless, the system is healthy. A parliament‐as‐a‐whole approach identifies key holistic functions of manifest and latent legitimation and accountability that bolster legitimacy. Political accountability is enhanced by the watchdog role of the media. Public accountability is enriched by the links between citizens and administrative review. Critical changes include the guarantee of senate independence and the removal of senate power over supply. These changes would confine the theory and practice of responsible government to the House of Representatives, promote accountability, and thus increase the legitimacy of Australian parliamentary democracy.
Community in Public Policy: Fad or Foundation?
Authors: Adams David , Hess Michael
Published: March 2003

Both internationally and within Australia public policy is experiencing a rush back to the idea of community. After 15 years of discourse about the new public management and economic rationalism a much older discourse is slipping back into public policy. It is a normative discourse about changing relations between state democracy, market capitalism and civil society in which the idea of community is a central ‘new’ relation used to manage both state and market failures. Already new policy tools emerging from this discourse can be seen with innovations based on concepts such as partnerships, place management, and a raft of community consultation mechanisms. Much of the rhetoric about community as a new foundation for public policy, however, remains confused. The result is a muddle of ideas in which this potentially useful concept is in danger of becoming just another public policy reform fad. This article looks at what policy makers are saying about community, identifies problems in this current usage and offers ways of thinking about community with a view to establishing its policy utility.
Poll Driven Government: A Review of Public Administration in 2001
Authors: Miragliotta Narelle
Published: March 2003

The approach of the Howard Coalition government to public administration in 2001 was consistent with the conventional wisdom that governments typically ‘play it safe’ in an election year. The government’s preoccupation with winning a third term in office was a significant determinant of the policy responses of the government on a number of key issues. The events of 2001 serve as a vivid reminder that policy considerations are ultimately subject to the dictates of the electoral cycle. This is the sixth administrative essay publsihed in the journal since the editors resumed the administrative chronicles in 1996. Earlier administrative essays include J Stewart 55(1) 196; S Prasser 56(1) 1997; J Homeshaw 57(3) 1998; J Moon 58(2) 1999; C Broughton and J Chalmers 60(1) 2000.
Prospects for the Two‐party System in a Pluralising Political World
Authors: Norton Andrew
Published: March 2003

Political commentators argue that the major political parties are in decline. This article sets out evidence for this view: minor parties and independents securing 20 percent of the vote at federal elections, declining strength of voters’ party identification, and issue movements playing a large role in setting the political agenda. Possible causes for these trends range from the political, such as policy failure, undermining traditional constituencies, and ignoring public opinion, to sociological forces, such as postmaterialism, individualism and serious disaffection. However, the article argues Labor and the Coalition will be the dominant political players for the foreseeable future. In most lower houses, the electoral system favours the major parties which on balance is a good thing. The major parties have taken concerns of interest groups into account, while balancing these against majority opinion. They simplify choice for an electorate only moderately interested in politics, and can be held accountable in a way minor parties and independents cannot.
Collaborative Federalism
Authors: Saunders Cheryl
Published: March 2003

Famously, federalism combines self‐rule with shared rule or unity with diversity. Typically, the mix is achieved by creating or preserving two levels of government, each with a direct relationship with the people, and by dividing power between them. Traditionally, unity is achieved through the exercise of power by the central government, in relation to the polity as a whole. Diversity is the consequence of the exercise of power by sub‐national governments over a portion of the population, generally territorially identified. The boundaries of power between the two spheres are secured by entrenching them in a written Constitution established as fundamental law, which is interpreted and applied by a court or courts.
Rethinking Leadership for the Public Sector
Authors: Dunoon Don
Published: March 2003

Leadership and management are best thought of as a matter of competencies. Or are they? The paper challenges the current orthodoxy in Australia on this question, and suggests that leadership and management need to be regarded as reflecting opposing values. The paper also distinguishes between charismatic and collective forms of leadership, and proposes the latter as likely to be of greater value in a public sector context. A challenge for public sector organisations is how to strike and maintain a suitable balance between management for ongoing operations and leadership for deep–reaching change. Strategies for developing collective leadership capability are suggested.
Evidence–based Analysis and the Work of Policy Shops
Authors: Bhatta Gambhir
Published: March 2003

The New Public Management (NPM) reforms brought about in the 1990s have substantially altered the environment in which agencies mandated to provide policy advice to ministers do their work. Yet, cross–jurisdictional evidence tends to show that systems in place in these policy shops generally do not reflect the rigour that is needed to analyse and render quality policy advice. As one possible remedy, this paper suggests that use of rigorous evidence–based analysis (EBA) to inform the policy advice function be made an integral part of the policy shops’ learning and information protocol. EBA is a useful tool in assisting the agencies to demonstrate their adherence to a quality assurance system.
Left on the Shelf: Local Government and the Australian Constitution
Authors: Aulich Chris , Pietsch Rebecca
Published: March 2003

When the Australian Constitution was first written, those framing it did not include specific reference to local government. The authors have examined the federation conventions, papers and formal discussions of the 1890s and noted the little prominence given to the case for including local government in the Australian Constitution. It appears that the leaders of the federation movement did not deliberately exclude local government; rather, there was little pressure to include local agendas and concerns, and few were willing to champion the case for the inclusion of local government.
Ought We to Sentence People to Psychiatric Treatment?
Authors: Tännsjö Torbjörn
Published: March 2003

In principle, there seem to be three main ways in which society can react when people commit crimes under influence of mental illness.

