Towards a New Vision for Australian Politics
Australian politics is often characterized as derivative, pragmatic, and utilitarian—as insufficiently interesting or important to devote much time to. This Handbook challenges that contention, arguing it reflects a narrow, colonial perspective and ignores the richness and diversity of the deep-time history of the Australian continent and the unique inheritance the blending of Australia’s many histories and traditions has produced. Australian political studies encompasses a broad family of research disciplines, whose diverse and methodologically plural efforts have transformed our understanding of Aboriginal cultures and of European settlement. This volume’s thematic approach captures the politics, policies, and societies that have evolved in Australia’s many different landscapes and places. Its chapters present a theoretically rigorous, empirically informed, and historically nuanced account of what is distinctive about Australian politics, its capacity for democratic innovation and what accounts (its many shortcomings notwithstanding), for the resilience of its political traditions and Australia’s relative success.