Research Theme 3

Comparative public policy, government and international relations

Convenor: Paul ‘t Hart

Description | Forthcoming events | Past events | Projects/Grants | Visitors

This theme unites researchers studying the perennial question of political analysis: ‘who gets what, when and how?’ In particular, we study the structures, processes and rhetoric by which public and private actors at local, national, regional and global level make, justify, evaluate and revise choices and commitments that bind not just themselves but affect entire communities. We study and compare governments within and outside Australia: how they get formed and dissolved, how they operate internally and externally, what they do whilst in offi ce, how they account for their deeds. We also study and compare governance, e.g. the processes by which networks of government, non-government and supranational actors work on public issues that none of them can solve independently. And we study public policy, the concrete bundles of ideas, choices, resources and implementation activities that governments and networks produce. Within this broad field of interest, two areas will be highlighted —

From problems and preferences to programs: Democracy and public policymaking

How do democracies deal with the major, intractable problems that contemporary economies and societies face? How do these problems, which defy existing and conventional patterns of state activity, reach the agendas of public and private actors? Who frames them, and what role do scientific knowledge, interestgroup activity, transnational bodies, and public deliberation play in these processes? How accountable are states and the newly emerging public-private, sub-state and supra-state governance mechanisms for their policies and performance? How do traditional institutions – such as elections, parties, parliaments, and the courts – adapt to the transformation of governance that we witness around the world today?

Australian governance and policy capacity in comparative perspective

How does the Australian state equip itself to the contemporary world of differentiated, horizontal and multi-level governance? How does it move from being the self-evident center of policymaking activity and a monopolistic provider of public services in many domains to new roles such as regulator, partner and facilitator in devolved and partly privatized areas of public service delivery? How can it ensure that there is suffi cient coherence, transparency, accessibility of these services? What does this mean for the roles, composition and modus operandi of the public service? How does it (re)organize its own knowledge management, advisory and implementation capacities? And how does it compare internationally?

Events

Forthcoming seminars

Time and venue (unless otherwise indicated): 4.00pm, Seminar Room D, Coombs Building, Fellows Road, The Australian National University.

Past seminars

14 November
In the wake of economic reform: New prospects for a national building state? Musings on a work in progress
Prof Michael Pusey

7 November
The evolution of agri-environment schemes: It's dry and green on the farm
Dr Geoff Cockfield

31 October 2007
Understanding attitudes toward reproductive rights for lesbians & gay men
Dr Ken Mavor

24 October 2007
Freedom and Politics
Dr David West

17 October 2007
Explaining Australian Voting: Long-Term Trends in Electoral Behaviour
Prof Ian McAllister

10 October 2007
The Danger of Economics for Politics
Ryan Walter

3 October 2007
Broadbanding Canada and Australia: Varieties of Particularism at the Nexus of Government, Business and Technology
Michael de Percy

19 September 2007, 5.30 pm Shine Dome
ANZSOG Public Lecture
TBA

12 September 2007
What's the value of Public Value?
Dr Janine O’Flynn

29 August 2007
How Have Female Candidates Fared in Australian Elections Since Federation?
Dr Andrew Leigh

22 August 2007
Norms and Interests in US Climate Policy: The Fate of ‘Common but Differentiated Responsibility
Dr Robyn Eckersley

15 August 2007
How does political deliberation improve outcomes? Interpersonal consistency as a measure of deliberative quality
Dr Simon Niemeyer

8 August 2007
Individual and Collective Performance and the Tenure of British Ministers 1945-1997
Prof Keith Dowding

1 August 2007
Worlds, Families and Regimes: On the Utility of Cluster Concepts in Comparative Politics
Speaker: Prof Frank Castles

25 July 2007
Democratization as Deliberative Capacity Building: An Agenda for Comparative Politics
Prof John Dryzek

18 July 2007
Intimate Connections: The Impact of the Mobile Phone on Work/Life Boundaries
Prof Judy Wajcman

30 May 2007
Three Logics of Business Contributions to Parties: Evidence from and Implications for Australia
Dr Iain McMenamin

