Business political activism and government relations in large companies in Australia

This paper reports on findings of recent empirical research which deals with the prevalence and role of government relations functions in large companies in Australia. It is argued that large firms have become more politically active in the last two decades and that many of the largest firms have established specialised government relations functions. The operation of such functions is discussed and the implications of such ‘in house’ corporate political activism for the role of business associations is explored.     

Simplexity and the Reinvention of Equifinality

Some earth surface systems apparently exhibit deterministic chaos, where small differences in initial conditions produce increasingly divergent results. This casts doubt on the venerable concept of equifinality, whereby surface features converge to similar forms. However, chaotic systems exhibit a broader-scale order, and their complex patterns occur within well-defined limits. This broad-scale order arising from smaller-scale chaos produces simplexity, where simple rules and regularities emerge from underlying complexity, when the broad-scale structures are independent of the fine-scale details. Chaos precludes equifinality, sensu stricto, at certain scales, but simplexity produces equifinality at others. Simplexity is illustrated in a case study of soil-landform relationships.     

Book reviews

Michael Maclear, Vietnam: The Ten Thousand Day War. Thames Methuen, London, 1981, pp x + 368. $16.95

Peter King, (ed.), Australia's Vietnam. George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1983, pp. 226. $19.95 (cloth), $9.95 (paper).

Carlyle A. Thayer and David G. Marr, Vietnam since 1975 ‐Two views from Australia. Griffith University, CSAAR Paper No. 20, 1982, pp. $3.00

Walter Scott Dillard, Sixty Days To Peace: Implementing the Paris Peace Accords, Vietnam 1973. National Defence University, Washington, 1982, pp. xiv + 240. No price given.

Peter Pringle and James Spigelman, The Nuclear Barons Michael Joseph, London, 1982, pp. xii + 578. $25.00.

Daniel Frei, with the collaboration of Christian Catrina, Risks of Unintentional Nuclear War. Croom Helm, London, 1983, pp. xxxi + 255. $13.95.

Ian Clark, Limited Nuclear War. Martin Robertson and Company, Oxford, 1982, pp.266. £16.50.

Julie Dahlitz, Nuclear Arms Control with Effective International Agreements. McPhee Gribble, Melbourne, 1983, pp.238. $16.95.

G.A. Craig and A.L. George, Force and Statecraft: Diplomatic Problems of Our Time. Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1983, pp.xiv + 288. $33.95 (cloth), $16.99 (paper).

Michael Carver, A Policy For Peace. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp.123. $6.95.

Everett Mendelsohn, A Compassionate Peace: A Future For The Middle East. Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1982, pp. xii + 226. $6.95.

Alison Broinowski (ed.), Understanding ASEAN. Macmillan (in association with AIIA), London, 1982, pp.xv + 323. $36.00 (cloth), $13.95 (paper).

Tunku Shamsul Bahrin, Chandran Jeshurun, A. Terry Rambo (eds.), A Colloquium on Southeast Asian Studies. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, 1981, pp. xvi + 319, S$35.00.

Alfred W. McCoy and Ed. C. de Jesus (eds.), Philippine Social History: Global Trade and Local Transformations. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City and George Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1982, pp. ix + 479. 524.95 (cloth) $12.95 (paper).

Stephen R. Shalom, The United States and the Philippines: A Study of Neocolonialism. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, Philadelphia, 1981, pp. xvii + 302. $19.50.

Karl J. Pelzer, Planters Against Peasants: The Agrarian Struggle in East Sumatra 1947–58 Martinus Nijhoff ‘S‐Gravenhage, 1982, pp. xvii + 186. No price given.

TAPOL, West Papua: The Obliteration of a People. TAPOL, London, 1983, pp. 114. £2.50

R. Mitton, The Lost World of Irian Jaya. Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1983. pp. ix + 235. $50.00.

Radha Sinha, Japan's Options for the 1980s. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1982, pp. 269. $27.50

Wang Gungwu, Community and Nation, essays on Southeast Asia and the Chinese. Heinemann Educational Books (Asia), Singapore, and George Allen & Unwin Sydney for Asian Studies Association of Australia, 1981, pp. 292. $24.94 (cloth), $12.95 (paper).

