Activists - protecting rainforests, demanding increased childcare, developing local community housing, campaigning for AIDS funding or protecting consumers - are as much part of the political landscape as the media, parliament, peak industry groups, political parties or trade unions. This collection explores the idea of policy activism and its relationship to the processes that not only set but implement and deliver the policy agenda. Policy activists operate both inside and outside government. They include community-based organisers, activist bureaucrats, service providers and professionals. Policy activism has been barely explored in existing literature. This collection puts the idea on the map. It is an innovative contribution to the literature, using case studies across a broad range of policy areas. 'This volume opens the window on an aspect of the policy process that rarely receives attention from students of politics or policy anywhere across the globe. The framework presented and the cases included in these pages provide a glimpse of the workings of a complex democracy, describing a range of actors responding creatively to the dynamics of social, political and economic change. It is fascinating to see how policy functions and social values appear to be more important to these processes than the formal structures of the government in which they are placed.' - Beryl A. Radin, Professor of Public Administration and Policy, State University of New York at Albany

This collection of essays in political sociology and public policy contests some of the fundamental features of the contemporary State as it is manifested in Australia. It explores themes such as the development of the complex interventionist State, characterised by the proliferation of its activities to encompass virtually every feature of its subjects' daily lives and functioning as a central site of struggle over the distribution of social, economic, political and cultural resources. It also examines the impact of the so-called new social movements - the women's movement, the various multiracial and multicultural movements, and the environmental movement - which make new claims on the democratisation of the distribution of resources, and investigates the impact on the State of the pressure for economic 'restructuring' arising from the new terms of competition within a global economy in recession. In tracing the links between these themes, Bureaucrats, Technocrats, Femocrats makes a major contribution to a critical tradition of writing and analysis in public administration.

Activists - protecting rainforests, demanding increased childcare, developing local community housing, campaigning for AIDS funding or protecting consumers - are as much part of the political landscape as the media, parliament, peak industry groups, political parties or trade unions. This collection explores the idea of policy activism and its relationship to the processes that not only set but implement and deliver the policy agenda.Policy activists operate both inside and outside government. They include community-based organisers, activist bureaucrats, service providers and professionals.Policy activism has been barely explored in existing literature. This collection puts the idea on the map. It is an innovative contribution to the literature, using case studies across a broad range of policy areas.'This volume opens the window on an aspect of the policy process that rarely receives attention from students of politics or policy anywhere across the globe. The framework presented and the cases included in these pages provide a glimpse of the workings of a complex democracy, describing a range of actors responding creatively to the dynamics of social, political and economic change. It is fascinating to see how policy functions and social values appear to be more important to these processes than the formal structures of the government in which they are placed.' - Beryl A. Radin, Professor of Public Administration and Policy, State University of New York at Albany

A challenging reassessment of the concepts and institutions of modern liberal democracy in the light of postmodern theory and the politics of difference.

In "Postmodern Revisionings of the Political", Anna Yeatman examines the implications of postmodernist theory for the institutions of liberal and social democracy. In this study, she rethinks the role of modern emancipatory values, such as equality, in the context of postmodern politics of difference. Yeatman discusses the relation of a politics of difference to existing traditions of modern citizenship. While she affirms modern democratic achievements, she argues that our concept of democracy must be informed by postmodern critical theory. She explores the relationship between these two sets of concepts in terms of the politics of knowledge, the university and in the modern body politic.

Some of the fundamental features of the contemporary state are contested in this collection of essays which are concerned with Australian political sociology and public policy. Among the themes explored are the development of the complex interventionist state, characterized by the proliferation of its activities to encompass virtually every feature of its subjects' everyday lives and functioning as a central site of struggle over the distribution of social, economic, political and cultural resources; and the impact of the so-called new social movements - the women's movement, the various multiracial and multicultural movements, and the environmentalist movement - which make new claims on the democratization of the distribution of resources; the impact on the state of the pressure for economic "restructuring", arising from the new terms of competition within a global economy in recession. This book is intended for students and researchers in political and theoretical sociology, and public policy.

The Aporia of Rights is an exploration of the perplexities of human rights, and their inevitable and important intersection with the idea of citizenship. Written by political theorists and philosophers, essays canvass the complexities involved in any consideration of rights at this time. Yeatman and Birmingham show through this collection of works a space fora vital engagement with the politics of human rights.

