School of Social and Political Sciences - Theses
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ItemFreedom as capability: how the capability approach can improve our understanding of freedom in established democracies( 2017)Annual measures of democracy are one of the most important tools used by scholars in understanding democratic quality in a cross-national manner. This thesis argues that there are limitations with existing measures of democracy, and presents a new measure of democracy which employs a more expansive definition of freedom: freedom as capability. A central component of measures of democracy is the definition of freedom which they employ, as this heavily influences the way that a measure with the concept of democracy. Different definitions of freedom are tied to different models of human agency, placing different demands on what is required for individuals to be able to function freely as democratic citizens. Considering the closeness of the relationship between freedom and democracy in democratic theory, this is an important issue for measurement to address. Identifying the degree to which this influences contemporary understandings of democratic quality, this thesis examines the way that the concept of freedom is incorporated into existing measures of democracy. It finds that the definition of freedom which is most commonly employed in measures of democracy is the definition of freedom as non-interference. This is problematic since freedom as non-interference is poorly suited to identifying the current problems arising in established democracies, especially those associated with growing inequality. It is argued that freedom as capability, a definition of freedom developed through the capability approach, is a definition of freedom which can provide further insight on the quality of democracy in established democracies, because it identifies different types of constraints which individuals face when engaging with the political process. The new measure of democracy created employs the definition of freedom as capability to demonstrate how measures can be developed which are more sensitive to problems being encountered in established democracies. The measure emphasises problems associated with economic, educational, and health inequalities, as these can represent constraints which limit the freedom of citizens to engage in the political process. In doing so, the thesis presents a measure of democracy which is better equipped to identify meaningful differences in the quality of democracy in established democratic societies. The output of the new measure of democracy is compared to other popular measures of democracy to demonstrate that theoretical differences in conceptualising democracy translate into real differences in measurement output.
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ItemPublic interest advocacy, democratic representation, and fractal democracy( 2017)This thesis is a systematic theoretical defence of the role of public interest advocates (PIAs) in representing interests that are under-served by electoral systems. It also engages with the increasing role of non-state actors in policy-making, which has prompted questions about the democratic accountability of unelected representatives who claim to represent public interests. Instead of judging all representation by comparison to liberal democratic electoral systems, this thesis argues that PIAs ought to be understood in terms of representative claim-making, and normatively appraised according to their contribution to the deliberative capacity of the relevant democratic system. A discursive account of 'public interest' grounded in representative claim-making is developed that avoids the problems of either extreme objectivism associated with rationalist approaches to conceptualising public goods and public interests or extreme relativism associated with some constructivist approaches. The new account provides grounds for a new understanding of PIAs as actors whose motivation cannot be reduced to self-interest, and whose public role ought not to be disparaged simply because they are unelected in conventional liberal democratic terms. A claim-making account of representation highlights and illustrates the similarities between electoral representation and non-electoral PIAs, and the structural biases of the former are highlighted to critique the status of electoral representation as the ne plus ultra of democracy. The role of claim-making in establishing authority relationships is then used to establish that representation is a type of authority, and therefore arguments about democratic authority also apply to democratic representation. Representative claim-making is then brought into conversation with deliberative systems theory to develop a fractal account of democratic representation, based in nested sets of representative claim making practices. This fractal account is flexible and robust enough to identify the democratic merit of representation in any context. The result is a new conceptualisation of democratic representation that encompasses liberal democratic institutions, but is not limited to them, giving a clearer understanding of the legitimacy and democratic strengths of public interest advocates in processes of political opinion formation and political will formation, and all types and levels of governance.
