Australia: Traditions and Practices

2021 ◽  
pp. 46-55
Author(s):  
Patrick Weller ◽  
Dennis C. Grube ◽  
R. A. W. Rhodes
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
High Court ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Parliamentary Government

The chapter describes the conventions and practices of Australian government. A variant of the Westminster system, it has a number of characteristics that define its workings and conventions: a written constitution, a federal system with potentially powerful state governments, and a High Court that can interpret that constitution. It also has a brutal political culture. These characteristics explain the ways in which Australian cabinet government differs from the English model from which it was derived, and the vulnerability of Australian prime ministers to removal by their own parties. These factors lead to a different form of parliamentary government with distinctly different practices.

The Future of the American States

1936 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Brooke Graves
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Central Government ◽  
University Of Pennsylvania ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Columbia University ◽  
American States ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future ◽  
The University

In any consideration of the future of the states, it is desirable at the outset to recall the circumstances of their development and of their entry into the Union. When the present Constitution was framed and adopted, the states were more than a century and a half old. At that time, and for many years thereafter, it was the states to which the people gave their primary allegiance. Under the Articles of Confederation, the strength of the states was so great that the central government was unable to function; when the Constitution was framed, the people were still greatly concerned about “states' rights.” This priority of the states in the federal system continued through the nineteenth century, down to the period of the Civil War; in the closing decades of that century, state government sank into the depths in an orgy of graft and corruption and inefficiency, which resulted in a wave of state constitutional restrictions, particularly upon legislative powers.At this time, when the prestige and efficiency of the state governments were at their lowest ebb, there began to appear ringing indictments of the whole state system. Most conspicuous of these were the well known writings of Professors John W. Burgess, of Columbia University, and Simon N. Patten, of the University of Pennsylvania.

scholarly journals The Lesson from the Modern American Federalism: A Challenge to Effective Public Policy Performance

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 300-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geiguen Shin
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Power Relationship ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Quarter Century ◽  
Policy Performance ◽  
The Past ◽  
State And Local ◽  
American Federalism

Abstract Contemporary U.S. federalism particularly since the late1960s has evolved over the course of pluralism alternating exercisable governmental powers between the federal and state governments. The complexity of the power relationship has been observed in a variety of policies during the past quarter-century as has the discussion of whether or not contemporary U.S. federalism has developed in a way that increase effective public policy performance. Focusing mainly on the period of the past 50 years of U.S. federalism history, this article suggests that federalism dynamics have not exercised either constant liberal or conservative influence on public policy performance. Instead, this article suggests that the clear functional responsibility between the federal government and state and local governments have characterized contemporary U.S. federalism-more federal responsibility for redistribution and more state and local responsibility for development, which in turn increased public policy performance. This feature has been quite substantial since 1970s. As a result, this article suggests that despite the increased complexity of the U.S. federal system, it has evolved in such an appropriate way that would increase the efficiency of federal system by dividing a clear intergovernmental responsibility on major policy platforms.

Part VI Federalism, Ch.36 Federal Jurisdiction

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stellios James
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
The United States ◽  
Judicial System ◽  
State Courts ◽  
Federal System ◽  
High Court ◽  
System P ◽  
Judicial Federalism ◽  
Federal Jurisdiction

This chapter identifies the origins, content, and operation of federal jurisdiction in Australia. In the United States the creation of federal jurisdiction was the necessary concomitant of the establishment of the judicial arm of federal government. The same could not be said of the conditions for Australian federalism. Federalism Australian-style did not require a federal system of courts. Further complicating the issue was the ‘autochthonous expedient’: the facility provided to Parliament for the use of State courts to exercise federal jurisdiction. Hence the chapter also seeks to suggest that the discordance between the concept and purpose of federal jurisdiction left the High Court with the challenging task of conceptualizing ‘judicial federalism’. In executing that task, High Court jurisprudence has presented differing conceptions of the place of State courts within the federal judicial system.

scholarly journals Finding the Limits of Aid/Watch

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (3s) ◽  
pp. 34-45
Author(s):  
Matthew Harding
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Political Activities ◽  
High Court ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
High Court Of Australia

Commissioner of Taxation v Aid/Watch Incorporated is the latest of a series of recent cases in which the High Court of Australia has exhibited what might be described as a ‘generosity of spirit’ to would-be taxpayers whose charitable status has been called into question. In Aid/Watch, the Court ruled that an organisation formed to monitor and evaluate the delivery of foreign aid by Australian government agencies was a charity even though it was engaged, consistently with its objects, in the sorts of political activities that traditionally have been regarded as anathema to charity. This article considers where we might feasibly locate the boundaries of the High Court’s reasoning in Aid/Watch, in light of charity law as a whole. In other words, as a matter of charity law, what are the limits of Aid/Watch? Thinking about this question demands: (a) some understanding of what the High Court in Aid/Watch said with certainty; and (b) a wider review of charity law to see which of its rules and principles may bear upon cases about political purposes now that Aid/Watch has been decided.