(1) The standard model. We excuse them. If they are dangerous they are detained in the interest of safety of the rest of the citizens.

(2) The Swedish model. We hold them responsible for their criminal offence, we convict them, but we do not sentence them to jail. Instead, we sentence them to psychiatric treatment.

(3) My model. We sentence them to jail, but offer them (voluntary) psychiatric treatment.

The advantages of my model are obvious. We get a clear delineation of roles. We allow the psychiatrist to be just a doctor, not a warden. We liberate psychiatry of the objective of deciding whether people who were mentally ill when they committed criminal offences ‘could have acted otherwise’— a hopeless task. We allow that psychiatrists live up to their professional ethical code (the Hawaii Declaration). We treat psychically ill persons as ‘normal’, we allow them to repent their crimes, which renders easier their recovery.

However, two objections to my model come to mind. First of all, is it not unfair to sentence people to jail who could not help doing what they did? And, secondly, the question of fairness set to one side, is it not inhumane to sentence mentally ill persons to jail? Is it not inhumane to the mentally ill persons themselves, and does it not mean that they will be a burden to other prisoners?

In my paper I show that, if our system of criminal punishment takes a civilised form, neither of these objections carries any weight.
Human Rights and Japanese Bioethics
Authors: Hamano Kenzo
Published: March 2003

The main contentions of this paper are twofold. First, there is a more than century‐old Japanese tradition of human rights based on a fusion of Western concepts of natural rights and a radical reinterpretation of Confucianism, the major proponent of which was the Japanese thinker Nakae Chomin. Secondly, this tradition, although a minority view, is crucial for remedying the serious defects in the present Japanese medical system.

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Nakae Chomin sought to reinterpret Chinese tradition, especially Confucianism, by injecting the concepts of popular sovereignty and democratic equality, drawn from Western sources. The resulting view maintained the Confucian commitment to a moral nexus for society, but replaced hierarchy with egalitarianism.

The pressing need for such an approach to patients' rights in present‐day Japan is illustrated by two recent cases: the photographing and commercial exploitation of patients' genitals without serious response by authorities, and the attempt by physicians to manipulate the time of death and, possibly, to improperly pressure family members in order to transplant organs from the brain‐dead victim of a criminal assault.

Such problems stem from hierarchy and paternalism, which seem to be a legacy of the rapid, state‐sponsored introduction of Western medicine in the mid‐nineteenth century, and in particular from the government's adoption of and support for German military medicine as a model for Japan.
Understanding the ‘Conservative’ View on Abortion
Authors: Wendler Dave
Published: March 2003

The philosophical literature would have us believe that the conservative view on abortion is based on the claim that the fetus is a person from the time of conception. Given the widespread acceptance of this analysis, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that it conflicts with a number of major arguments offered in support of the conservative view. I argue, in the present paper, that a careful examination of these inconsistencies establishes that the personhood analysis is mistaken: the conservative view is based on the natural process of fetal development, not the personhood of the fetus.
The Beginning of Personhood: A Thomistic Biological Analysis
Authors: Eberl Jason T.
Published: March 2003

‘When did I, a human person, begin to exist?’ In developing an answer to this question, I utilize a Thomistic framework, which holds that the human person is a composite of a biological organism and an intellective soul. Eric Olson and Norman Ford both argue that the beginning of an individual human biological organism occurs at the moment when implantation of the zygote in the uterus occurs and the ‘primitive streak’ begins to form. Prior to this point, there does not exist an individual human organism, but a cluster of biological cells which has the potential to split and develop as one or more separate human organisms (identical twinning). Ensoulment (the instantiation of a human intellective soul in biological matter) does not occur until the point of implantation.

This conception of the beginning of human personhood has moral implications concerning the status of pre‐implantation biological cell clusters. A new understanding of the beginning of human personhood entails a new understanding of the morality of certain medical procedures which have a direct affect on these cell clusters which contain human DNA. Such procedures discussed in this article are embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, procured abortion, and the use of abortifacient contraceptives.
Property and Women’s Alienation from their Own Reproductive Labour
Authors: Dickenson Donna L.
Published: March 2003

There is an urgent need for reconstructing models of property to make them more women‐friendly. However, we need not start from scratch: both ‘canonical’ and feminist authors can sometimes provide concepts which we can refine and apply towards women’s propertylessness. This paper looks in particular at women’s alienation from their reproductive labour, building on Marx and Delphy. Developing an economic and political rather than a psychological reading of alienation, it then considers how the refined and revised concept can be applied to concrete examples in global justice for women: in particular, the commercialisation of embryonic and fetal tissue in the new stem cell technologies.
Experiences of Genetic Risk: Disclosure and the Gendering of Responsibility
Authors: D’Agincourt‐Canning Lori
Published: March 2003

