Australian Politics and Government

by

Katrine Beauregard

• LAST MODIFIED: 24 October 2024
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756223-0376

Introduction

Australia’s colonial history as well as the presence of the longest continuing Indigenous culture have profoundly shaped its political system and have led to a vast literature. This bibliography starts by discussing general works focusing on the history and evolution of the Australian political system. It also reviews textbooks on Australian politics and government as well as news sources and principal academic journals publishing leading research into Australian politics. The subsequent sections focus on Australian political institutions and review the literature on the executive, legislative, and judiciary branches, followed by discussions on Australian federalism and the role of the public sector. The bibliography then turns to the role of political parties in Australia by elaborating on the history and evolution of the party system as well as each major political party. The elections and political behavior section provides an overview of Australian electoral systems, political behavior, and some specific national elections. Successive sections on political leadership and society include literature on politicians and major forces in Australian politics such as gender and sexuality, immigrants, Indigenous people, news media, and interest groups. The final section focuses on policymaking in Australian and includes general works and literature on important policy areas such as the environment, foreign policy, and immigration.

General Overviews

A short overview of the history of Australia is provided in Macintyre 2009. A general overview of Australian political institutions is provided in Lucy 1985 while Galligan 1995 examines to a greater extent the Australian constitution and resulting federalism in addition to assessing other political institutions. For a large review of the political science discipline in Australia and how Australian politics and government have been studied, Rhodes 2009 compiles a history of the study of its politics and Lewis and Tiernan 2021 assesses its distinctiveness.

• Galligan, Brian. A Federal Republic: Australia’s Constitutional System of Government. Melbourne, VIC: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139084932

  Argues that Australians constituted themselves as a sovereign people when adopting the Australian Constitution in 1901, and consequently Australia is a federal republic instead of a constitutional monarchy.

• Lewis, Jenny, and Anne Tiernan, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Australian Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021.

  Overview of Australian politics that focuses on what makes it distinct from other countries. Includes chapters on Australian political history, political institutions, political identities, recurrent themes, and policymaking and public administration.

• Lucy, Richard. The Australian Form of Government: Models in Dispute. 2d ed. South Melbourne, VIC: Macmillan, 1985.

  Discusses Australian political institutions and argues that they are a mixture of two political systems: responsible party government from the Westminster model and the division of power from the American federal system.

• Macintyre, Stuart. A Concise History of Australia. 3d ed. Cambridge University Press, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511809996

  Provides a brief history of Australia written for an international audience.

• Rhodes, R. A. W., ed. The Australian Study of Politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009.

  Offers a comprehensive look at the discipline of political science in Australia. It includes chapters on most subfields and recurrent themes in Australian political studies.