Overview

This profile supports the more detailed guide on e-Politics.

It currently points to sites of interest for the October 2001 ACT election and the November 2001 federal election.

Over the course of the two elections we'll be providing comment on the campaigns and on particular sites, drawing together information about usability, privacy and other issues.

     contents of this profile

The following pages cover:

parties - pointers to the online of presence of major Australian parties and some of the microparties

commentators - some of the more interesting analysis and media sites

advocacy - some of the best and worst online campaigning involves the sites of advocacy bodies, from the Internet Industry Association to the Henry George Foundation

the campaigns - comments on how parties and individuals used (or misused the web)

     the terrain

Three basic resources for making sense of the federal election and the broader political process are the site of:

Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which includes a link to the Commonwealth Electoral Act

the ACT Electoral Commission (EACT), unfortunately sadly out of date in providing information about electronic voting in an election that's three weeks away

Federal Parliament (APH), including resources about past elections

the ACT Legislative Assembly (LA)

     Parliament and people

There is a very extensive, although uneven, literature on elections and Australian politics. We've pointed to some basic resource sites on the following page. This profile highlights particular works that we've found useful. There are more detailed pointers in the separate e-Politics guide.

As a basic starting point Dean Jaensch's Power Politics: The Australian Party System (Sydney, Allen & Unwin 89) has not been surpassed. Passages To Power: Legislative Recruitment in Advanced Democracies (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni Press 97) edited by Pippa Norris adds a valuable perspective, in particular exploring why some of the more unlikable people get elected. Norris also co-edited Comparing Democracies: Elections & Voting in Global Perspective (Newbury Park, Sage 96) and is the author of Digital Divide? Civic Engagement, Information Poverty and the Internet (Cambridge, Cambridge Uni Press 01).

For the federal parliament a succinct one-volume introduction is provided by Joan Rydon's A Federal Legislature: The Australian Commonwealth Parliament 1901-80 (Carlton, Melbourne Uni Press 86) and by Australia's Commonwealth Parliament 1901-1988: Ten Perspectives (Carlton, Melbourne Uni Press 89) edited by Gordon Redid & Martyn Forrest. Paul Henderson's Parliament & Politics in Australia: Political Institutions & Foreign Relations (Melbourne, Heinemann 81) is dated but offers insights into the use of the 'overseas card' in this and other elections

For the 1997 federal election see the essays in The Politics of Retribution: The 1996 Federal Election (St. Leonards, Allen and Unwin 97) edited by Clive Bean. There's a broader coverage in Scott Bennett's Winning & Losing: Australian National Elections (Melbourne, Melbourne Uni Press 96) and in Dean Jaensch's Election!: How and Why Australia Votes (St Leonards, Allen & Unwin 95). Scott Bennett's 1999 paper on The Decline in Support for the Major Parties and the Prospect of Minority Government may also be of interest.

Elections: Full, Free & Fair (Sydney, Federation Press 01) and Speaking for the People: Representation in Australian Politics (Melbourne, Melbourne Uni Press 01), both edited by Marian Sawer, cover processes and issues.

For a US perspective see John Aldrich's Why Parties? The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (Chicago, Uni of Chicago Press 95), Cass Sunstein's Republic.com (Princeton, Princeton Uni Press 01), Dennis Johnson's superb No Place For Amateurs (London, Routledge 01) and Joseph Bessette's The Mild Voice of Reason: Deliberative Democracy and American National Government (Chicago, Uni of Chicago Press 94).

     affiliation

Comments in this profile do not represent a particular political affiliation. Caslon Analytics is not employed by or associated with a party or candidate.

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