Reviews: Australian

Graham Maddox, Australian Democracy in Theory and Practice, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1985, pp.463, $19.95 (paper).

Bill Brugger and Dean Jaensch, Australian Politics: Theory and Practice, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 258 + 258. $29.95 (cloth), $15.95 (paper)

David Dunstan, Governing the Metropolis, Melbourne, Melbourne University Press, 1984, pp. 362. $24.50 (cloth)

Stuart Harris and Geoff Taylor (eds), Resource Development and the Future of Australian Society, Canberra, Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National University, 1982, pp.305. $14.95 (paper)

W. Ross Johnston, The Call of the Land: A History of Queensland to the Present Day, Milton, Jacaran‐da Press, 1982, pp. 229. $19.75 (cloth)

D. J. Killen, Killen: Inside Australian Politics, Brisbane, Methuen Haynes, 1985, pp. 355 $25.00 (cloth)

Murray Frazer, Jeffrey Dunstan and Philip Creed (eds), Perspectives on Organisational Change: Lessons from Education, Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1985, pp. 451. $29.95 (paper)

W. J. Byrt, The Framework of Consensus: Government, Business & Trade Unions, Sydney, Law Book Company, 1985, pp. 220. $17.50 (paper)

Janis Wilton and Richard Bosworth, Old Worlds and New Australia, Ringwood, Penguin, 1984, pp. 215. $8.95 (paper)

Tim Rowse, Arguing the arts: the funding of arts in Australia, Ringwood, Penguin, 1985, pp. 143. $7.95 (paper)

Russell Mathews, Fiscal equalisation in education, Canberra, Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, Australian National University, 1983, pp. 180. $12.00 (paper)

Constance Larmour, Labor Judge: The Life and Times of Judge Alfred William Foster, Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1985, pp. 286. $14.95 (paper), $29.95 (cloth)

Don Rawson and Chris Fisher (eds), Changing Industrial Law, Sydney, Croom Helm, 1984, pp.xxii + 235. $24.95 (cloth)

Douglas W. Smith and Donald W. Rawson, Trade Union Law In Australia: The Legal Status of Australian Trade Unions, Second Edition, Sydney, Butterworths, 1985, pp.xvii + 204. $37.50 (cloth)

Peter Groenewegen, Public Finance in Australia, Second Edition, Sydney, Prentice‐Hall, 1984, pp.363. $24.95 (paper)

Des Ball, J. Langtry and J. Stevenson, Defend the North, Sydney, Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp.104. $9.95 (paper)

H. O. Browning, 1975 Crisis, an historical view, Sydney, Hale and Iremonger, 1985, pp. 340. $14.95 (paper)

David Solomon, The People's Palace: Parliament in Modern Australia, Carlton, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp. 194. $9.50 (paper) Joan Rydon, A Federal Legislature: The Australian Commonwealth Parliament 1901–1980, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1986, pp.290. $35.00 (cloth)

Patrick O'Brien, The Liberals: Factions, Feuds and Fancies, Ringwood, Penguin, 1985, pp.238. $24.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper)

Glen St J. Barclay. Friends in High Places: Australian‐American Diplomatic Relations since 1945, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1985, pp.245. $25.00 (cloth)

Jonathan Boston, Incomes Policy in New Zealand, Wellington, Victoria University Press for the Institute of Policy Studies, 1984, pp.ix + 344. NZ $19.50 (paper)

David McGee, Parliamentary Practice in New Zealand, Wellington, Government Printer, 1985, pp.579.

Godfrey Hodgson, All Things To All Men: The False Promise of the Modern American Presidency, Penguin, rev. ed. 1984. $7.95 (paper)

Richard H. Leach, Whatever happened to urban policy? A comparative study of urban policy in Australia. Canada and the United States, Canberra, Centre for Research on Federal Financial Relations, 1985, pp.134. $10.25 (paper)

Walker Connor, The National Question in Marxist‐Leninist Theory and Strategy, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1984, pp. 614. $62.00 (cloth), $19.00 (paper)

Owen Greene, Ian Percival and Irene Ridge, Nuclear Winter, Cambridge & Oxford, Polity Press & Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. 216. $9.95 (paper)

Derek McDougall, Harold D. Lasswell and the Study of International Relations, Lanham, Maryland, University Press of America, 1984, pp. 370. $14.00 (paper)

Immanuel Wallerstein The Politics of The World Economy, London, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp. 191. $26.50 (paper)

Douglas E. Ashford, British Dogmatism and French Pragmatism: central‐local policymaking in the Welfare State, London, George Allen and Unwin, 1982, pp. 406. $75.00 (cloth)