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ItemMyanmar’s other struggles for democracy: narratives and conceptual contest in the Burmese democracy movement( 2016)Democracy inspires many social movements around the world. Yet there is no consensus about its meaning. This thesis examines the Burmese democracy movement in the years leading up to the 2015 election victory of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. I argue that attention to the ways democracy was given meaning amongst activists, opposition leaders and aid workers in Myanmar reveals important conceptual contests. These were struggles not between military elites and the Burmese democracy movement but within the democracy movement, and with its Western supporters – what I have described as ‘other’ struggles for democracy. The concept of narrative can unlock new perspectives on the way democracy is given meaning by political actors, and especially in the construction of meaning through conceptual contest. Drawing on fifty formal interviews and three months of observation in Myanmar (in 2013 and 2014) - within activist networks, aid agencies and the National League for Democracy - this study revealed three contrasting narratives. An institutional narrative, prominent amongst Western aid workers, emphasised the problem of personalised politics and the need for capacity building to develop formal democratic institutions. A benevolence narrative, common amongst activist leaders, highlighted the problem of dictatorial leadership and the need for unity, discipline and selfless leadership in the country’s democratization. Finally, an equality narrative, prominent in other activist networks, stressed the problem of hierarchy in Burmese culture and a vision of democracy as relational equality. As simplified stories containing diverse visions, challenges and strategies, these narratives were important means through which democracy was understood and communicated. Yet activists and aid workers also used narratives of democracy to position themselves in relation to rivals - to establish themselves, and their allies, as experts who could define what ‘genuine’ democracy was, and was not. Conceptual contests in the democracy movement were not only over contrasting visions, challenges and strategies; they were also over the construction of ‘characters’. In other words, narratives were not neutral but a way in which activists, opposition leaders and aid workers could exercise power in a discursive form. Finally, while narratives were in some ways a means for the exercise of power, these struggles were not always overt in the democracy movement, and in fact the nature of narratives and their associated practices often served to obscure conceptual contests. Myanmar has freed itself from military rule. Yet as democracy is increasingly held up as a valued political concept, it is crucial to unpack the many ways in which it is given meaning. This study extends the democratization literature by explicitly addressing the plurality of meanings of democracy. It also furthers the agenda of interpretive studies of democracy, and studies on the transmission of global norms, by highlighting the role of context specific conceptual contests in creating meaning. I conclude that uncovering these other struggles for democracy, and inevitable contests over democracy’s meaning, also challenges prevailing notions of how democracy can be ‘promoted’. Democracy may be a widely valued concept, yet it will remain impossible to pin down.
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ItemExamining the link between democracy and inclusive economic growth in Southeast Asia( 2017)Embedded in all our assumptions and hopes for democracy is the belief that a democratic system will make life better, economically and socially, for its citizens. Given this almost universal assumption it is surprising how little we really know about the impact of democratisation upon the welfare of citizens and the variables linking the two. This thesis investigates the impact of democracy on Inclusive Economic Growth, and mainly questioning: “Does democracy matter in the delivery of larger and more effective social policies that improve inclusive economic growth? ”The four cases selected to empirically analyse the relationship among the three variables (democracy, social policy, and inclusive economic growth) are Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and the Philippines. The finding is social policy is one of the potential variables linking the two; especially when the development of democratic institution run stably and the vast majority of the people support it. In other words, social policy becomes an important variable to test the link between democracy and inclusive economic growth.
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ItemAustralia Felix: Jeremy Bentham and Australian colonial democracy( 2016)Jeremy Bentham considered that society should be ordered on the idea of the greatest happiness. From this foundation, he devised a democratic political system. Drawing on others’ ideas, this included: the secret ballot; payment of members of parliament; equal electoral districts; one person one vote; universal adult male and female franchise; and annual elections. It also included: a single parliamentary chamber; law made by legislation, including codification of the common law; a strong but highly accountable executive; peaceful change; and eventual colonial independence. Bentham inspired several generations of radical reformers. Many of these reformers took an interest in the colonies as fields for political experiment and as cradles for democracy. Several played a direct role in implementing democratic reform in the colonies. They occupied influential positions in Australia and in London. They sought peaceful change, and looked towards the eventual independence of the colonies. This thesis traces the influence of Bentham, and those who followed his ideas, on democratic reform in the Australian colonies. It also examines the Benthamite input into the 1838 Charter in Britain, and relationships between the Charter and subsequent reform in Australia. The thesis notes ideas implemented in Australia that emerged from the experiences of other colonies, especially Canada. The Wakefield land and emigration system, and responsible government for the colonies, both saw their genesis in the Canadian experience, and both were theorised or taken up as causes by people who were members of the Benthamite circle. South Australia was founded as an experiment for ideas promoted by Bentham and his followers. Liberal agitations for democracy in New South Wales and Victoria were influenced by Bentham’s followers. The successes of Benthamite reformers in the Australian colonies included the first secret ballot system as we recognise it today, introduced to parliaments in Victoria, South Australia and Van Diemen’s Land almost simultaneously. The system of government favoured positive liberalism. Generally proponents of the small state, Bentham’s followers played a considerable role in laying the constitutional foundations that allowed the growth of the mixed Australian system, which looked both to the freedom of the individual coupled with a strong role for the state. The thesis does not claim that Bentham’s ideas were the only influence in colonial constitutional reform. Nor does the thesis uncover activity that has not been recognised elsewhere. Rather, the thesis identifies the influence of Bentham’s ideas on actors already recognised for their role in colonial reform. The thesis adds coherence to a story that is generally presented as a series of unconnected ideas expressed in unconnected acts by unconnected actors. Recognising the Benthamite association of the relevant actors adds coherence to the story of Australian colonial democratic reform and challenges some existing interpretations. It also helps confirm the observations of some scholars that Australia is fundamentally utilitarian or Benthamite.