23 May 2007
How neo-liberalism remade democracy: by reframing the central question of politics
Dr Lindy Edwards

16 May 2007, 5:30 pm Shine Dome
ANZSOG Public Lecture

9 May 2007
Multiculturalism and the Welfare State: Is diversity the enemy of redistribution?
Prof Keith Banting

2 May 2007
Small "c' and Big "C" citizenship: is there a difference?
Prof Kim Rubenstein

18 April 2007
What Should Heads of State Do?
Prof John Power

4 April 2007
Comparing the ALP, the German Social Democrats & the British Labour Party: Institutional Contexts & Programmatic Development
Dr Charlie Lees & Dr Phil Larkin

28 March 2007
Canada under the Conservatives: ‘Canada’s New Government’ and New Public Governance
Prof Peter Aucoin

21 March 2007
Can Voters Cope with Federalism?
Dr Fred Cutler

14 March 2007, 5:30 pm Shine Dome
ANZSOG Public Lecture
Chris Sarra

14 March 2007, 12:30 pm
Mapping the History of Leadership in the Australian Public Service
Dr Catherine Althaus

7 March 2007
Changing patterns of information effects on voting behaviour in a multi party system
Dr Kasper Hansen

Projects/Grants

Creating and Analysing a Citizens' Parliament: Exploring the Public's Deliberative Capacity
• This project will contribute to public understanding of Australia's institutions of government, and to debates about possibilities for their reform. It will also demonstrate the contributions to governance that large-scale forums composed of typical citizens could make. In so doing, the project will illuminate the possibilities for more effective citizen participation and public consultation in Australia's democracy. The project will develop applied expertise on these issues, and solidify Australia's standing as a leader when it comes to innovative democratic reform.
• Prof JS Dryzek; Dr L Carson; Dr SJ Niemeyer; A/Prof JF Hartz-Karp; Prof I Marsh; Mr LA
Belgiorno-Nettis
• Funding: Australian Research Council LP0882714; 2008: $108,501; 2009: $145,567; 2010: $37,507

Social Adaptation to Climate Change in the Australian Public Sphere: A comparison of individual and group deliberative responses to scenarios of future climate change
• This research addresses the ARC National Research Priorities Goal of 'An Environmentally Sustainable Australia,
specifically 'Reducing and capturing emissions in transport and energy generation'. Avoiding, managing, and/or
adapting to the climate change impacts is now the most pressing global environmental problem. This project will
produce tangible and original insights into policy options for institutional adjustment to future climate change in
Australia; will provide insight into the scope for positive community behavioural change; and possible
transformations in Australian social debate to maximise adaptive capacity. It will also strengthen and produce
original conceptual approaches and research methods.
• Dr SJ Niemeyer; Dr P' Hart; Dr KP Hobson; Prof W Steffen; Prof BG Mackey; Dr JA Lindesay
• Funding: Australian Research Council DP0879092; 2008: $182,500; 2009: $176,000; 2010: $20,000

Whole of government: evaluating frameworks for integrating policy development, implementation and delivery of public services
• The Australian Government is committed to whole of government approaches to policy, implementation and service delivery. This research will help make whole of government work better, by analysing its fundamentals and providing guidance on best practice. It links five key government agencies, coordinating departments and those at the front line of service delivery. Case studies include national security, avian flu and indigenous policy coordination. The project will build ongoing collaboration between academic researchers and public servants. It will develop practical guidelines to assist government organisations better serve clients and solve complex policy challenges.
• Dr Janine O’Flynn. Collaborators: Prof John Halligan and Assoc Prof Deborah Blackman (University of Canberra) and Prof Ian Marsh (University of Sydney)
• Industry partners: AGIMO, Department of Finance & Administration; Australian Public Service Commission; Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Department of Health & Ageing; Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination, FaCSIA
• Funding: $236,000 ARC, plus $428,000 (cash and in-kind) from partners

Succession Management - factors affecting recruitment, retention and succession management in the Australian Public Service
The project will examine the issue of motivation, career structures and succession management in the Australian Public Service. The key questions of the project are: Why are staff attracted to employment in the APS? Why do staff stay in the APS? What do staff return to the APS? What enhances the capacity of staff to meet the current and future needs of the APS? What is best practice in public sector succession management? The study will combine qualitative and quantitative methodologies to examine these questions and make recommendations as to how to improve practices in the APS.
• D. Janine O’Flynn. Collaborators: Prof John Alford (University of Melbourne and ANZSOG), Prof Owen Hughes (Monash University and ANZSOG), Prof Charmine Hartel (Monash University), and Dr Deirdre O’Neill (Monash University and ANZSOG).
• Funding : $100,000 from ANZSOG

