Organisation and political analysis

The advent of the Hawke government may not warrant the title of ‘The Revolution in Australian Politics’, but it has raised questions about organisation and power, and the way in which these are handled in political science. This paper begins by identifying what is considered problematic in the political practices which are seen as distinctive in the Hawke government. It outlines the elements of the paradigm of organisation which underlies much political science, and identifies the way in which these are challenged by ‘corporatist’ or ‘Hawkeish’ forms of political activity. It argues that this paradigm of organisation is under attack on both conceptual and empirical grounds, and outlines an alternative paradigm of organisation and the way in which it applies to government. It concludes with a consideration of the implications of this approach for theorising about the state.     

Theory and the analysis of Australian politics

Sharman's 1989 APSA Presidential Address is a welcome critique of the interpretation of Australian politics, but the questions that it raises need to be taken further. The importance of Australian political experience in the formation of an indigenous political tradition is recognised, but it is misleading to see it as stemming from the desire to limit executive power. This article explores the nature of this indigenous governmental tradition, and goes on to consider what we learn from this debate about the nature of constitutional theory, and the relationship of academic debate to constitutional models.     

Recent work on the concept of the state

Stephen Bornstein, David Held and Joel Krieger (eds), The State in Capitalist Europe, London, Allen and Unwin, 1984, pp.170. $24.95 (paper).

Gregor McLennan, David Held and Stuart Hall (eds), The Idea of the Modern State, Milton Keynes, Open University Press, 1984, pp.240. $28.95 (paper).     

Book reviews

Joseph Camilleri, Chinese Foreign Policy: The Maoist Era and its Aftermath. Martin Robertson and Company, Oxford, 1980, pp.xiv + 311. £25.00.

Gerald Segal (ed.), The China Factor: Peking and the Superpowers. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp.210 £12.95.

Josef Fullenbach und Eberhard Schulz (eds.), Entspannung am Ende? Chancen und Risiken einer Politik des Modus vivendi (An End to Detente: Risks and Opportunities of a Policy of Modus Vivendi). R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich, 1980, pp.381. No price given.

J.J. Fox, R.G. Garnaut, P.T. McCawley, J.A.C. Mackie (eds.), Indonesia: Australian Perspectives, Research School of Pacific Studies, The Australian National University, Canberra 1980, pp. x + 772. $24.00.

Shirley W.Y. Kuo, Gustav Ranis and John C.H. Fei, The Taiwan Success Story: Rapid Growth with Improved Distribution in the Republic of China. 1952–1979. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1981, pp. xviii + 160. No price given.

William H. Newell (ed.), Japan in Asia 1942–1945. Singapore University Press, Singapore, 1981, pp. vii +123. $S12.00.

Elizabeth E. Graves, The Minangkabau Response to Dutch Colonial Rule in the Nineteenth Century. Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University, 1981, pp. ix+ 147.$7.50.

Talukder Maniruzzaman, The Bangladesh Revolution and its Aftermath. Bangladesh Books International Limited, Dacca, 1980, pp. xvi + 259. $US10.00.

U Maung Maung, From Sangha to Laity: Nationalist Movements of Burma 1920–1940. Australian National University Monographs on South Asia No. 4, South Asian History Section, Australian National University, Canberra, 1980, pp. xvi + 311. $7.50.

Roger C. Thompson, Australian Imperialism in the Pacific: The Expansionist Era 1820–1920. Melbourne University Press, Melbourne, 1980, pp. 289. $25.00.

John Robertson, Australia At War 1939–1945. Heinemann, Melbourne, 1981, pp. 269. $27.50.

Adam Bromke, Harold von Riekhoff, Jacques Levesque and J.F. Fedorowicz, Canada's Response to the Polish Crisis. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1982, pp. 45. $CAN2.00.

Edward C. Thaden (ed.), Russification in the Baltic Provinces and Finland, 1855–1914. Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1981, pp. xiii + 497. $US52.50 (cloth), $US23.00 (paper).

Philip Towle (ed.), Estimating Foreign Military Power. Croom Helm, London, 1982, pp. 276. $13.95.

Ted Robert Gurr (ed.), Handbook of Political Conflict: Theory and Research. The Free Press, New York, 1980, pp. ix + 566. $52.95.

G.W. Jones and H.V. Richter (eds.), Population Mobility and Development: Southeast Asia and the Pacific. Australian National University, Development Studies Centre, Monograph No. 27, 1981, pp. xx + 474. $9.00.

John D. Conroy, Essays on the Development Experience in Papua New Guinea, IASER Monograph 17, Port Moresby, 1982, pp. xi + 147. K6.50.

Jan Jelmert Jorgensen, Uganda. A Modern History. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp.345. £13.195.

Christian P. Potholm and Richard A. Fredland (eds.), Integration and Disintegration in East Africa. University Press of America, Lanham, Maryland, 1980, pp. x + 219. No price given.

Olga A. Narkiewicz, Marxism and the Reality of Power 1919–1980. Croom Helm, London, 1981, pp. 337. £14.95.

P.T. Bauer, The Third World and Economic Delusion, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London, 1981, pp. x + 293. £15.00.

Andrew P. Rasiulis, On the Utility of War in the Nuclear Age. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1981, pp. 95. $CAN4.75.

Edward Dommen (ed.), Islands. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1981, pp. 135. No price given.

Wilfred Burchett, The China Cambodia Vietnam Triangle. Zed Press, London, and Vanguard Books, Chicago, 1981, pp. 235. $9.95.

Andrei Amalrik, Will the Soviet Union Survive until 1984? Penguin Books, Harmondsworth, 1980 (revised from 1970 edition), pp. 224. $5.50.