Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Contemporary Theories of Australian Politics
- Part II Politics in Everyday Australian Life
- Part III Elections
- Part IV Participation and Representation
- Part V Inside the Australian State
- Introduction to Part V
- 19 Parliament
- 20 Prime ministerial government in Australia
- 21 Politicisation and the executive
- 22 Delivering public policy
- 23 The courts
- 24 Federalism
- Part VI Contemporary Public Controversies
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
24 - Federalism
from Part V - Inside the Australian State
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Tables and figures
- Contributors
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- I Contemporary Theories of Australian Politics
- Part II Politics in Everyday Australian Life
- Part III Elections
- Part IV Participation and Representation
- Part V Inside the Australian State
- Introduction to Part V
- 19 Parliament
- 20 Prime ministerial government in Australia
- 21 Politicisation and the executive
- 22 Delivering public policy
- 23 The courts
- 24 Federalism
- Part VI Contemporary Public Controversies
- Glossary
- References
- Index
- References
Summary
A federal system consists of dual sets of political institutions that complicate institutional arrangements in Australia. So they present institutionalists (Chapter 2) with particular challenges and opportunities for analysis. They have been criticised for making it difficult to determine who is responsible for implementing policy, as well as making it harder for voters to punish or reward those in government. On the other hand, they can be defended as creating more opportunities for representation and including a tier of government that is closer to the people. So a consideration of democratic theory (Chapter 1) is one prerequisite for reflecting on the desirability and defensibility of a federal system. At the same time, the behaviour of individuals at each level of government and in intergovernmental interactions provides many opportunities for behaviouralist studies (Chapter 3).
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Contemporary Politics in AustraliaTheories, Practices and Issues, pp. 271 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012