Melbourne School of Government - Theses
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ItemThe liberating potential of the web?: the ambivalent power of the internet in Chinese democratisation( 2017)To what extent does the internet contribute to democratisation in China? This thesis tests competing answers to this question. It does so by critically bridging the views that frame the internet as a revolutionary force (or an inherently liberating power) and the views that dismiss its potential to democratise authoritarian states. The study contributes to the academic discourse on the liberating potential of the internet. Specifically, does the internet act as a revolutionary power which can guarantee a transition to democracy in China or bring about fundamental, unprecedented democratic processes? And if it does not, then, how does the internet promote and, at the same time, hamper democratisation in China? To better understand such mechanisms, it is necessary to examine the dynamic power competition between the government and the people over ideological control/independence. For its main case study, the thesis examines how the proliferation of the internet in China triggers fears of the government about the so-called Westernisation. This concern has emerged since 2011 and reached a peak in 2014. Being embedded in the Chinese context and analysed from its historical evolution, this concern about Westernisation suggests that the government is in fact worrying about its legitimacy and control over ideology. Focussing on this case study and using a methodology of comparative historical analysis, the thesis argues that the role of the internet in fostering democracy in China is not revolutionary but essentially an ambivalent one. Firstly, since Chinese democratisation began in the 1980s before the proliferation of cyberspace, the internet is not a necessary condition for the occurrence of democratisation in China and therefore should not be regarded as a revolutionary power. In addition, the thesis finds that the liberating potential of the internet is limited to its facilitation of existing democratic processes. Moreover, even with this progress, the internet can also be used to delay such democratic developments, as we can see with the Chinese government’s effective counter policies. This means that the internet is not only unlikely to cause a transition to a democratic system in China, but also that its liberating potential is severely limited – if not an actual barrier to democratisation.
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ItemDoes the implementation of a formal performance management system improve employee performance? Perspective of Indonesian civil servants( 2017)Recently, a new individual performance management system (PPKP) was introduced within the Indonesian civil service system. The purpose was to stimulate employees’ performance which was expected to have a great impact to improve the quality of Indonesian public service. As such, the primary aim of this thesis is to examine whether the implementation of the individual performance management system may improve employees’ performance by analysing perceptions of Indonesian civil servants towards the ideal view and actual experience in PPKP. This thesis is an exploratory study which combines a review of the literature on performance management frameworks, including relevant empirical evidence across countries and Indonesian context, with the primary data of Indonesian civil servants’ perspectives from the survey. The survey uses the Australia Awards Scholarship awardees civil servants as the sample of the population. The findings focus on four specific themes: goal-setting, feedbacks, motivational instruments and leadership as they have been shown to be fundamental to performance management system practice both in global and Indonesian context. This thesis contributes to the performance management literature, particularly in the Indonesian context. It also provides understanding of the implementation of the new individual performance management system and how it compares to previous approaches, drawing on the actual experience of civil servants. Our findings show a significant gap between the ideal view of performance management and actual experiences of the respondents. Our findings also confirm the importance of the four highlighted themes within the performance management system. This thesis highlights insights and ideas from respondents and points to a number of areas that the government and may want to focus on to improve performance management practice
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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.