What’s the value of public value?
The project examines the efficacy of the “public value concept”. This involves examining how public value management might differ from previous public management models, its potential as an enduring public management paradigm, and its implications for managerial activity. The project currently examines these issues from a conceptual perspective, but aims to consider these issues empirically over time.
• D. Janine O’Flynn. Collaborators: Prof John Alford (University of Melbourne and ANZSOG)
• Funding – not yet!

The Micropolitics of Deliberation
Deliberation is now widely regarded as central to democracy in both theory and practice. However, political scientists currently know little about how individuals actually experience deliberative settings, and the way policy preferences, value judgments, and beliefs change in these contexts. The project investigates how individuals respond to different kinds of institutions, and the variety of ways in which both plurality of opinion and consensus can be produced in deliberative democracy. The project will contribute to democratic theory and identify exactly how institutional design can lead to authentic deliberation.
• Prof John S Dryzek, Dr Simon Niemeyer
• Funding: Australian Research Council DP0558573; 2005: $150,000; 2006: $110,000; 2007: $105,000

Communication across Difference in a Democracy: Australian Muslims and the Mainstream
Australian Muslims have been at the centre of media attention particularly since September the 11th. Even though they comprise no more than 1,5 per cent of the total population, the debate on the compatibility of Islamic and Western values has been very prominent. To date, this debate has focused little attention of the attitudes of Australian Muslims and how they perceive themselves in relation to Western values. This gap, often filled by negative stereotypes, has a wide range of implications in the area of contemporary governance and public policy. This research project will study the relationship between Islamic communities in Australia and the wider society in the context of ideas about cultural difference and democracy. The degree to which Australian Muslims develop a sense of belonging and social responsibility towards mainstream society is directly linket dot the level of their inclusion as well as participation in Australia's multicultural scheme. This project therefore aims to contribute to the possibilities to foster a more productive social and political relationship between Australian Muslims and the mainstream. The empirical substance will consist of interviews with both Muslims and non-Muslims, wiht a view to mapping and analysing discourses about difference and democracy in Australia. The knowledge generated can then be deployed to identify exactly how communication across difference can be promoted in this kind of case. The research informed by a theoretical perspective that highlights the role of social learning in deliberation in a diverse and democratic society. The project will study both ordinary citizens and opinion leaders in Islamic and non-Islamic communities and will complement existing work in the Research School of Social Sciences, notably the current ARC-funded project of John Dryzek and Simon Niemeyer on how both pluralism and consensus can get produced in the process of political deliberation, and so reinforce the School's position as a world leader in the study of deliberative democracy.
• Prof John Dryzek, Dr Bora Kanra
• Funding: ARC (postdoc for Dr Kanra)

The Theory and Practice of Deliberative Democracy
This project links the theory of deliberative democracy to institutional innovation, to benefit both, through comparative case analyses of democratic innovations in different countries. It is hypothesized that particular kinds of institutional innovation (such as consensus conferences, stakeholder dialogues) will work out quite differently in different political contexts. The results of the comparative case analyses will be used to reflect back upon, and reformulate, deliberative democratic theory. Cases studied include consensus conferences on genetically modified food in Denmark, France, and USA.
• Prof John Dryzek and Prof Bob Goodin
• Funding: none

Into the Void: Exploring the Impact of Participatory Processes in research and policy contexts
This research explores the relationship between deliberative methods and outcomes — such as policy implementation. It will consider questions of appropriateness (what is the appropriate nature of impact) and effectiveness (in terms of level of impact) of deliberative participation. By assessing actual experience of running deliberative processes with respect to research outcomes, the research aims to investigate both barriers and pathways to a desired level of impact. Important questions regarding the appropriate level of impact in both theory and practice will be addressed. Given existing institutional settings mechanisms whereby this appropriate level can be achieved and ways in which barriers can be transformed will be explored. This initiative will bring together researchers from within CSIRO and Australian Universities who have engaged inparticipatory/deliberative research to reflect from their experience and explore avenues for improving its interface with decision outputs. This will result in better understanding of the practice of deliberative input in the Australian context, by way of use of domestic case studies and comparison with international practice. Another benefit will be the development of strategies for improving the nexus between public input and decision processes.
• Dr Simon Niemeyer. Collaboration: CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) and others tba
• Funding: tba

