School of Social and Political Sciences - Research Publications
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ItemGlobal public power: The subject of principles of global political legitimacy(Routledge, 2012-12-01)This paper elaborates the concept of global public power as the subject of principles of political legitimacy in global politics, and defends it through a critical comparison with other concepts widely employed to depict this regulative subject: states, global basic structure, and global governance. The goal underlying this argument is to bring some greater unity and integration to conceptual understandings of the subject of principles of political legitimacy within analyses of global politics, and in doing so to frame a broader research agenda for locating in practice the concrete political agencies and institutions that are appropriate targets for demands of political legitimation under the prevailing empirical conditions of global pluralism.
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ItemGenetic Research and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians(SPRINGER, 2012-12-01)While human genetic research promises to deliver a range of health benefits to the population, genetic research that takes place in Indigenous communities has proven controversial. Indigenous peoples have raised concerns, including a lack of benefit to their communities, a diversion of attention and resources from non-genetic causes of health disparities and racism in health care, a reinforcement of "victim-blaming" approaches to health inequalities, and possible misuse of blood and tissue samples. Drawing on the international literature, this article reviews the ethical issues relevant to genetic research in Indigenous populations and considers how some of these have been negotiated in a genomic research project currently under way in a remote Aboriginal community. We consider how the different levels of Indigenous research governance operating in Australia impacted on the research project and discuss whether specific guidelines for the conduct of genetic research in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are warranted.
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ItemWork-to-Family and Family-to-Work Spillover: The Implications of Childcare Policy and Maximum Work-Hour Legislation(SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG, 2012-09-01)
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ItemThe prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in Australia: a systematic review and meta-analysis(BMC, 2012-05-14)BACKGROUND: Chlamydia trachomatis is a common sexually transmitted infection in Australia. This report aims to measure the burden of chlamydia infection by systematically reviewing reports on prevalence in Australian populations. METHODS: Electronic databases and conference websites were searched from 1997-2011 using the terms 'Chlamydia trachomatis' OR 'chlamydia' AND 'prevalence' OR 'epidemiology' AND 'Australia'. Reference lists were checked and researchers contacted for additional literature. Studies were categorised by setting and participants, and meta-analysis conducted to determine pooled prevalence estimates for each category. RESULTS: Seventy-six studies met the inclusion criteria for the review. There was a high level of heterogeneity between studies; however, there was a trend towards higher chlamydia prevalence in younger populations, Indigenous Australians, and those attending sexual health centres. In community or general practice settings, pooled prevalence for women <25 years in studies conducted post-2005 was 5.0% (95% CI: 3.1, 6.9; five studies), and for men <30 years over the entire review period was 3.9% (95% CI: 2.7, 5.1; six studies). For young Australians aged <25 years attending sexual health, family planning or youth clinics, estimated prevalence was 6.2% (95% CI: 5.1, 7.4; 10 studies) for women and 10.2% (95% CI: 9.5, 10.9; five studies) for men. Other key findings include pooled prevalence estimates of 22.1% (95% CI: 19.0, 25.3; three studies) for Indigenous women <25 years, 14.6% (95% CI: 11.5, 17.8; three studies) for Indigenous men <25 years, and 5.6% (95% CI: 4.8, 6.3; 11 studies) for rectal infection in men who have sex with men. Several studies failed to report basic demographic details such as sex and age, and were therefore excluded from the analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Chlamydia trachomatis infections are a significant health burden in Australia; however, accurate estimation of chlamydia prevalence in Australian sub-populations is limited by heterogeneity within surveyed populations, and variations in sampling methodologies and data reporting. There is a need for more large, population-based studies and prospective cohort studies to compliment mandatory notification data.
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ItemTaking Responsibility for Climate Change(Melbourne University Press, 2012)
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ItemLed into Temptation? Rewarding Brand Logos Bias the Neural Encoding of Incidental Economic Decisions(PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE, 2012-03-30)Human decision-making is driven by subjective values assigned to alternative choice options. These valuations are based on reward cues. It is unknown, however, whether complex reward cues, such as brand logos, may bias the neural encoding of subjective value in unrelated decisions. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we subliminally presented brand logos preceding intertemporal choices. We demonstrated that priming biased participants' preferences towards more immediate rewards in the subsequent temporal discounting task. This was associated with modulations of the neural encoding of subjective values of choice options in a network of brain regions, including but not restricted to medial prefrontal cortex. Our findings demonstrate the general susceptibility of the human decision making system to apparently incidental contextual information. We conclude that the brain incorporates seemingly unrelated value information that modifies decision making outside the decision-maker's awareness.
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ItemPaid Parental Leave evaluation: Phase 1(Commonwealth of Australia, 2012)
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ItemNETWORKS AND INTERACTIVITY Ten years of street-level governance in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2012-01-01)The systemic reform of employment services in OECD countries was driven by New Public Management (NPM) and then post-NPM reforms, when first-phase changes such as privatization were amended with ‘joined up’ processes to help manage fragmentation. This article examines the networking strategies of ‘street-level’ employment services staff for the impacts of this. Contrary to expectations, networking has generally declined over the last decade. There are signs of path dependence in networking patterns within each country, but also a convergence of patterns for the UK and Australia, but not The Netherlands. Networking appears to be mediated by policy and regulatory imperatives.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMedia reports on dementia: Quality and type of messages in Australian media(WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2012-06-01)AIM: To analyse changes in the quantity and quality of media reporting about dementia in Australian media between two time periods. METHODS: A media retrieval service collected all news items related to dementia. Quality ratings based on previously developed criteria were made for a stratified random sample of items - 1129 items for 2000/2001 and 1606 for 2006/2007. Nine items of quality were assessed. A summary score for quality was constructed. The content of the sampled media items was also coded. RESULTS: Overall, the mean total quality score for dementia-related items significantly improved over the study period. There were very large improvements in quality of reporting of 'sensationalism', 'language' and 'provision of information about help services' and some small deterioration in quality for 'medical terminology' and 'illness versus person'. CONCLUSIONS: A very positive finding here is that generally the quality of reporting dementia has improved over the period studied.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableRowing between two reefs: China, the United States and containment revenant(Nautilus Institute, 2012)