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The Political Science Program in RSSS is Australia's leading political science department. It is the national centre of excellence for the profession and a catalyst for national initiatives which has trained many of Australia's leading political scientists. The Program is ranked in the world's top twenty.

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New Politics Seminar Series, Second Semester 2009

Weekly politics seminar:  MONDAYS, 4:00PM-5:30PM, LJ Hume Centre (Room 1171, first floor) Copland Building (new location for 2nd Semester 2009)

Monday 23 November: Elizabeth McLeay (Victoria University of Wellington, NZ)

Awkward Issues, Political Parties, and Agenda Opportunities

Abstract:

There are some highly salient policy issues that major political parties prefer not to debate publicly. Their preferences are for the status quo because change can involve unpredictable legislative behaviour and public backlash. When permitted on to the legislative or executive agenda they disturb the regular processes of establishing policy priorities. Many of these issues are contentious because they involving competing views of morality and divide party elites, party members, and voting supporters.

I am interested in the politics and policies of these ‘moral’ (or 'conscience') issues. In this work-in-progress paper I discuss the incentives and disincentives for party elites to permit awkward issues to arrive on to the parliamentary agenda, the ways in which the issues can be blocked or decisions delayed, and how, despite leaders' efforts, some of these issues do become items of business in 'Westminster' parliaments.

News

Congratulations to:

Linda Botterill, who won the 2009 Mayer Prize for the best article published in the Australian Journal of Political Science in 2008, which was awarded at the recent APSA conference. It was for Linda's article entitled 'Laying the Foundations for the Wheat Scandal: UN sanctions, Private actors and the Cole inquiry' which she wrote with her colleague Anne McNaughton from the College of Law.

e-book published

The Centrelink Experiment: Innovation in service delivery By John Halligan with Jules Wills. Find out more here.

CALL FOR PAPERS/PARTICIPATION

The 3rd Annual Workshop on Public Leadership is taking place on 26 and 27 November 2009 at University House, Australian National University. The Workshop is co-sponsored by the Research School of Social Sciences and the Australian New Zealand School of Government. It offers a platform for academics and practitioners to discuss research in progress and share personal experiences and insights on a variety of leadership-related topics. It aims to cover a broad variety of public leadership forms, e.g. in political parties and legislatures, governments, the public service, non profit organisations, social movements and the mass media.

The workshop is explicitly multi-disciplinary, and its past sessions have brought in political scientists, sociologists, historians, social psychologists, international relations experts, and mass communication scholars. The past two editions have resulted in collaborative publications, e.g. Public Leadership: Perspectives and Practices (ANU E Press 2008) and How Power Changes Hands: Studies in Leadership Transition and Succession (Palgrave, 2010), both edited by workshop convenors Paul ‘t Hart and John Uhr. This year’s edition will organised around four key themes:

1. Understanding prime ministerial leadership: biographical, institutional, psychological perspectives (convened by Paul Strangio, Monash University: paul.strangio@arts.monash.edu.au)
2. Advising leaders: art, craft, politics (convened by Paul ‘t Hart, ANU: hart@coombs.anu.edu.au)
3. Ethics in public leadership (convened by John Uhr, ANU: john.uhr@anu.edu.au)
4. Leadership, power and identity (convened by Emina Subasic, ANU: emina.subasic@anu.edu.au)

This year’s keynote speaker will be professor Fred Greenstein, Princeton University, author of among others the classics Personality and Politics, The Hidden-Hand Presidency, How Presidents Test Reality, and The Presidential Difference.

If you are interested in contributing to the workshop, please contact the convenor of the stream you want your presentation to be located in. The workshop can hold up to 40 participants. We will have a maximum of 9 slots for each stream, so there will be a vetting procedure. Deadline for expressions of interest / proposals: 1 August.

There is some financial support for travel and accommodation for those who most need it. Please state in your application if you need such support. For general enquiries regarding the workshop, contact Paul ‘t Hart (hart@coombs.anu.edu.au).