ForestERA — New Mexico Forest Restoration Stakeholder and Public Input
This project is about the design and analysis of deliberative processes around the issue of forest restoration. The results will also be used as a case study for the Micropolitics of Deliberation Project.
• Dr Simon Niemeyer and Prof John Dryzek. Collaborators: ForestERA at the Northern Arizona University (USA)
• Funding: tba

Future of Fremantle Traffic Bridge — Community Engagement Process
Based on the analysis of the community engagement process and the deliberative poll conducted to find out the preferences of residents of Fremantle and the wider city of Perth regarding the future of Fremantle Traffic Bridge, this research investigates whether and how preferences change as a result of the deliberative process.
• Dr. Simon Niemeyer, Prof John Dryzek and Selen Ayirtman. Collaborators: 21st Century Dialogue/Murdoch University (Janette Hartz-Karp)
• Funding: tba

Biobanking in British Columbia — A Deliberative Public Consultation
• Dr Simon Niemeyer and Prof John Dryzek. Collaborators: W Maurice Young Centre for Applied Ethics, University of British Columbia.

Policy Capacity in the Federal APS
This four year research project is mapping changes in policy capacity in the Australian Public Service over the last 20 years. We have selected six policy sectors to be the focus of analysis including Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Department of Finance, national security, environment, transport and housing policy areas. The array of factors coming into policy capacity is complex, nuanced and contentious. We are using a four stage research methodology to develop an overview of the range of issues and the various emerging trends. The four stages include 1. Audit and mapping 2. Elite interviews 3. Case studies 4. Panel studies.
• Prof John Wanna, Dr Lindy Edwards. Collaborators: Prof Patrick Weller and Dr Anne Tiernan (both Griffith Uni)
• Funding: jointly funded between the ARC and ANZSOG.

The Careers of Cabinet Ministers
This project has so far largely been concerned with ministers in the British Cabinet and thus far largely concerned with their resignations. It has produced two large dataseta: ‘Individual Ministerial Resignations’ is on UK ministerial resignations and non-resignations (1900-2007); and ‘Post-War Administrations’ which has data on all ministerial movements (up, down, sideways and out) from 1945-97. The latter is currently being updated to the end of the Blair administration in June 2007. Three papers have been published in international journals, another is out for review, a book will appear (2009) for Cambridge University Press and an edited book (Routledge) including a chapter on this work will appear in 2008. It is intended to collect a new dataset on Australian Commonwealth and State ministers to replicate analyses for the Australian case.
• With Samuel Berlinski (UCL, UK)Torun Dewan (LSE, UK) and Gita Subrahmanyam (LSE, UK)
• Not currently supported, work supported in past by Nuffield Foundation, Leverhulme Trust and STICER.

Public Services: Exit and Voice and a Means of Enhancing Service Delivery
This project examines exit and voice mechanisms and their effects upon satisfaction with public services. The project involves a five-year panel survey run by YouGov. Two papers are forthcoming in international journals, one theory, one based on the first wave of analysis.
• Prof Keith Dowding. Collaborator: Peter John (Manchester University
• Funding: two awards from the UK Economic and Social Research Council (grant-holders Keith Dowding and Peter John)

The Measurement of Rights and Freedoms
There are several strands to this research

a. Amartya Sen and Modern Political Theory
An analysis of Sen’s contribution to political theory concentrating upon his work on rights, freedom and equality within the ‘capabilities approach’; two papers in international journals have been published and a book manuscript is under preparation
• Prof Keith Dowding
• Funding: British Academy of Sciences (a Research Readership)

b. Analytical Account of Freedom and Rights
This project uses the tools of rational and social choice theory to examine extant accounts of rights and freedoms with the aim of providing a consistent account of these concepts that fit with general moral intuitions. Four papers have so far been published in international journals with another three papers forthcoming in edited collections. A book manuscript is also being prepared.
• Prof Keith Dowding. Collaborator: Prof Martin van Hees (Groningen University, Netherlands)
• Funding: Dutch National Science Foundation fellowship to Van Hees

c. Empirical Measurement of Freedom and Rights
This project involves the empirical examination of Amartya Sen’s capability approach through survey data. A working paper has been produced.
• Prof Keith Dowding. Collaborators: Paul Anand (Open University, UK)
• Funding: UK Arts and Humanities Research Board (grant holder Paul Anand).