B. Male, Revolutionary Afghanistan. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, 1982, pp. 229. £13.95.

Edward Mortimer, Faith and Power: The Politics of Islam. Faber and Faber, London, 1982, pp. 432. $16.95.

Julius W. Pratt, Vincent P. De Santis, Joseph M. Siracusa, A History of United States Foreign Policy. 4th edition. Prentice‐Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., U.S.A., 1980, pp. xvi + 553. $US 18.95.

John Cartwright, Political Leadership in Africa. Croom Helm, London and Canberra, and St. Martin's Press, New York, 1983, pp. 310. $26.75.

Greg Crough and Ted Wheelwright, Australia: A Client State. Penguin Books Australia, Ringwood, 1982, pp. 255. $7.95.

Altro Polo. The Frederick May Foundation for Italian Studies, University of Sydney, annual. $10.00

The Scottish Government Yearbook. The Unit for the Study of Scottish Government, University of Edinburgh, annual. £10.00 (cloth) £5.95 (paperback).     

Book reviews

A.J.R. Groom and C.R. Mitchell (eds.), International Relations Theory: A Bibliography. Frances Pinter Ltd., London, 1978, pp. 222.

Terence Garvey, Bones of Contention‐ An Enquiry into East‐West Relations. Routledge and Kegan Paul, London, 1977, pp 203. £6.50.

Dan Nabudere, The Political Economy of Imperialism. Zed Press, London, 197.7, pp ix, 301. £3.95.

V. G. Kiernan, America: The New Imperialism; From White Settlement to World Hegemony. Zed Press, London, 1978.

Malcolm Caldwell, The Wealth of Some Nations. Zed Press, London, 1977.

Geoffrey Hawker, R.F.I. Smith and Patrick Weller, Politics and Policy in Australia. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1979, pp. 313. $24.95 cloth, $9.95 paper.

Martin Painter and Bernard Carey, Politics Between Departments. University of Queensland Press, Brisbane, 1979, pp. 132. $17.95 cloth, $8.95 paper.

J. F. Lovering and J. R. V. Prescott, Last of Lands . . . Antarctica. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1979, pp.212. $9.80.

Micahel Leifer, Malacca, Singapore, and Indonesia. Sijthoff and Noordhoff, Alphen aan den Rijn, 1978, pp. 217. US$35.

David Aaron Rosenberg (ed.), Marcos and Martial Law in the Philippines. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 1979, pp. 315. US$17.50.

Contemporary Southeast Asia, vol. 1, No. 1, May 1979. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore. US$12.00 per annum, four issues.

Milton Osborne, Southeast Asia: An Introductory History. George Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1979. 205pp. $A5.95.

D. B. Miller (ed.), Peasants and Politics: Grass Roots Reaction to Change in Asia. Edward Arnold (Australia) Pty Ltd, Melbourne, 1978, pp.218. $11.50.

K. R. Singh, The Indian Ocean: Big Power Presence and Local Response. Manohar, New Delhi, 1977. pp. x + 336. Rs 60.

Kim C. Beazley and Ian Clark, Politics of Intrusion: The Super Powers and the Indian Ocean. Alternative Publishing Cooperative Ltd., Sydney, 1979. $11.95.

Colin Legum et al, Africa in the 1980s: A Continent in Crisis. McGraw‐Hill, New York, 1979, pp. 232. S6.95.

Elaine Windrich, Britain and the Politics of Rhodesian Independence. Croom Helm, London, 1978, pp. 283. £10.95.

Belinda Probert, Beyond Orange and Green: The Political Economy of the Northern Ireland Crisis. Zed Press, London, 1978, pp.174. £2.95.

Edward Crankshaw, The Shadow of the Winter Palace: The Drift to Revolution 1825–1917, Penguin. .1978, pp.509. $3.50.

Uranium: Energy Source of the Future? The Case For —.E.W. Titterton. The Case Against — F.B. Robotham. Thomas Nelson Australia in association with The Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1979, pp.202 — $4.95.

Uranium: Energy source of the future?. The Case For — E.W. Titterton, The Case Against — F.P. Robotham. Thomas Nelson Australia in association with the Australian Institute of International Affairs, Melbourne, 1979, pp.202. $4.95