Anne Tiernan

A raft of recent political scandals in Australia has generated widespread media and public interest in the role and accountability of ministerial staffers, and their impact on relations between ministers and their public service advisers. Such scandals include the notorious ‘Children overboard’ affair and the more recent AWB imbroglio.

In Power Without Responsibility Anne Tiernan describes the contemporary working environment of political staffers, their formal and less formal roles, the challenges they face, and the forces that have escalated the growth in their numbers and influence.

Patrick Weller

Cabinet Government in Australia, 1901-2006 is the first comprehensive study of the development of the central institution of government over the first century of its life. Based on Patrick Weller’s careful archival research and 30 years' experience writing about central government in Australia, it provides an understanding of both the history and the working of the institution. Penetrating in analysis, rich in anecdote, with lively portraits of prime ministers and their colleagues, this will stand as the principal source for understanding this central political process in our government.

Jenny Fleming and Jennifer Wood

The demand for security in western democracies generally exceeds the capacity of governments to provide it. In the present-day climate of scarce resources, networked approaches to policing and security have the potential to generate more effective and democratic service provision. Whether they want to or not, policy increasingly have to work with, and through, many local, national and international partnerships.

Fighting Crime Together: The Challenges of Policing and Security Networks explores the development of policing and security networks and various domains of practice. It looks at ways police can develop new strategies for integrating the knowledge, capacities, and resources of different security providers and assesses the challenges associated with such a venture. The book draws on contributions form internationally renowned academics, policy makers, analysts, practitioners of policing and security.

David M Farrell and Ian McAllister

The Australian Electoral System provides the first-ever comprehensive study of the design of the Australian electoral systems. It focuses on the two electoral systems, both 'preferential', that are most closely associated with Australia: namely the aternative vote and the single transferable vote.

The book covers four main themes. First, it traces the origins of Australia's electoral systems, explaining how and why Australia ended up with such a relatively unique arrangement. Second, it explores the range of variation in the detail of how the various schemes operate—variations which can have significant behavioural and electoral consequences. Third, it uses aggregate and survey data to systematically analyse the consequences of electoral system design. Fourth, it examines voter reaction to these systems, both in Australia and also cross-nationally.

Published November 2005 - Take advantage of 20% special discount by following the purchase link.

Edited by Haig Patapan, John Wanna and Patrick Weller

Westminster Legacies examines the ways in which the Westminster system has been influential in shaping responsible government and democracy across Asia, Australasia and the Pacific. It devotes chapters to India, Pakistan, Nepal, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Fiji and the smaller Pacific Island nations. The book examines ways the Westminster system has been adapted in the light of local cutures and traditions and considers how Westminster remains important for understanding political institutions and practices.

It also looks at the conditions under which Westminstr legacies have taken root and endured, and those conditions that have eroded or significantly changed its influence. Some of the countries surveyed have teetered on the edge of becoming 'failed states' (especially in terms of legitimate democracies), while others remain robust adversarial democracies.

John Uhr

Public trust in Australia's governments and our political leadership is at an all-time low, according to many opinion polls. Shaken by years of broken promises, political spin, shady deals, obfuscation and even brazen lies, many consider this condition terminal. John Uhr says the situation is not irretrievable, though serious and immediate consideration needs to be given to finding means by which our political leaders can re-earn the confidence of the community.

Terms of Trust is the first book-length analysis of the role of ethics in Australian government. It scrutinises what actually happens in practice against the democratic theory and identifies strengths and weaknesses of public sector ethics..

Edited by John Wanna and Paul Williams

Since 2002 - and for the first time since Federation - all state and territory governments in Australia have been held by the Australian Labor Party.

Yes, Premier features a chapter on each state or territory, and in each case focuses on the leader who has led their party to power and so created this unprecedented and historical situation. It examines each Labor premier (and in Tasmania's case, two!) and territory chief minister's individual rise to power and their political and personal style.

The chapters are written by experts in the politics and political culture of their home state. Part personal and part political biographies, the chapters also assess the instruments of leadership any modern state or territory leader must master in order to remain in the top job.

George Argyrous

The need to base policy on evidence has placed pressure on decision-makers to support proposals with well-grounded research and information. However, no practical guide with a focus on public sector policy and decision-making for doing this exists. This edited text fills the gap by providing a practical and comprehensive manual for people working in policy areas. It is aimed at practitioners with little or no experience in research and analysis but who require skills in managing, assessing and critically evaluating evidence use in the public sector.