Comparative Electoral Behaviour
This project draws on the unrivalled resource of the Comparative Study of Electoral Systems project, which Ian McAllister directs, to examine patterns of electoral behavior and party competition across more than 50 nations. The Comparative Study of Electoral Systems is a coordinated comparative project that enables the systematic analysis of electoral behavior under globally varying institutional conditions. Its main function is to ensure that comparable information about citizens’ behavior and social attitudes are gathered at each site. The project has just produced two edited journal issues coedited by Ian McAllister (Party Politics and Electoral Studies) and an Oxford series is planned (edited by Ian McAllister and Hans-Dieter Klingemann). Ian McAllister, David Farrell (Manchester) and Russell Dalton are collaborating on a book on parties and democratisation, also for Oxford.
• Prof Ian McAllister. Collaborators: Prof Hans-Dieter Klingemann (WZB, Germany), David Farrell (Manchester) and Prof Russell Dalton (UC Irvine, USA)
• Funding: US National Science Foundation $1.5M

Public Opinion Towards Foreign and Defence Policy
The issues of foreign affairs and national security have become increasingly important to Australians in the wake of the Bali bombing, the invasion of Iraq, and the 'War on Terror.' However there are a number of unknowns in research of this kind. What are the public's key concerns? How have our current attitudes been shaped and how much have our opinions changed in recent years? This project provides crucial insights into the topic, identifying those countries seen as the principal threats to Australia, examining how and why people feel that way, and most importantly, indicating what governments can do to better inform and shape public opinion in foreign affairs and defence-related matters.
• Prof Ian McAllister. Collaborator: Dr Rachel Gibson (University of Manchester)
• Current Funding: ARC DP Discovery 0772331 $168,000 2007-08

Conflict in Northern Ireland
The Northern Ireland problem is one of the most long-running political conflicts in the world. This project, in collaboration with Professor Bernadette Hayes (University of Aberdeen), examines long-term public attitudes and opinions in Northern Ireland towards religion and politics, party support, and the use of violence to obtain political goals. A focus of the research is on the effects of political violence on public opinion, with special reference to the young, and on the role of integrated education as a civil society initiative to mitigate social conflict. The research is supported by the UK Economic and Social Research Council and the Nuffield Foundation.
• Prof Ian McAllister. Collaborator: dr Bernadette Hayes
• Funding: tba

Australian Election Study
The Australian Election Study is a nationally representative sample survey of the Australian electorate designed to assess the attitudes and opinions of citizens at each federal election. The AES has been conducted at each federal election since 1987 and provides an invaluable resource for understanding electoral dynamics within a liberal democracy, enabling researchers to reach behind the superficial media assessments of the election and investigate theoretically driven research hypotheses. The 2007 AES will have a particular emphasis on whether the political party system offers voters an appropriate range of choices, and the implications if the choices are insufficient.
• Prof Ian Mc Allister, with collaborators from across Australian universities

Success and failure in public governance
This project repeats and extends a mammoth international comparative project published under the same name in 2001, which entailed a comparative evaluation and explanation of the outcomes of critical governance episodes within 4 policy sectors (governance of decline: industry policy; governance of innovation: financial regulation; governance of reform: health care; governance of crisis: HIV/ blood supply) in six countries (edited by Mark Bovens, Paul ‘t Hart and B. Guy Peters). The original 4x6 comparative project covered the 1970s-1980s, and the current project will reunite largely the same editorial team and international team of 27 researchers to give it a longitudinal comparative edge covering the 1990s/early 2000s. In addition, an Australian off-shoot of the project will be developed, covering the same four governance tasks / policy sectors.
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart. Collaborator: Dr Adrian Kay (Griffith)
• Funding: currently considered by ARC