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ItemStranded world: crisis in the West in the age of radical modernity( 2013)The thesis examines why liberal markets and liberal democracies are functioning sub-optimally in the 21st century. Far from being the gold standard of contemporary political and economic organisation as predicted in the wake of communism’s collapse in the early 1990s, the thesis highlights how these systems are becoming increasingly stranded from the world around them. This is because liberalism is a Modernity-derived ideology whose linear assumptions and organising principles about how the world works no longer accord with new, de-linear configurations of political and economic activity that have emerged in the 21st century. These new configurations, the thesis argues, have been created by a combination of globalisation and the rapid rollout of the internet and associated virtual information and communication technologies (ICT) over the past two decades. The result of what the thesis describes as the transition to Radical Modernity is an intensifying pattern of deep dysfunction for the liberal order, highlighted by a series of financial and economic crises and escalating volatility within liberal markets, as well the deteriorating functionality and legitimacy of liberal democracies. However, liberalism, as a Modernity ideology which believes itself to be optimally functional at all times and all places, cannot see, understand nor adequately respond to the functional problems these new configuration of political and economic activity create for its systems. Instead, its contemporary narratives seeks to blame poor errant political and business leadership. Liberal markets and democracies also respond to their escalating pattern of dysfunctionality by increasingly retreating into their linear assumptions and organising principles, thereby compounding their stranding from the de-linear world. The thesis goes on to examine how Radical Modernity’s new configurations of activity are impacting on the political and economic systems of the most populous country in the world, China. It argues that China’s one-party led systems organise themselves around highly linear organising principles and are therefore exposed to the same functional problems created by Radical Modernity as the liberal order. But having distanced itself from the highly-linear ‘stiff’ assumptions inherent in Modernity ideology, the CCP, and China generally, appears to be rescuing a greater degree of functionality, compared to the liberal order, from the bonfire lit under all linear-oriented systems by the increasingly de-linear character of Radical Modernity.
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ItemInvestigative journalism, the public sphere and democracy: the watchdog role of Australian broadsheets in the digital age( 2013)This thesis uses mixed methodologies to examine Australian broadsheet newspapers' role in contributing investigative journalism to the public sphere over seven decades from 1956 to 2011. It explores print newspapers' content to make findings about the quantity and qualitative features of investigative journalism over time. This thesis considers established theories of the media, democracy and the public sphere and finds that, in Australia, as in other developed democracies, investigative journalism has played a normative role informing the public sphere and promoting democracy by providing transparency and holding public figures to account. While investigative journalism is not exclusively the domain of broadsheet newspapers, the thesis finds they have contributed a significant sum of public interest investigative journalism to the Australian public sphere. However, print newspapers, especially broadsheets, have suffered circulation and revenue declines since the late 1980s. Print journalism has relied on advertising revenues to pay for it. In the digital age, the symbiotic relationship between journalism and advertising — at the core of the newspaper business model — has fractured. Media companies no longer have a monopoly on attracting advertisers, nor do they have a monopoly on reporting news. This thesis represents original and new research in Australia. It is the first study combining qualitative and quantitative methods to determine if the Australian public sphere has lost investigative reporting as newspapers experience economic decline. Empirical data were gathered through three content analyses, including: selected mastheads over five decades; selected online news sites; and newspaper stories from selected categories of journalism's peer-reviewed Walkley awards since their inception in 1956. This study also included qualitative analysis through 22 semi-structured interviews with editors, media proprietors, investigative journalists, media analysts, academics and media sector unionists. It directly compared the contributions of print investigative journalism between broadsheets and tabloids; and more broadly examined the contributions from non-print media. The content analysis data of news websites tested whether the nascent online sphere was originating, rather than merely distributing, Australian investigative journalism. This research resulted in the acquisition of a comprehensive repository of Australian award-winning and investigative journalism from 1956 to 2011 — the first of its kind. To perform the analyses, this author derived an original operational definition of investigative journalism informed by both academic literature and media professionals. Finally, this thesis concludes what effects economic and technological changes have had on broadsheet investigative journalism, and discusses emerging trends in investigative reporting. The research contributes original findings to the scholarly literature about the state of the relationship between print investigative journalism and democratic accountability in Australia.