This collection of essays by established scholars explores the juncture of action and appearance in the political thought of Hannah Arendt. "Action and Appearance" is a collection of essays that look into the crucial and complex link between action and appearance in Hannah Arendt's political thought. Contributed by respected scholars, the essays articulate around the following themes: the emergence of political action when questioning the nature of law, subjectivity and individuality; the relationship between ethics and politics; the nexus of (co-)appearance, thinking and truth; and, Arendt's writing as action and appearance. For Arendt, action is a worldly, public phenomenon that requires the presence of others to have any effect. Therefore, to act is more than to decide as it is also to appear. Much has been said about Arendt's theory of action, but little attention has been paid to her approach to appearance as is done in this volume. "Action and Appearance" explores both Arendt's familiar texts and previously unpublished or recently rediscovered texts to challenge the established readings of her work. Adding to established debates, it will be a unique resource to anyone interested in Hannah Arendt, political thought, political theory, and political philosophy.

State, Security, and Subject Formation addresses the question of how to secure the conditions for a civil and peaceful life together. It brings together leading scholars to examine democracy from two approaches: peaceful coexistence and the secular state as public authority and the necessity of division between communities of faith that allows for a state that defends the values of the community. This book aims to understand the rationality that informs both approaches, interpreting the subjectivities within each.
To do so, the interdisciplinary, scholarly essays examine 17th century political thought and how it is caught up in debate about the relationship between faith and the state at a time when religious wars are endemic and profoundly destructive. They also provide an in-depth discussion of contemporary 21st and 20th century approaches to the question of security and the issue of subjective capacity for peaceful co-existence.
Civil Order and Politics is the outcome of an intensive cross-disciplinary cooperation and, as such, not only demonstrates the richness of relevant themes and issues, but also brings to the fore challenges and problems associated with civil practice and theorizing of politics. Through its thematic juxtaposition of state, security, and subjectivity within the framework of civil order and politics, the book fills a gap in the contemporary political literature that will be of interest to anyone studying and researching these issues.

This collection presents a critical dialogue on managerialist forms of government between philosophy, political thought, organisational and management theory. The volume brings together essays that are concerned with technologies of government that are articulated as different iterations of managerialism. The hallmark of managerialist discourse is value, considered as a quantifiable abstraction, where the intention is to always 'add value'. The central question addressed here by a team of international expert authors from across a range of disciplines is this: in what ways has this abstraction of value impacted on the substantive work and ethical integrity of government and the public sector, and, more broadly, of the professions (including that of management itself)? Has it displaced this work, or simply recast it? The volume addresses audiences in social sciences, philosophy, management, business, and organisational studies.

The Aporia of Rights is an exploration of the perplexities of human rights, and their inevitable and important intersection with the idea of citizenship. Written by political theorists and philosophers, essays canvass the complexities involved in any consideration of rights at this time. Yeatman and Birmingham show through this collection of works a space fora vital engagement with the politics of human rights.

State, Security, and Subject Formation addresses the question of how to secure the conditions for a civil and peaceful life together. It brings together leading scholars to examine democracy from two approaches: peaceful coexistence and the secular state as public authority and the necessity of division between communities of faith that allows for a state that defends the values of the community. This book aims to understand the rationality that informs both approaches, interpreting the subjectivities within each. To do so, the interdisciplinary, scholarly essays examine 17th century political thought and how it is caught up in debate about the relationship between faith and the state at a time when religious wars are endemic and profoundly destructive. They also provide an in-depth discussion of contemporary 21st and 20th century approaches to the question of security and the issue of subjective capacity for peaceful co-existence. Civil Order and Politics is the outcome of an intensive cross-disciplinary cooperation and, as such, not only demonstrates the richness of relevant themes and issues, but also brings to the fore challenges and problems associated with civil practice and theorizing of politics. Through its thematic juxtaposition of state, security, and subjectivity within the framework of civil order and politics, the book fills a gap in the contemporary political literature that will be of interest to anyone studying and researching these issues.

This collection presents a critical dialogue on managerialist forms of government between philosophy, political thought, organisational and management theory. The volume brings together essays that are concerned with technologies of government that are articulated as different iterations of managerialism. The hallmark of managerialist discourse is value, considered as a quantifiable abstraction, where the intention is to always 'add value'. The central question addressed here by a team of international expert authors from across a range of disciplines is this: in what ways has this abstraction of value impacted on the substantive work and ethical integrity of government and the public sector, and, more broadly, of the professions (including that of management itself)? Has it displaced this work, or simply recast it? The volume addresses audiences in social sciences, philosophy, management, business, and organisational studies.