Public leadership in comparative perspective
This program aims to compare and critically examine the evolution of leadership
discourse, institutional designs for enabling and constraining leadership,
and leadership functions styles and practices in both consensual and
majoritarian democracies. Specific projects include:

a. Comparative studies of leadership succession in political parties and
public organizations
Publications include articles in: Political sychology, Oct 2006;
Australian Journal of Political Science, March 2007; German Politics, June 2007; Government and Opposition (forthcoming)
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart. Collaborator: Fredrik Bynander, Uppsala University, Sweden)
• Funding: none

b. Comparative studies of leadership in the political management of major
emergencies and other crises
Publications include: The Politics of Crisis Management (Cambridge University Press 2005) and Governing After Crises (Cambridge University Press 2008)
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart. Collaborators: Prof Arjen Boin, Louisiana State University; Prof Bengt Sundelius, Uppsala University; Prof Eric Stern, Swedish Defence College; Dr Allan McConnell, Sydney University)
• Funding: Swedish Emergency Management Agency

c. Understanding Public Leadership
A state of the art textbook bringing together state of the art research on political, bureaucratic and civic leadership, and presenting five complementary conceptual lenses for studying and improving public leadership. Publication: planned 2009
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart
• Funding: none

d. Public Leadership in Australia and Beyond
A workshop and edited volume bringing together scholars and practitioners from around Australia (and New Zealand, and South East Asia), taking stock of present day knowledge about and (Australasian) practices of political, bureaucratic and civic leadership. Publication: workshop planned late November 2007; volume planned late 2008, early 2009
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart. Collaborator: Prof John Uhr, and many other scholars
• Funding: ANZSOG ($20.000), GovNet ($10.000)

e. Dispersed Leadership in Democracy
A workshop and edited volume project bringing together a select group of leading international scholars to examine the nature of the institutional opportunities and constraints for leadership offered by different types of 'offices' embedded in the fabric
of a democratic policy, and the ways in which holders of these offices
understand and negotiate these role requirements. Publication: workshop
planned April 2008, volume late 2009.
• Prof Paul ‘t Hart. Collaborators: Prof John Kane and Dr.Haig Patapan (both Griffith University),
• Funding: ARC (to Kane/Patapan); Netherlands Science Organization ($8500); Utrecht University ($5000)

Westminster Transplanted and Westminster Implanted: Explanations for Political Change (2002-2005)
The project explores why Westminster systems, which have been adopted across the world, have been so resilient in different environments? It explores how different nations adapted the Westminster core executive by combining local traditions with inherited practices. The project will identify what conditions provided stability and security. By comparing performance across nations, it will explain why Westminster practices were so adaptable. This study is the first longitudinal explanation of political development in societies that inherited executive practices from the same source.
• Professor R.A.W. Rhodes, Prof John Wanna. Collaborator: Prof Patrick Weller (Griffith University)
• Funding: Australian Research Council Discovery Award (165,000) The grant ended in December 2005.

The role of values in Australian rural policy
The focus of this research is the influence of values on the policy process, using agrarianism in Australian rural policy as a case study. The research is considering the influence of deep core values on policy and exploring the idea that some values are so embedded in political culture that they do not need to be articulated to influence policy outcomes. Part of this research is on the impact of agrarianism on the Coalition relationship which will look at policy differences in the federal coalition since the 1920s.
• Dr Linda Botterill. Collaborator: Geoff Cockfield from the University of Southern Queensland
• Funding: none

The Privatisation of the Australian Wheat Board
This research project draws on internal Grains Council of Australia papers and interviews to describe the process of the privatisation of the former statutory Australian Wheat Board and its transformation into AWB Limited. The project is examining whether the privatisation process achieved grains industry objectives and if and to what extent the model chosen contributed to the Oil-for-Food scandal. The research includes collaboration with Chris Aulich from the University of Canberra on the privatisation process and with Anne McNaughton from the College of Law on the role of the Wheat Export Authority as regulator of AWB Limited.
• Dr Linda Botterill
• Funding: none

Regulation of private behaviour
Building on preliminary work on the obesity debate, this research project further pursues government regulation of private behaviour with a focus on recreational risk taking activity. The first case study will relate to regulation in the recreational diving industry.
• Dr Linda Botterill. Collaborator: Anne McNaughton (ANU College of Law)
• Funding: none

