The state and capital: lessons from the first Australian banking royal commission and its aftermath

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper explores the critical theorisation of royal commissions. It does so by examining the conduct and aftermath of a pivotal Australian executive enquiry into banking following the Great Depression. While generally accepting the critical theorisation of royal commissions as serving to ‘legitimate political subjection’, this paper argues that the current theorisation of royal commissions requires a more nuanced understanding of the State and capital, particularly in light of the role played by the Australian legislature in the wake of the first banking royal commission. From such a perspective, it is possible to see that progressive legal and political change is possible through the royal commission process but that such change is contingent upon particular political and constitutional formations within the Australian State.