Policy-making in a ‘Cold Climate’ of Ruling Party Benefit: Party Government and the Regulation of Government Advertising in Australia

When analysing party government behaviour, attempts to detect opportunistic policy making (designed to benefit the incumbent) usually focus on electoral law and changes designed to advantage the ruling party in terms of potential votes. However, as Stein Rokkan (1966 Rokkan, S. 1966. “Norway: Numerical Democracy and Corporate Pluralism”. In Political Oppositions in Western Democracies, Edited by: Dahl, R. A. New Haven: Yale University Press.  [Google Scholar], 105) noted: ‘Votes count, but resources decide’. A laissez faire approach to regulating government advertising has allowed the federal government to spend over A$1 billion on advertising over 10 years despite ongoing accusations of misuse for partisan benefit and attempts by multiple actors to tighten the rules. This article, therefore, uses government advertising regulation as a case study of policy making ‘in a cold climate’ where, instead of seeking change, the ruling party benefits from existing rules and is extremely reluctant to change them. Using a hypothesis proposed by Richard S. Katz (2005) Katz, R. S. 2005. “Why Are There So Many (Or So Few) Electoral Reforms?”. In The Politics of Electoral Systems, Edited by: Gallagher, M. and Mitchell, P. Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Crossref] [Google Scholar], it considers what (if anything) might propel policy reform in such a situation.     

Protest or Error? Informal Voting and Compulsory Voting

Some opponents of compulsory voting claim that rising rates of informal voting point to growing antipathy towards the institution. In order to test this claim we examine recent trends in informal voting, focusing upon some recent figures, particularly those of the 2004 Federal election when there was a sharp rise in informal votes. We suggest that it is not compulsion that is leading to informal voting but rather complexity and its interactions with sociological factors that are brought into play by near-universal turnout.     

Biostratigraphic Evidence Relating to the Age‐Old Question of Hannibal's Invasion of Italy,II: Chemical Biomarkers and Microbial Signatures

As discussed in Part I, a large accumulation of mammalian faeces at the mire site in the upper Guil Valley near Mt. Viso, dated to 2168 cal ¹⁴C yr., provides the first evidence of the passage of substantial but indeterminate numbers of mammals within the time frame of the Punic invasion of Italia. Specialized organic biomarkers bound up in a highly convoluted and bioturbated bed constitute an unusual anomaly in a histosol comprised of fibric and hemist horizons that are usually expected to display horizontal bedding. The presence of deoxycholic acid and ethylcoprostanol derived from faecal matter, coupled with high relative numbers of Clostridia 16S rRNA genes, suggests a substantial accumulation of mammalian faeces at the site over 2000 years ago. The results reported here constitute the first chemical and biological evidence of the passage of large numbers of mammals, possibly indicating the route of the Hannibalic army at this time. Combined with the geological analysis reported in Part I, these data provide a background supporting the need for further historical archaeological exploration in this area.     

The Evolution of the Contemporary Blackening

‘The blackening’ is a pre-nuptial rite of passage for men and women that takes the form of capturing, dirtying, and cleansing the bride and groom. I show that it evolved from an older ritual called the feet-washing. Scottish in origin, widespread as a feet-washing ritual, both in urban and rural settings, the blackening is now a predominantly rural tradition. Although it can and does occur for men anywhere in the country, it is mainly confined to northern and, particularly, north-east Scotland for women, and it is women who are the main focus of this article. I describe the contemporary blackening, before tracing its evolution. I then consider the form and function of blackening’s predecessor, the feet-washing, before discussing how and why it evolved to become the ritual it is today.