Manning Marable, Race, Reform and Rebellion: The Second Reconstruction in Black America, 1945–1982, London, Macmillan (Contemporary U.S. series), 1984, pp. 249. $14.95 (paper)

Christopher Ham and Michael Hill, The Policy Process in the Modern Capitalist State, Brighton, Sussex, Harvester Press, 1984, pp. 210. $14.99 (paper)

Steve Smith (ed.), International Relations: British and American Perspectives, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1985, pp. xiv + 242. $49.95 (cloth)

Clive Archer, International Organizations, London, Allen & Unwin, 1983, pp. 192. $29.95 (cloth), $16.50 (paper)

Joan Edelman Spero, The Politics of International Economic Relations, Third Edition, London, Allen & Unwin, 1985, pp. 447. $18.95 (paper)

H.T. Stanbury and Thomas E. Kierans (eds), Papers on Privatization, Montreal, Institute for Research on Public Policy, 1985, pp.325. $8.00 Canadian

Arend Lijphart, Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty‐One Countries, New Haven/London, Yale University Press, 1984, pp.229. US$6.95 (paper)

Michael Sandel (ed.), Liberalism and Its Critics, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1984, pp. 272. $45.00 (cloth), $17.95 (paper)

Vernon Bogdanor, What is Proportional Representation? Oxford, Martin Robertson, 1984, pp. 164. $39.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper)

Enid Lakeman, Power to Elect: The Case for Proportional Representation, London, Heinemann, 1982, pp. 178. £6.95 (paper)

Graham Little, Political Ensembles: A Psychosocial Approach to Politics and Leadership, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1985, pp. 223. $25.00 (cloth)

Claus Offe, Contradictions of the Welfare State, edited by John Keane, London, Hutchinson, 1984, pp. 310. $18.95 (paper)

John Keane, Public Life and Late Capitalism: toward a socialist theory of democracy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1984, pp. 340. $66.50 (cloth)

Jill Julius Matthews, Good and Mad Women: The Historical Construction of Femininity in Twentieth Century Australia, Sydney, Allen & Unwin, 1984, pp.223. $9.95 (paper)

Marilyn Waring, Women, Power and Politics, Wellington, Unwin Paperbacks & Port Nicholson Press, 1985, pp.121. $9.95 (paper)

Jacqueline Goodnow and Carole Pateman (eds), for the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Women, Social Science and Public Policy, Sydney, George Allen and Unwin, 1985, pp. 162. $29.95 (cloth), $14.95 (paper)

Jane Lewis, Women in England 1870–1950, Brighton, Wheatsheaf Books, 1984, pp.240. $16.50 (paper)

Janet Siltanen and Michelle Stanworth. (eds), Women and the Public Sphere: A critique of sociology and politics, London, Hutchinson, 1984, pp.251. $19.95 (paper)

Susan Magarey, Unbridling The Tongues of Women: A Biography of Catherine Helen Spence, Sydney, Hale & Iremonger, 1985, pp. 239. $14.95 (paper)     

Readings on Thai Justice: A Review Essay

Abstract

How far can judges hope to address Thailand’s political problems? This article reviews six Thai-language books dealing with various aspects of the judiciary, exploring the historical and intellectual origins of the institution. Thirayudh Boonmee’s 2006 call for a judicialisation of politics – his own elaboration of two important royal speeches – builds on judges’ longstanding belief that they are acting “in the name of the King”. But their narrow, formalistic training ill-equips them to exercise broad powers. The article contrasts judges’ idealised self-understandings (as seen in a popular book on how to become a judge by Natthapakon Phitchayapanyatham, and in the 2010 Judicial Code of Ethics) with revisionist perspectives on the judiciary developed by critical scholars Nidhi Eoseewong, Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, and Somchai Preechasilapakul. Whereas judges may imagine themselves to be acting directly on behalf of the monarchy, revisionist scholars insist that since 1932 judges have formed part of a modern democratic order, in which they need to be more transparent and accountable. A close reading of these books reveals that there is no shared agreement in Thai society about the nature or basis of judicial authority.     

The ‘Evidence’ of sex,the ‘Truth’ of gender: Shaping children's bodies

This paper is about the body, specifically a child's body, as a site where identity becomes contested. It is also about a surface or space where we lay claim—a site of vested interest. In April 2004, the Australian Family Court ruled that a 13-year-old child (Alex) had gender identity dysphoria and decided to allow reversible hormonal treatment. The Court ruling produced considerable legal, medical and public reflection over whether these decisions were in Alex's best interests, whether Alex was able to make such a decision at his age, and to assess Alex's competency. These debates also aimed to fix sex and gender through the deployment of a nature and nurture framework. The purpose of this paper, using the example of Alex, is to illustrate the various ways that these claims over a child's body, undermine the possibility for rethinking sex and gender.