Political communication and democratic government

This paper overviews the Australian System of Political Communication in the light of the communications requirements of modern representative democracy. The broad point of departure is that representative democracy requires political communication in both directions between government and people. In addition to the media, the approach takes account of the following channels for ‘political messages’: direct mail, public opinion polls, elections, government inquiries. Five criteria of satisfactory democratic communication are examined. The Australian system of political communication is reviewed in the light of these criteria. Some research findings and other information is included demonstrating the extent of political communication in Australia. An argument is developed to show what conditions need to be satisfied for the criteria of democracy to be met in the contemporary environment.     

Giuseppe Mazzini and the democratic logic of nationalism

ABSTRACT. This article brings the thought of Giuseppe Mazzini back into the field of nationalism studies, from which it has been largely missing for a half century. It suggests the following: that Mazzini is much more modern and secular than he is usually portrayed; and that his commitment to liberal policies while rejecting liberal principles suggests that the distinction between civic and ethnic nationalism has been misconceived. Nationalism, to Mazzini, was not an end in itself but a means to an end – government of, by and for the people. The demand for such a government was manifested in three popular demands in nineteenth‐century Europe: in the West as democracy, in the East as national sovereignty (the precondition for democracy) and in both East and West as social democracy. Thus nationalism may be instrumental rather than an end in itself, and it may be attributable not to ethnic groups' natural striving for autonomy but to the pursuit of democracy.     

论民主政治

民主政治是当今世界的政治主流。民主政治相对专制政治而言,它能使社会治安形势长时间地获得好转以及使社会获得持续发展。要实现民主政治必然具备一定的客观条件,国际国内的政治形势的相对稳定是实现民主政治的先决条件。要实现民主政治,必须反对超然至上的政治权力,从而使各种政治权力趋向均衡。     

Developing economies and the demographic and democratic imperatives of globalization

In the past decade the world economy has witnessed both great progress and great inequities resulting in part from the liberalization of markets-including capital markets-that has accompanied the process of globalization, and from the intense pace of technological change. This article highlights the need for individuals, organizations and governments to counterbalance the excesses and abuses of capitalist societies while at the same time noting the importance of ensuring environmental safeguards. It recognizes, however, that efforts must be directed at maintaining the dynamic momentum of globalization and of extending its benefits to greater numbers. For this to happen, there must first be a debate about globalization, focusing on how to intensify its pace and extending its benefits, as well as curbing its excesses. Second, intellectually robust coalitions must be created between business, NGOs, the academic community, the media and other interested parties, to put pressure on national governments in both developed and developing countries, and on international government institutions, to improve, intensify and extend the process of both political and economic liberalization.     

Debating the moral and economic foundations of a democratic polity

From around the middle of the 18th century, agrarian reforms came on the agenda in most countries of western Europe. Although Norway’s economy was not manorial like that of Denmark and much of the rest of the continent, a debate emerged on how to improve Norwegian agriculture as well. Contrary to what the idealized picture of the typical Norwegian peasant might make us believe, the Norwegian right of redemption, odelsretten, was at the heart of these discussions. This article explores the differing opinions voiced over the ancient familial right from the viewpoint of intellectual history, drawing on the European historiography on political languages and the rise of commercial society and arguing that they should be interpreted as different responses to the societal changes caused by the economic growth in Norway from the middle of the 18th century.     

Mixed messages: youth participation and democratic practice

The article begins by observing that, over the last decade, the idea of youth participation has once more become a popular part of contemporary political talk both in Australia and in many Western societies. Indeed most Western governments now advocate enhanced youth participation as part of a discourse about modern citizenship, so much so that it has become a policy cliché to say ‘increased youth participation’ will ‘empower’ young people, help build community and remedy a range of social problems. It is also noted that, if the idea of participation itself is an old idea central to the liberal democratic tradition, the current ‘rediscovery’ of youth participation is arguably part of that political orthodoxy. Drawing on selected State, national and Commonwealth government youth documents, the question is asked whether the official enthusiasm for youth participation has much to do with democratic practice. It is argued that the recent government enthusiasm for youth participation is problematic for three reasons. First, it fails to recognise the significant obstacles that young people currently experience when trying to participate socially, economically and politically. Second, there is a failure to think through what democratic practice requires. Third, both the conceptualisation and operationalisation of official youth participation policies reveal an agenda that is seriously at odds with the rhetoric of democratic participation. This raises questions about whose voice is actually being heard and to what effect.

A litmus test of any government, however it may describe itself, is its treatment of children. (Yakovlev 2003 Yakovlev A 2003 A Century of Violence in the Soviet Union New Haven, CT: Yale University Press  [Google Scholar], 33)     

论党内民主主体素质的提高

党员是党内民主的主体,党员队伍的民主素质决定党内民主的实现和发展程度,党内民主制度的制定和实施也只有在党员民主素质全面提高的基础上才能收到预期的效果,这就决定了提高党员民主素质是进一步发展党内民主的基础工作。新时期,提高党员民主素质的重点是增强党员民主意识。只有进一步肃清封建残余思想的影响、改善党内民主生活氛围、加强党内民主制度建设,党员民主素质才能得到切实提高。     

Building the nation in Timor-Leste and its implications for the country's democratic development

This article contributes to the discussion of the international democratisation of the so-called ‘post-conflict’ or ‘fragile’ countries by addressing one of the most important but least studied issues in the literature—the relationship between democracy and nation-building. It does so by analysing the major socio-political aspects of the democratic nation-state-building process in Timor-Leste in the post-1999 period. It argues that contemporary international democratisation policies and practices prioritise the ‘stateness’ problem, conceptualised by reference to a set of organisational, procedural and functional concerns. Little attention is, however, paid to the ‘nationness’ question. As the experience in Timor-Leste indicates, it is the national ideas that determine the structural and operational parameters of democratisation, which is, after all, a process of socio-political transformation by which political power and wealth are redistributed amongst a variety of competing societal interests.     

Democratisation: Antidemocratic and democratic elements in the political culture of China

The nature of the political culture itself is often seen by commentators as the cause of democracy failing to take root in China; the antidemocratic elements of that culture being overemphasised while the democratic elements are underemphasised. This paper examines the application of the ideas of democratic culture in China to the current state of play, including the possibility of the democratic card being played by factions within the Chinese Communist Parry (CCP). There are indeed cultural problems associated with Chinese democratisation such as cultural anomie, unconscious authoritarian personalities, the legacy of egalitarianism, the radical polarisation of Chinese culture, difficulties of institutional compromise and the irrational control of aggression and fear. While the antidemocratic culture is stronger at present than the democratic culture, the new Chinese democratic culture is likely to gather strength in the future.     

Citizen-led democratic reform: innovations in Indi

Contemporary political systems are experiencing a democratic disconnect between formal institutions of representative government, and the more informal spaces of political participation. Rather than offer an institutional remedy, this article turns to practice and considers how citizens themselves are seeking to transform dysfunctional democratic practices. The article provides an in-depth analysis of democratic events that have unfolded between 2012 and 2017 in the Australian federal electorate of Indi. The analysis explores the intertwined participatory efforts of the citizens’ group, Voices4Indi, and the local Independent federal member, MP Cathy McGowan. The Indi experience demonstrates that while citizens may be frustrated with ‘politics as usual’, they are not rejecting the system but rather instigating creative democratic reforms.