Drought and farm poverty policy
Part of a long-standing research interest on farm poverty and drought policy. Farm poverty in Australia is a relatively neglected area of public policy. The extent and nature of farm poverty has not been measured since the 1970s and government responses to the problem have been framed in terms of agricultural policy rather than as a welfare response. Related to farm poverty is the issue of government responses to drought and there are linkages between this research and the work I am doing on values in the policy process.
• Dr. Linda Botterill
• Funding: none

Improving Decision Making in Government Service Delivery Using Third Party Providers
This project focuses on analysing and improving decision making in government service delivery through two complementary parts: examining the range/models used by government agencies through third party providers; and investigating how specific relations are managed/improved in selected industries (childcare, ageing, disability services). Our approaches encompass policy process theories, contractual management, alternative service delivery, citizen empowerment theories, new institutional economics, industry impact analysis, and new modes of accountability. Analytical methods include survey and statistical investigations, comparative historical methods, case studies, and comparative research with Canadian and New Zealand experts.

• Dr Claire Donovan (RSSS, ANU), Prof John Wanna (RSSS, ANU). Collaborators: Prof Brian Head (Griffith), Ms Fiona Smart (FaCSIA)
• Funding AU$1,130,077, Australian Research Council Linkage Grant LP0562398

The Governance of Social Science: New Foundations of a Science for Society
This comparative project studies the place of social science within science, technology and innovation (STI) governance in North America, the Asia-Pacific, the UK, and the EU. It describes how, at the science policy level, publicly funded social science has come to be regulated as if it were natural science, and examines the consequences for the future development of social science and how this impacts upon epistemology, public values, public policy, and democracy. For example, the public governance of social science within STI policy has largely diminished the value of interpretive social science, and this political regulation of ‘everyday epistemology’ makes for an impoverished form of social inquiry, and presents the danger of creating a ‘slave social science’ in the service of science, technology and international competitiveness. The governance of social science as natural science has a profound impact upon political and administrative culture, which acts to hinder the realisation of the social democratic project. This research describes how a re-imagined, interpretive, STI policy can provide a credible ‘post-positivist’ alternative to current STI governance, and lead to a radical realignment of the foundations of all public policy.
• Dr Claire Donovan (RSSS, ANU)
• Funding: none

The Democratic Audit of Australia
The Democratic Audit of Australia studies the integrity of Australia’s democratic processes and institutions. It employs the Audit framework established by the UK Democratic Audit project and subsequently developed by the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) in Stockholm. As well as conducting original research on Australian democracy, the Audit acts as a forum for debate about relevant subjects through its Focussed Audit and Discussion Paper series.
• Prof Marian Sawer, Prof Barry Hindess, Dr Phil Larkin
• Funding: ARC, grant DP0557055.

Assessing the Impact of Parliamentary Committees
In the context of concerns about the ‘death of parliament’, parliamentary committees have been put forward as a means by which this process can be reversed and parliament’s renaissance brought about. However, information about their impact is scarce and often anecdotal. Using the UK House of Commons’ Education and Skill Select Committee, this project uses both quantitative and qualitative to more accurately examine Committee impact on government, parliament, political parties, and public debate.
• Dr Phil Larkin. Collaborator: Dr Andrew Hindmoor (University of Queensland)
• Funding: none

Renewal of Democratic Governance
Using a framework derived from March and Olsen’s Democratic Governance, changes in the ‘quality’ of governance in the Australia, New Zealand and the UK are assessed comparatively and historically; the consequences for the practice of politics and policy-making; and, insofar as changes are identified, how democratic governance might be renewed in the three countries.
• Dr Phil Larkin. Collaborators: Prof Ian Marsh (University of Sydney) and Assoc Prof Raymond Miller (University of Auckland
• Funding: none

Strengthening Parliamentary Institutions
This project builds on a partnership between the ANU and the Commonwealth Parliament to establish a research community of parliamentary analysts to improve international understanding of processes of parliamentary innovation and modernization. The theoretical aim of this project is to revise and renew political science theories of parliamentary capacity-building. The practical aim is to improve governmental and non-governmental strategies of democracy-assistance through analysis of success and failure in institutional strengthening of parliaments, based on lessons arising from Australian change processes.
• Prof John Uhr, Dr Phil Larkin
• Funding: ARC Linkage Grant with Office of the Senate and Office of the House of Representatives, Commonwealth Parliament.

