Australian Journal of Politics and History最新文献

A small, but revealing, set of Second World War newsreels exist that feature the pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Newsreels are an important source of knowledge about the ideology of authorities in wartime Britain. The immense popularity of the cinema meant that newsreels became an important way for the government to communicate with the general public about the progress of the war and also to recruit them into war service. The war was labour intensive, and the government followed a number of initiatives to maximise combat personnel, most notably the widespread employment of women in supporting military roles. The ATA was established to provide a pool of pilots to undertake essential, but not combat, flying during the war. It was made up of pilots who were deemed unfit to serve in the Royal Air Force, a determination that allowed women, by dint of not being male, to join its ranks. The British government was keen to utilise women yet at the same time retain social norms that position employment outside the home as “man's work”. An examination of extant Second World War newsreels reveals that women pilots were initially positioned as a novelty, undertaking lighter, less serious duties than their male counterparts whilst dressed in feminine attire. As the war progressed this shifted rapidly to a recognition that the women were undertaking serious work on par with their male colleagues.

It is difficult to exaggerate the scale of contemporary ecological crises. These challenges, particularly climate change, necessitate new modes of politics and policy, even potentially new institutions, that seem anathema to the emphases of traditional accounts of environmental political science. In this paper, we explore contemporary ecopolitics research in Australia that is attempting to come to terms with the reality of ecological crises and the geological epoch of the Anthropocene. Showcasing a range of scholarship in this area, we argue that contemporary Australian ecopolitics research identifies and engages with a wide range of sites of politics and a significant number of (consequential) political actors. It recognises the need to engage directly with key institutions while also extending our gaze to the environment movement, community groups, financial institutions, local governments, and consumers. It acknowledges that sites of politics extend from the way ecological crises are framed in public debate to policy management, practices of private corporations and even to individual patterns of consumption. And it argues for an expansive conception of ethics beyond currently living human communities, a vision which arguably better meets the reality of ecological crises and the Anthropocene epoch.

The Chinese Nationalist government's Hong Kong policy appeared to be successful from 1946 to 1949. While its official principle was to shelve the matter until civil conflicts ceased, the government adopted tough rhetoric and actions in dealing with any troubles deriving from the colony, which underlined the uncertain political future of Hong Kong that the British could not ignore. However, this tactic was a result of the Nationalists' failure to strike a balance between the public's and local authorities' clamour for the colony's immediate retrocession and the central government's postponement policy. As a result, not only did the matter of Hong Kong remain unresolved but the public discontent against the government escalated and the Sino-British relationship reached its nadir. Yet the “unintended claim” that the failure in balancing caused posed a serious threat to British rule in Hong Kong and encouraged the latter to rethink the colony's future and how to administrate the colony peacefully in the post-war era.

The conclusion of the Franco-Russian Alliance was one of the major turning points in the history of international relations before the outbreak of the First World War in 1914. However, the alliance was put under its first severe test only months after its ratification in 1894. The Sino-Japanese War and the far-reaching Japanese conquests in Northeast Asia during this war forced the French and Russian governments to align their foreign and imperial policy towards the region. This ultimately resulted in Paris and St. Petersburg in April 1895 intervening against Japan together with France's rival Germany. This initiative, known as the Triple Intervention, caused intense tensions within Franco-Russian relations, just as the politicians in Berlin had intended. Ultimately, however, the political decision-makers in Wilhelmstraße achieved exactly the opposite. Although politicians in Paris were initially displeased with the state of their country's relationship with St. Petersburg, they were eventually able to capitalise on the situation. By systematically excluding the government in Berlin from potential advantages derived from the successful intervention, the mutual trust in the alliance was restored and subsequently, St. Petersburg and Paris were able to strengthen their position vis-à-vis their imperial rivals in East Asia.

As the third Irish Home Rule crisis grew more threatening from 1911 onwards, Ulster Unionists began searching for allies across the British Empire, including in Australia. This article highlights the role and influence of the Australian anti-Home Rule movement from 1911 to 1914, investigating why the Loyal Orange Institution in Australia published resolutions sympathetic to the Unionist cause. The article also investigates who the supporters were, who donated thousands of pounds in aid, or who enlisted in an Australian Ulster volunteer contingent. Most importantly, it considers how widespread and organised these Ulster sympathisers were, particularly by 1914 when they produced an anti-Home Rule petition.