Federalism and Subsidiarity: Principles and Processes in the Reform of the Australian Federation

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-24
Author(s):  
Nicholas Aroney
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Design ◽  
Optimal Allocation ◽  
Path Dependency ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Know How ◽  
Rational Allocation ◽  
Do So

The principle of subsidiarity offers a criterion for the rational allocation of roles within federations between federal and state governments. The principle states that ‘functions should be performed by the lowest level of government competent to do so effectively’. However, embedded in the principle is a hierarchy: there are ‘higher’ and there are ‘lower’ levels of government. This hierarchy suggests a point of view from which assessments of optimal allocation are to be made. The deeper question, therefore, is this: ‘who will decide for whom?’ The reform of a federal system turns not only on what principles are used, but on questions of process: who will decide what those principles require, and how will they go about doing it? A problem of path dependency lies at the heart of Australia's federal malaise. It is this problem that we need to be grappling with when considering the optimal design of the system. To do so, we need to consider not only the principles but also the processes by which the federal system is to be reformed. This paper draws on the comparative experience of Switzerland, Germany and Austria to provide guidance about how Australia's federal system might best be reformed. If we want to know how to change institutions, we must be attuned to the fact that there is frequently a mismatch between the initial aims of institution-builders and the contemporary value we attach to them.1

Photocopying In Australian Libraries Developments In Copyright Law

1976 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Lahore
Keyword(s):  
New South ◽  
Copyright Law ◽  
University Libraries ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
Difficult Situation ◽  
High Court ◽  
Legal Problems ◽  
South Wales ◽  
Balance Of Interest ◽  
Proper Balance

Problems of copyright infringement involved in the extensive and largely uncontrolled use of coin operated photocopying machines in libraries, particularly University libraries, have become the most acute in Australian copyright law at the present time. These problems are not of course unique to Australia, but the recent decision of the High Court in University of New South Wales v Moorhouse and Angus & Robertson (Publishers) Pty Ltd has created a serious and difficult situation for libraries for which a workable solution has not yet been found. In 1974 the Australian government appointed a Committee, known as the Franki Committee, to examine the question of the reprographic reproduction of copyright works in Australia and to recommend any alterations to the copyright law and any other measures considered necessary to effect a proper balance of interest between owners and users of copyright materials in respect of reprographic reproduction. The Committee has not yet made its report and it is not known whether any recommendations will be made which will assist libraries in arriving at a solution to the legal problems now facing them where selfservice coin operated photocopying machines are made available for use by readers.

Power of Initiative and Immunity of Local Government in Federal Nepal

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-79
Author(s):  
Amrit Kumar Shrestha ◽  
Tara Nath Ghimire
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Federal System ◽  
State Governments ◽  
Ancient Regime ◽  
History Of ◽  
Autonomous Institution

Traditionally, it was considered that federal and state governments are the primary two components of the federal system. Provisions relating to local governments were left in the hand of state governments. The recent concept of federalism accepts the local governments as third and integral tier of the federal system. However, federalism and decentralization are used in different meaning. Federalism means the division of power within the center and federal units whereas decentralization considers devolution of power to the local units. The history of the local government begins with the ancient regime in Nepal, and it continues till at present. This article analyzes whether Nepal's local governments are exercising autonomous powers in the new federal system. It examines the local governments' status and positions in light of Clark's theory of autonomy. It concludes that the local governments have vested a significant level of powers of initiative and immunity to being needed for an autonomous institution.

The Making of an Alliance

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Tal
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Ordinary People ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Prime Ministers ◽  
Realist Approach ◽  
Special Relations

Laying the foundation for an understanding of US-Israeli relations, this lively and accessible book provides critical background on the origins and development of the 'special' relations between Israel and the United States. Questioning the usual neo-realist approach to understanding this relationship, David Tal instead suggests that the relations between the two nations were constructed on idealism, political culture, and strategic ties. Based on a diverse range of primary sources collected in archives in both Israel and the United States, The Making of an Alliance discusses the development of relations built through constant contact between people and ideas, showing how presidents and Prime Ministers, state officials, and ordinary people from both countries, impacted one another. It was this constancy of religion, values, and history, serving the bedrock of the relations between the two countries and peoples, over which the ephemeral was negotiated.

scholarly journals Comparison and Co-existence: Sources and Purpose of Authority in the Australian, Madayin and Talmudic Legal Systems

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 141
Author(s):  
Claire Powell
Keyword(s):  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Australian Government ◽  
High Court ◽  
Comparative Framework ◽  
Similarities And Differences

This article will compare Australian, Madayin and Talmudic law in terms of their respective sources and purposes. It will focus on the characterisation of each system to highlight conceptual similarities and differences which affect their operation and, in particular, their commensurability with other systems. Specific areas of law concerned with coexistence are identified as being both crucial and particularly problematic. Notwithstanding Australian government statements and High Court rulings asserting the sovereignty of Australian law, it will be argued that no legal system is self-contained Accommodations are essential and require legislators to grapple with the difficulties of reconciling differing conceptualisations using an informed comparative framework. Talmudic law is considered here as an example of a system which has demonstrated the ability to coexist adaptively with a variety of other systems without compromising its integrity.

Political Agreements

1992 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 442-460
Author(s):  
Gabriela Shalev
Keyword(s):  
Political Culture ◽  
High Court ◽  
The Past ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Basic Law

The legal debate concerning political agreements has lately won renewed interest in Israel, following some disturbing incidents that took place just prior to the establishment of the present government. These events, which were referred to by Justice Elon as “a weakness of political culture” and even “political eclipse”, have forced the High Court of Justice to deal with a number of petitions concerning political agreements over the past year. The Legislature also has had to give this matter considerable attention; the Basic Law: The Knesset, Amendment no. 12, allows for amending and even preventing disruptive phenomena such as political defection which tend to occur alongside political agreements.

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