Project Retrosight
Project Retrosight is a three-year multinational study using a framework developed by the team, the Payback Framework, to investigate the impact of biomedical research, including how it is translated into clinical practice and ultimately how it affects health. Specifically the project aims to: undertake a study of the payback from cardiovascular research in four countries, taking research that was carried out around 15 years ago as a starting point; and, investigate the comparative strengths and weaknesses of different ways of funding research. The project is being supported by a range of bodies including: the UK Department of Health; the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada; the National Heart Foundation of Australia.
• Linda Butler (RSSS, ANU), Professor Martin Buxton (Brunel University), Dr Jonathan Grant (RAND Europe), Dr Steve Hanney (Brunel University)
• Funding: £154,720; Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, and the National Heart Foundation of Australia

Metrics or Peer Review? Evaluating the 2001 UK Research Assessment Exercise
Evaluations of research quality in universities are now widely used in the advanced economies. The UK’s Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) is the most highly developed of these research evaluations. This project has so far used the results from the 2001 RAE in political science to assess the utility of citations as a measure of outcome, relative to other possible indicators, and will later extend its analysis to other research fields. The citations analyzed relate not only to journal articles, but to all submitted publications—including authored and edited books, and book chapters. The results show that citations are the most important predictor of the RAE outcome, followed by whether or not a department had a representative on the RAE panel. The results highlight the need to develop robust quantitative indicators to evaluate research quality which would obviate the need for a peer evaluation based on a large committee. Bibliometrics should form the main component of such a portfolio of quantitative indicators.
• Linda Butler (RSSS, ANU), Professor Ian McAllister (RSSS, ANU)
• Funding: n/a

Visitors

2007

Prof Frank Castles, current

Prof Hans Keman, University of Amsterdam, Nov 2006-Jan 2007

Prof John Higley, University of Texas, March-April 2007

Prof Charles Lees, University of Sheffield, Jan-April 2007

Prof Ian McMenamin, Dublin City University, April-August 2007

Dr Fiona Wood, University of New England, March 2007

Sandra Grey, University of Wellington, Jan-March 2007

Suzanne Lawson, Feb 2007-July 2008

Prof Monique Leynenaar, November 2007, Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherlands

Dr Mary Walsh, University of Canberra, Feb-June 2007

Dr Nelly Lahoud, Goucher College, Baltimore June 2007-Aug 2008

Prof Maarten Hajer, University of Amsterdam, Dec 2007

Dr Gail Radford, current

Mr Tom Flynn, University of York, July-Sept 2007

Ms Anika Gauja, Cambridge, July-Aug 2007

Mr Ricardo Mendonça, Uni Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil, Aug 2007-May 2008

Ms Helen Moore, current

Mr John Nethercote, current (ANZSOG)

Dr Soon-Yawl Park, Korea Research Foundation, Sept 2007–Aug 2008

Dr Robyn Seth-Purdie, May–Dec 2007

Prof Marian Simms, Otago, Sept-Dec 2007

Mr Chris Wright, Cambridge, Dec 2007-Apr 2008

2006

Prof J Alford, ANZSOG

Dr C Althaus, Griffith

Mr M Bennister, Sussex

Ms A Brandstrom, (Stockholm)

Prof F Bynander, Stockholm

Prof F Castles

Dr L Edwards

Mr P Fawcett

Prof H D Forbes, Toronto

Dr A Knops, Birmingham

Dr B Head, (ANZSOG)

Dr C Hendriks, Amsterdam

Dr I Holland, (ANZSOG)

Dr B Kanra, ANU

Prof H Keman, Amsterdam

Dr N Lahoud, Goucher

Prof E Lindquist, Uni Vic, BC, Canada

Mr A McDonald, Berkely

Dr H Moore

Dr P Muldoon, Monash

Mr J Nethercote, ANZSOG

Dr J O'Flynn, Uni Canberra

Mr A Podger, ANZSOG

Dr G Radford (continuing)

Dr M Russell, Uni College, London

M V Squire, Essex

Dr A Tiernan, Griffith (ANZSOG)