Studies of academic freedom have mostly focussed on Europe and North America. Yet, any consideration of the societal crises in Africa cannot ignore the collapse of its universities and the very concept of academic freedom on the continent. Much had been expected of the universities. In Africa, the early post-independence universities took off on internationally competitive and solid foundations—thanks to the heritages and traditions bequeathed them by the colonial powers that established them. In these societies, the expectations associated with the formation and performance of the universities have their foundations in the historical evidence furnished by the definitions of success in the West. However, the postcolonial orientations of the universities in Africa have proceeded along different pathways. Ideas taken from one milieu to another can develop in unpredictable ways and may satisfy needs other than those served in their places of origin. Institutions transplanted from one society can be influenced by the practices prevalent in the receiving societies. The forces acting upon such interactions are complex. The resultant transformative impacts are also unpredictable. An appreciation of context is therefore compelling. This article discusses the crisis in Nigeria's political economy and its continued impact on the public universities from the late 1980s to the 2020s [Correction added on 26 July 2024, after first online publication: Preceding sentence has been amended for correctness.]

For much of the second half of 2023, Western Australian (WA) state politics adjusted to the new reality that the towering figure of Mark McGowan had departed. This departure immediately led many participants and observers to predict a return to more conventional political battles, and a much more even state election in 2025.

After taking office on 8 June, the new Premier of WA, Roger Cook did not enjoy much of a political honeymoon. Widespread criticism over new Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws led to a humiliating government backflip, while the juvenile justice system witnessed tragedy and turmoil. Nevertheless, the government achieved some major legislative milestones, while a new electoral distribution for the 2025 state election renewed tensions between the Nationals and Liberals.

The first major electoral test for the Cook Government came on 29 July, in McGowan's old seat of Rockingham. Unsurprisingly, McGowan had been incredibly popular in Rockingham, achieving a primary vote of 82.75% in the 2021 election, representing a two-party preferred margin of 88-12 against the Liberals. In a drive for renewal, the Labor party selected 28-year-old Magenta Marshall, a former campaign strategist and electorate officer. For their part, the Liberal party selected resources recruitment consultant Peter Hudson, who was just 21. Hayley Edwards, Deputy Mayor for the City of Rockingham, failed to win Labor preselection, and then stood as an independent candidate. Whilst local issues featured prominently in the campaign, broader statewide issues such as the rising costs of living, Labor's contentious cultural heritage laws and the state of the public health system were all under the microscope.

Labor's performance in Rockingham under McGowan was unsustainable and the by-election did see a massive swing of 33% swing away from the Government. They still achieved a primary vote of 49% however, and the eventual two party preferred margin was 65-35 against the Liberals. Much of the swing from Labor did not go to the Liberals, but rather to a swag of other candidates; Edwards picked up 16%, just behind the Liberals, and finished second after preferences, while the Legalise Cannabis party achieved 7%, outpolling the Greens. The result indicated that the next state election in 2025 would be closer, but it was unclear how many people were ready to support the Liberals again.

The latter half of 2023 saw the official redistribution of the WA State Electoral Boundaries, for the 2025 election. The redistribution had to take into account population growth in Perth, and a decline in the population in regional WA, particularly in agricultural areas. Broadly speaking, the principal change was the merging of two regional seats both held by the National party, the seats of Moore and North West Central. Accompanying this was the creation of a new seat in Perth's southeastern suburbs called Oakford. Whilst the new boundaries delivered one additional no

That bipartisanship has been required for referendums to change the Australian Constitution to succeed is regarded widely as axiomatic. But the idea of bipartisanship as a necessary condition of success is relatively new; in the first half of the twentieth century, party opposition did not loom large in accounts of why referendums failed. And for good reason. As this article shows, the importance attached to bipartisanship is based on a misreading of the record from 1906 to 1951: first, because there is one referendum—the 1946 referendum on Social Services—that passed without bipartisan support; second, because several other referendums came close to passing, despite lacking bipartisan support; and third, because bipartisanship allows for the minor party in a coalition to be opposed provided the major party is in favour—one reason why commentators have misread the success of the Social Services referendum. Whether or not bipartisanship has been necessary, it has never been regarded as sufficient. Attempts to identify more than one factor in the success of referendums have proliferated. But attempts to measure their relative importance—either in particular referendums or across referendums as a whole—have not got us very far.

Seachanging and the expansion of suburbia led to important changes in Australia's human geography during the second half of the twentieth century. However, the implications of domestic migration on electoral politics have received only limited study. The Central Coast of New South Wales was one place where these two patterns of movement converged and which came to be routinely identified in public debate as electorally marginal. In reviewing this discursive positioning across both federal and state politics over several decades, the article examines how the region's marginality was often linked to the social mix created by migration primarily from Sydney, among which retirees and long distance commuters received particular attention as cohorts of voters. The analysis then turns to electoral competition in what was thus seen as a contestable space. This spanned national, state, and local issues and the major parties sometimes pre-selected candidates offering very distinct value propositions. Overall, the Central Coast's regional political discourse reflected wider understandings of voting realignment seen around Australia, including changing perspectives on class, but also highlights how migration created new, formative communities where marginality was viewed as an important part of local political identity and practice.