Devaluation of a constitutional guarantee : the history of section 51(xxiiiA) of the Commonwealth Constitution

This article describes constitutional and socio-historical background to the referendum that led to the inserrion of s 51(xxiijA) into the Commonwealth Constitution. It traces judicial interpretations of the clause 'but not so as to authorise any fonn of civil conscription' through the major cases, including British Medical Association v Commonwealth, General Practitioners Society v Commonwealth, and Alexandra Private Geriatric Hospital Pty Ud v Commonwealth. The issue of the powers of the Commonwealth to regulate private medical practice without infringing the constitutional guarantee against civil conscription is analysed in the context of the development of National Health Care Schemes for financing medical benefits (Health Insurance Commission v Peverill). Constitutional aspects of the 1995 legislation enabling the introduction into Australia of purchaser-provider agreements ('managed care ') are also examined. Finally, the article questions the constitutionality of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission s powers to regulate the essential elements of the patient-doctor relationship.

Introduction : The complex and contested history of democracy

Democracy has never been more popular. It is successfully practiced today in a myriad of different ways by people across virtually every cultural, religious or socio-economic context. The forty-five essays collected in this companion suggest that the global popularity of democracy derives in part from its breadth and depth in the common history of human civilization. The chapters include exceptional accounts of democracy in ancient Greece and Rome, modern Europe and America, among peoples’ movements and national revolutions, and its triumph since the end of the Cold War. However, this book also includes alternative accounts of democracy’s history: its origins in prehistoric societies and early city-states, under-acknowledged contributions from China, Africa and the Islamic world, its familiarity to various Indigenous Australians and Native Americans, the various challenges it faces today in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the latest democratic developments in light of globalization and new technologies, and potential future pathways to a more democratic world. Understanding where democracy comes from, where its greatest successes and most dismal failures lie, is central to democracy’s project of inventing ways to address the need of people everywhere to live in peace, freedom and with a say in the decisions that affect their lives.

The complex and contested history of democracy

Democracy has never been more popular. It is successfully practiced today in a myriad of different ways by people across virtually every cultural, religious or socio-economic context. The forty-five essays collected in this companion suggest that the global popularity of democracy derives in part from its breadth and depth in the common history of human civilization. The chapters include exceptional accounts of democracy in ancient Greece and Rome, modern Europe and America, among peoples’ movements and national revolutions, and its triumph since the end of the Cold War. However, this book also includes alternative accounts of democracy’s history: its origins in prehistoric societies and early city-states, under-acknowledged contributions from China, Africa and the Islamic world, its familiarity to various Indigenous Australians and Native Americans, the various challenges it faces today in South America, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Asia, the latest democratic developments in light of globalization and new technologies, and potential future pathways to a more democratic world. Understanding where democracy comes from, where its greatest successes and most dismal failures lie, is central to democracy’s project of inventing ways to address the need of people everywhere to live in peace, freedom and with a say in the decisions that affect their lives.

History of marketing in India

Contemporary concepts and practices of marketing, and the ideologies which impel these, originate from the social and economic contexts of the West, particularly the United States and Europe (Ellis et al., 2011; Eckhardt et al., 2013). As a consequence of this Western dominance, the marketing discipline became permeated with values such as individualism and rationalism (Ellis et al., 2011). The Eurocentrism of much of marketing theory has resulted in knowledge pertinent to contexts such as India being overlooked (Varman and Saha, 2009; Varman and Sreekumar, 2015). In an early paper that appeared in the Journal of Marketing, Westfall and Boyd, Jr. (1960) suggested that marketing practices in India were not sufficiently ‘developed’, and called for a ‘modernization’ of marketing in India. In response to such criticism, marketing academics in India adopted theories and practices of marketing from the West, especially the US. Not surprisingly, these theories and practices were often far removed from the realities of the Indian economy and consumers (Varman et al., 2011). This is particularly ironic because India, like many other parts of the world, has a rich history of markets and marketing. There is clearly a need to bridge this gap in our knowledge and understanding about the rest of the world. This chapter on history of marketing in India addresses this lacuna in the discipline