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. "BOOK Abstract: 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 centre on a range of complex, political problems and their influence on contemporary political practice. Politics, policy, and public administration cover 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. This Handbook 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. Key Words: Australia, politics, policy, Indigenous heritage, colonial settlement, political institutions, place-making, political dilemmas, policy, and public administration, studying politics"-- Provided by publisher (Excerpt)Australian schools have taught Australian politics sinceFederation, but it only became a focus of national governments from the late 1980s onwards. This was precipitated by evidence that showed limited knowledge among the community about their nation’s system of politics and government. In trying to address this knowledge deficit, national governments since 1989 have sought to advance the teaching of Australian politics through a national civics and citizenship curriculum. Often, attempts to reinvigorate the curriculum have coincided with broader national debates about Australian identity and democracy. Indeed, the Hawke government redoubled its efforts to enhance the civics and citizenship curriculum following its referendum loss in 1988, while the Keating government sought to bolster political knowledge in the lead-up to the referendum on whether Australia was to become a republic. The Howard government’s Discovering Democracy project was also implemented at a time when the republic issue was at its peak, and it advanced an agenda that sought to give young Australians knowledge about their system of government. "This handbook is currently in development, with individual articles publishing online in advance of print publication. At this time, we cannot add information about unpublished articles in this handbook, however the table of contents will continue to grow as additional articles pass through the review process and are added to the site. Please note that the online publication date for this handbook is the date that the first article in the title was published online." This Handbook provides a comprehensive examination of Australia's distinctive politicsboth ancient and modernacross multidisciplinary subjects. 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.