Domestic challenges and international leadership: a case study of women in Australian international affairs

Women in international affairs play powerful and influential roles in shaping laws and policies, negotiating on subjects of war, peace and security, and representing national interest. In Australia, women outnumber men at all levels of public service to executive level one. Yet, women remain under-represented in more senior ranks and appear to experience significant challenges gaining leadership in agencies involved in diplomacy and security. What are the gendered institutions at play in Australian international affairs? Using a comparative case study approach, this paper explores the experiences of senior executive level women leaders across the Australian Federal Government in four case agencies—the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), Defence, Department of Home Affairs (DHA), and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Women’s gendered challenges in international leadership are not surprising within a diplomatic history that has often restricted women’s roles based off the ‘appropriateness’ of sending women as envoys to nations of varying safety and respect for their status. What is surprising is that women report greater sexism, discrimination and harassment from within their own agencies, not from countries in which they are hosted. This has important ramifications globally on gaining and retaining women in international affairs leadership.     

Contemporary trends in women's employment in France

France is often hailed as a country where women, and particularly mothers, are well placed in employment, especially compared with many of its European neighbours. This article explores the situation of women in employment in France in order to highlight and explain areas of progress in recent years and examine issues of continuing concern.     

从社会主义事业的辉煌发展透视社会主义的开放性

本文聚焦社会主义国家的发展,从理论与实践的向度对社会主义的开放实践及其探索进行了历史考察,探讨了社会主义的开放性这一基本属性,认为社会主义作为人类社会发展的文明成果具有广阔的前景。     

Spring Plowing in Full Swing

On a spring day, I went back to my hometown in a rural area. The spring plowing was about to begin. In the suburbs of Lhasa, farmers have made use of seeding-machines, so that only one or two people are able to finish sowing a large piece of land in a very short time and the spring plowing can be concluded in just a few days. However, in my hometown, each family raises one or two head of strong farm cattle, and they are still used to pull the plows.     

扩张与困顿：从警政经费看晚清地方警政建设

警政建设是清末国家权力向州县以下地区进行扩张的一次重要尝试。但是由于中央政府的财政已经捉襟见肘。因此不得不谕令地方自筹经费开办。在实际的运作过程中,地方政府因财力不济,不得不采取加重捐税、增加税种以及和地方士绅合作等办法开办警察。由于经费筹措的困难和税源结构的重大调整,清末的警政建设在经历了一段时间的扩张之后,逐渐走向了困顿与萎缩。兴办警政助长了士绅力量的膨胀,冲击了原有的国家权力结构。     

The regulation of employment services: Private employment agencies and labour market policy

Public policy relating to the labour market has undergone significant change over recent years. These changes reflect demands for greater flexibility in the labour market, and respond to pressures of growing levels of unemployment and consequent exacerbation of divisions within the labour market. A conflict is apparent, however, in the mix of policies adopted. Accompanying moves towards a more ‘active’ style labour market policy has been a trend towards greater reliance on private means of delivery such that the dividing line between public (CES) and private employment agencies is becoming increasingly blurred. Evidence from a survey of private employment agencies and employers conducted in Brisbane in 1992/93 suggests that such a trend may reduce the capacity to regulate employment services and facilitate a commitment to employers’ interests at the expense of those of many entrants to the labour market.     

The coming revolution in foreign affairs: rethinking American national security

For the last two decades the US has pursued what some analysts have called the ‘fantastical idea’ of military transformation that would enable the US to change the very nature of war. Known as the ‘revolution in military affairs’, this process would use technology to provide the US with battlefield dominance that no opponent could overcome. Motivated by the politics of the Cold War, however, this exit from reality has proved less than effective in what has become known as the ‘war on terror’. The US has been pulled into nasty, ‘small’ wars, against enemies utilizing asymmetric tactics. The Bush administration has tried to destroy these groups through the use of military force, failing, or even worse refusing, to recognize that these enemies feed off the economical, political and social rot of weak and failing states. For the last eight years the US government has addressed the symptoms of a problem rather than the actual disease. If America wants to make serious progress with the most pressing national security risks, the next American president must enact a revolution in foreign affairs that sees a massive overhaul and substantial investment in the State Department and USAID. A critical mass of research exists to illustrate the links between development and security—it is time Washington gets serious and embraces a conception of security that is more holistic, and ultimately, more effective.     

The Full Hempel

Book reviewed in this article:
The Logic of Historical Explanation by Clayton Roberts     

Full Spectrum Archaeology

Full spectrum archaeology (FSA) is an aspiration stemming from the convergence of archaeology’s fundamental principles with international heritage policies and community preferences. FSA encompasses study and stewardship of the full range of heritage resources in accord with the full range of associated values and through the application of treatments selected from the full range of appropriate options. Late modern states, including British Columbia, Canada, nominally embrace de jure heritage policies consonant with international standards yet also resist de facto heritage management practice grounded in professional ethics and local values and preferences. In response, inheritor communities and their allies in archaeology are demonstrating the benefits of FSA and reclaiming control over cultural heritage. Archaeology and heritage management driven by altruistic articulation of communal, educational, scientific and other values further expose shortcomings and vulnerabilities of late modern states as well as public goods in and from FSA.     

Sixty-Two Aid Projects in Full Swing

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