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ItemUS interests in Central Asia under George W Bush: democracy, the war on terror, and energy( 2012)The five post-Soviet states which make up Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan) are poorly understood and under-researched, particularly in comparison to their neighbours. This is despite the fact that these states have experienced dramatic political, economic and social changes since the end of the Cold War, produce significant quantities of oil and gas, serve as transit points for substantial amounts of drugs, weapons, hydrocarbons and NATO forces and supplies, host Russian and American military bases, have local militant and political Islamist movements, and are relevant to the national interests of the US, the Europeans, Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan, and even India. In this thesis, I examine the George W Bush Administration’s interests and policies in Central Asia. Drawing on Robert Keohane and Joseph Nye’s Complex Interdependence Theory, I argue for the interdependent nature of the US relationship with the region, the non-unitary character of the US government and its Central Asian counterparts, the roles of non-state actors, the internationalisation of traditionally domestic issues, and the administration’s ambiguous hierarchy of interests. The theory works best when supplemented with two observations. First, that instead of regarding its interests as entirely separate and in competition, the administration was influenced by ideas about overlaps between its interests. Second, that Central Asia was neglected and poorly understood in the US, contributing to a lack of a clear administration strategy for the region and greater roles for lower level actors. The Bush Administration’s interests in Central Asia revolved around democracy promotion, the War on Terror, and energy. Generally, the relationships between these interests were positive, although not to the extent claimed by sections of the administration. The administration’s critics emphasised the conflicts between its stated interests, but these claims often failed to differentiate between actual and symbolic tensions. Being in an interdependent relationship with the region, the US was fairly limited in its ability to influence these governments and shape their domestic policies. For example, its capacity for democracy promotion in the region was very limited, regardless of how it stacked that interest against its War on Terror and energy interests. This, in turn, means that the tensions between its interests were often primarily symbolic, rather than being over actual achievable changes. Nonetheless, its experiences showed that symbolism matters in US policy making and has the potential to threaten productive partnerships.
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ItemPublic accountability and public spending on human development: regimes, institutions, and resources( 2011)A large body of scholarly research provides convincing evidence on the linkages between human development and economic growth, poverty alleviation, distributive justice, and, at an even more important level, the expansion of human choices and capabilities, and the broader welfare and wellbeing of individuals as human beings. There is also credible evidence suggesting that public spending on education and health improves human development outcomes. What is much less well understood, however, is why some states choose to spend more on providing education and healthcare to their citizens, while many others keep pushing resources towards their militaries. Based on a revised conception of public accountability that encompasses political regimes, administrative and judicial institutions, and modes of resource mobilisation, I argue, within an overall paradigm of New Political Institutionalism, that it is the nature and strength of public accountability that makes governments responsive to citizens’ wellbeing, and thereby best explains cross-country differences in the level of public spending on education and health as well as the outcomes of this spending. Combining cross-sectional regression analysis with three historical comparative country case studies, I find — against the backdrop of the many potential determinants of public spending identified in the literature — extensive support for my argument. In particular, I find persuasive evidence indicating that democracy and high-quality institutions promote public spending on education and health, while democracy and dependence on taxation tend to reduce military spending. I also find human development outcomes to be strongly associated with democracy and high-quality institutions. My findings have some very significant implications for institutional design and the way we approach the question of human development, particularly in the less developed states.