The question of ‘who owns genetic information‘ is increasingly a focus of ethical inquiry. Applied to predictive testing, several recent critiques suggest that persons with a genetic disorder have a moral duty to disclose that information to other family members. The justification for this obligation is that genetic information belongs to and may benefit not only a single individual, but also members of a biological kinship. This paper considers this issue from a different vantage point: How does gender intersect with the moral duty to disclose genetic information? Scholars have argued that gender is partly comprised of distinct assignments and assumptions of responsibility. Thus, there is a danger that gendered patterns of socialization will make women feel that they should take primary responsibility for disclosing genetic information to others. This article explores issues of responsibility and disclosure of risk information by drawing on an empirical study of women and men who have undergone genetic testing for hereditary breast/ovarian cancer. The research study suggests that disclosure of genetic information is a gendered activity, with both the benefits and burdens of this task falling primarily on women. It also illustrates that when disclosure is understood contextually, it is a far more complicated matter than when viewed through a theoretical lens. The article considers the relevance of these findings on ethical debate and genetic counselling practices.
Medicine and Medicalization: A Response to Purdy
Authors: Garry Ann
Published: March 2003

Many feminists are critical of the practices and institutions that medicalize people’s lives, especially the lives of women and other members of marginalized groups. I argue that this critique does not necessarily imply a rejection of medicine. I give a brief analysis of the concept of medicalization that supports the view that one can desire medicine without desiring medicalization. I then discuss the relations among what is considered natural, socially constructed, and medicalized.
Is ‘Best Proven’ A Useless Criterion?
Authors: Luna Florencia
Published: March 2003

In this article I examine some proposals for modification of ethical documents regulating research, particularly, the problems that introducing certain economic clauses may pose. I evaluate suggestions that reject the notion of providing the ‘best proven diagnostic and therapeutic method’ in favor of ‘the highest attainable therapeutic method’ or ‘the proven effective prophylactic, diagnostic and therapeutic methods’. I analyze the plausibility and problems of introducing a double standard and the consequences it may have in developing countries. Finally I highlight the impact these changes may imply for these countries.
Justice and Medical Research: A Global Perspective
Authors: Benatar Soloman R.
Published: March 2003

Economic globalization has profound implications for health. The scale of injustice at a global level, reflected in inexorably widening disparities in wealth and health, also has critical implications for health related research – in particular when the opportunities for exploiting research subjects are carefully considered. The challenge of developing universal guidelines for international clinical research is addressed against the background of a polarizing, yet interdependent, world in which all are ultimately threatened by lack of social justice. It is proposed that in such a world there is a need for new ways of thinking about research and its relevance to health at a global level. Responsibility to use knowledge and power wisely requires more radical changes to guidelines for research ethics than are currently under consideration.
Animal Genetic Manipulation – A Utilitarian Response
Authors: Smith Kevin R.
Published: March 2003

I examine the process and outcomes of animal genetic manipulation (‘transgenesis’) with reference to its morally salient features. I consider several objections to transgenesis. I examine and reject the alleged intrinsic wrongness of ‘deliberate genetic sequence alteration’, as I do the notion that transgenesis may lead to human genetic manipulation. I examine the alleged wrongness of killing inherent in transgenesis, and suggest that the concept of ‘replaceability’ successfully justifies such killing, although not for entities deemed to possess ‘personhood’. I examine ‘significant suffering’ associated with transgenesis and propose the radical conclusion that, although it would be wrong to prohibit animal genetic manipulation per se, utilitarians ought to support a ‘default prohibition’ on transgenic experiments that entail significant suffering.
Reconsidering Cochlear Implants: The Lessons of Martha’s Vineyard
Authors: Levy Neil
Published: March 2003

I distinguish and assess three separate arguments utilized by the opponents of cochlear implants: that treating deafness as a medical condition is inappropriate since it is not a disability; that so treating it sends a message to the Deaf that they are of lesser worth; and that the use of such implants would signal the end of Deaf culture. I give some qualified support to the first and second claim, but find that the principal weight of the argument must be borne by the third argument: that use of the cochlear implants is impermissible because Deaf culture is intrinsically valuable. I show that this claim is, in practice, incompatible with the claim that deafness is not a disability: that the significant disadvantages suffered by the hearing impaired can only be corrected by measures that would end Deaf culture. Since the potential recipients of cochlear implants are, in the main, the prelingually deaf children of hearing parents, the burden of banning the implants would be borne by people who are not members of Deaf culture, and who owe that culture nothing over and above what we all owe cultures in general. I conclude that we cannot ask the parents of these children to sacrifice the interests of their children for the sake of Deaf culture.