Pinochet: The Politics

Against the background of the Pinochet affair, the author considers that a new era of international politics is in the process of being created. The House of Lords' ruling which has allowed extradition procedures against the former Chilean dictator, is understood as a formidable and groundbreaking decision in international law based on the defence of human rights against crimes committed by authoritarian and unlawful rulers. The decision taken under the European Convention on extradition and the setting up of a Permanent International Criminal Court in the summer of 1998 are, according to the author, signs that international law and international politics are moving in the direction of a universal acceptance that violators of human rights must bepunished.
However, the author is also cautious about the tension between the new path opened to international politics and the old power politics based on the absolute and indivisible sovereignty of the state. Double standards will certainly prevail and powerful states, in particular the United States, are reluctant to accept that international law and international politics are in the process of change.     

The economic planning advisory council: The reality of consensus

The Hawke federal Labor government continued the process of national reconciliation and consensus‐formation begun by the National Economic Summit by institutionalizing group/government intermediation and consultation within the Economic Planning Advisory Council (EPAC). This paper looks at the development of the policy which led to the establishment of EPAC to determine what was expected of such a body. The objects and functions of the council are then examined to determine whether its operation increases the efficacy of consensus in government policy‐making. The formal institutionalization of interest groups into the policy process opens up questions about the relevance of theories of corporatism to this innovation in the Australian political system and the findings of this paper in regard to EPAC are discussed in this context to ascertain whether there is evidence of corporatism inherent in these arrangements. Finally, consideration has been given to the question of whether EPAC and consensus have changed the relationship between sectional interests and the government in the Australian political system.     

Get Your Tongue out of My Mouth 'Cause I'm Kissin' You Goodbye: The Politics of Ideas

The seminal work of Derthick and Quirk (1985 ) argues that public policy changes when the intellectual debate of ideas establishes that policy options are legitimate and current policies are ineffective. ¹ Overlooked in their otherwise exceptional analysis is the role that country music plays in the politics of ideas. ² The thesis of this article is that country music is a crucial part of the politics of ideas, and, in fact, many policy debates are resolved in country music well before the intellectual community of policy analysts reaches a consensus. This article will recap some of the key policy debates in which country music set the agenda, ³ established the key policy alternatives, or resolved the policy debate and permitted the adoption of public policy ( Anderson, 1994 ). ⁴     

The civic zeitgeist: nationalism and liberal values in the European radical right

This article examines the relationship between nationalism and liberal values and, more specifically, the redefinition of boundaries between national communities and others in the rhetoric of radical right parties in Europe. The aim is to examine the tension between radical right party discourse and the increasing need to shape this discourse in liberal terms. We argue that the radical right parties that successfully operate within the democratic system tend to be those best able to tailor their discourse to the liberal and civic characteristics of national identity so as to present themselves and their ideologies as the true authentic defenders of the nation's unique reputation for democracy, diversity and tolerance. Comparing the success of a number of European radical right parties ranging from the most electorally successful Swiss People's Party, the Dutch Pim Fortuyn List and Party for Freedom to the more mixed French Front National, British National Party and National Democratic Party of Germany we show that the parties that effectively deploy the symbolic resources of national identity through a predominantly voluntaristic prism tend to be the ones that fare better within their respective political systems. In doing so, we challenge the conventional view in the study of nationalism that expects civic values to shield countries from radicalism and extremism.     

Politics of Reading: Cultural Politics of Homelessness

Reading opens up important avenues for political action. Reading is political in the sense that social groups produce and resist, advance and censor readings of key cultural texts, according to their power to do so and their interests in doing so. This paper examines the politics of reading in relation to cultural politics of homeless-ness. It does so by considering readers and readings of Johnny Go Home (1975), a British television documentary drama about homeless young people, and a cultural text that was open to different readings and political uses. Like many other representations of homeless people, Johnny Go Home revolved around a small number of stereotypes. However, these stereotypes were interpreted and used differently by different readers, according to their power to read and their interests in doing so. Broadly distinct interpretive communities, identified as liberal and conservative, used their respective readings of the programme to advance different solutions to contemporary homelessness. These readings were put to significant legislative use,for they were mobilised in the formal and informal political discourse that culminated in Britain's first direct legislation on behalf of homeless people. More generally, the various readings of Johnny Go Home underline the political significance of the consumption, as well as the production, of representations.