Kategoria BISAC: Political Science >> World - Australian & Oceanian

Alan J. Ward combines constitutional history and political science to compare all nine of Australia's political systems, federal, state and territorial, from colonial times to the present. Guided by a model of parliamentary government drawn from comparative politics, he considers the following key topics: the selection of the government, the prime minister and cabinet; government control of the lower house; the primacy of the lower house in bicameral systems; the head of state; the influence of Australian federalism on parliamentary government; and the growth of executive democracy in...

Australia's constitutions tell only part of the story. They omit or barely mention many of the essential and well-known elements of the system of government, such as the cabinet, the prime minister or premier, ministerial responsibility or the opposition.

The difference between what exists on paper and what occurs in practice arises from binding, yet unwritten constitutional rules or 'constitutional conventions'. This is a subject that has given rise to much misunderstanding but on which little has been written in Australia, despite the critical role of conventions in systems of...

One increasingly popular device for achieving a balance between authority and accountability in government is the institution of the ombudsman. The first non-Scandinavian ombudsman appeared in New Zealand in 1962, and since then the office has spread to many countries and been adopted at different levels of government. This book--the first intensive study of New Zealand's "model" ombudsman- seeks to understand the process by which the institution was successfully adapted and made a part of New Zealand's political system.

The author's inquiry is based on eighteen months of field...

One increasingly popular device for achieving a balance between authority and accountability in government is the institution of the ombudsman. The first non-Scandinavian ombudsman appeared in New Zealand in 1962, and since then the office has spread to many countries and been adopted at different levels of government. This book--the first intensive study of New Zealand's "model" ombudsman- seeks to understand the process by which the institution was successfully adapted and made a part of New Zealand's political system.

The author's inquiry is based on eighteen months of field...

Credlin was Abbott's enforcer, his disciplinarian, his counsellor, his brain, his mother. Her strength as a chief of staff was a sign of his weakness as a prime minister: she gave him the option of disengaging. Credlin allowed Abbott to be who he wanted to be: the good bloke, the philosopher, the weekend fire-fighter, the surfer, the orator, the man of action. If Abbott was a natural leader, it could have worked. But he lacked the most important attribute of all: judgement.

Tony Abbott and his chief of staff, Peta Credlin, ran a brilliant campaign in opposition. But their approach led...