The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics

The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics is a comprehensive collection that considers Australia's distinctive politics-- both ancient and modern-- at all levels and across many themes. It examines the factors that make Australian politics unique and interesting, while firmly placing these in the context of the nation's Indigenous and imported heritage and global engagement.

The book presents an account of Australian politics that recognizes and celebrates its inherent diversity by taking a thematic approach in six parts. The first theme addresses Australia's unique inheritances, examining the development of its political culture in relation to the arrival of British colonists and their conflicts with First Nations peoples, as well as the resulting geopolitics. The second theme, improvization, focuses on Australia's political institutions and how they have evolved. Place-making is then considered to assess how geography, distance, Indigenous presence, and migration shape Australian politics. Recurrent dilemmas centres on a range of complex, political problems and their influence on contemporary political practice. Politics, policy, and public administration covers how Australia has been a world leader in some respects, and a laggard in others, when dealing with important policy challenges. The final theme, studying Australian politics, introduces some key areas in the study of Australian politics and identifies the strengths and shortcomings of the discipline.

The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics is an opportunity for others to consider the nation's unique politics from the perspective of leading and emerging scholars, and to gain a strong sense of its imperfections, its enduring challenges, and its strengths.

Jenny M. Lewis, is Professor of Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne,Anne Tiernan, Professor of Politics and Publica Policy, Griffith University

Jenny M Lewis is Professor of Public Policy in the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Melbourne, and President of the International Research Society for Public Management. Her research is concentrated on the policy design, policy decision-making processes, and public sector
innovation. She is the author of 60 journal articles, 20 book chapters, and six books, and has been awarded one Australian and four international prizes for her public policy and public administration research. Jenny is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia and a past President of the
Australian Political Studies Association.


Anne Tiernan is Professor of Politics and Public Policy at Griffith University and Dean (Engagement) of the Griffith Business School. A political scientist with earlier careers in federal and state government, teaching, and consultancy, Anne has written extensively on executive advice, policy
capacity, the political-administrative interface, governmental transitions, and policy advising. She is the author of six books and numerous articles in national and international journals. Anne is a National Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia, a Fellow of the Australia and
New Zealand School of Government.

Foreword: A Voice from the Heart, Ian Anderson
1. Introduction: Towards a New Vision for Australian Politics: Seeing, Not, Seeing, and What We Can Now See, Anne Tiernan
Section One: Inheritances
2. Governing Ideas and Collective Expectations: the Australian Case, James Walter
3. Myth and Myth-Making, Jon Piccini
4. Ideas of Nationhood, Carolyn Holbrook
5. Australia's Electoral Innovations, Lisa Hill
Section Two: Improvizations
6. Not-Minster? Australia's Bespoke System of Government, Dennis C. Grube
7. Australia's Federal Framework: Constitutional Fundamentals, Federal Institutions, and Intergovernmental Balance, Nicholas Aroney
8. Australian Political Parties: Evolution and Adaptation, Anika Gauja
9. Social Protection and Vulnerability: Australia's Distinctive Public Policy Profile, John Murphy
Section Three: Place-Making
10. Australian Politics in Local Government: Place-Making in Town and Country, Jacob Deem
11. Divided Against Itself: Plural Sovereignties and the Australian State, Paul Muldoon
12. Settlement and Migration: Shaping Australian Political Identity, Catriona Elder
13. Refugees, Asylum Seekers, and Emotions, Roland Bleiker, David Campbell, and Emma Hutchison
14. Australia's Pursuit of Place in the World, Caitlin Byrne
Section Four: Recurrent Themes
15. The Politics of the Environment in Australia, Kate Crowley
16. The Politics of Australia's Economic Development, Stephen Bell and Michael Keating
17. Gender and Sexuality in Australian Politics, Elizabeth van Acker
18. Religion and Politics, Marion Maddox
19. Indigenous-Settler Relationships: Policy, Rights, Reconciliation, and Sovereignty, Elizabeth Strakosch
20. Disrupting Media and Politics: When the Old Rules Break, How Can the Public Interest be Served?, Julianne Schultz
Section Five: Politics, Policy, and Public Administration
21. New Public Management and Service Privatization in Australia, Siobhan O'Sullivan
22. Policy Learning in the Australian Public Service, Alastair Stark
23. Integrity and Accountability in Australian Government and Politics, Zim Nwokora
24. Performance in the Public Sector, Jeannette Taylor
25. Innovating the Public Sector in Australia, Jenny M. Lewis
Section Six: Studying Australian Politics
26. The Field and Study of Deliberative Democracy in Australia, Carolyn M. Hendriks
27. Political Organizations and Participation, Ariadne Vromen, Michael Vaughan, and Darren Halpin
28. Political Psychology and Experimentation, Aaron Martin
29. Political Leadership, Paul Strangio
30. Beyond 'Structured Inattention': Towards Australian Indigenous Political Studies?, Morgan Brigg and Lyndon Murphy
31. Teaching Australian Politics: Thirty Years of Civics and Citizenship Education in Australia, Zareh Ghazarian and Jacqueline Laughland-Booÿ