Computer technology - A political player in social policy processes

The absence of considerations of technology in policy studies reinforces the popular notion that technology is a neutral tool, Through an analysis of the role played by computers in the policy processes of Australia's Department of Social Security, this paper argues that computers are political players in policy processes, Findings indicate that computers make aspects of the social domain knowable and therefore governable, The use of computers makes previously infeasible policies possible, Computers also operate as bureaucrats and as agents of client surveillance. Increased policy change, reduced discretion and increasingly targeted and complex policies can be attributed to the use of computer technology, If policy processes are to be adequately understood and analysed, then the role of technology in those processes must be considered.

The Great appropriation: Political Possibilities Since 1974

Argued that a new cadre of 'intellectual journalists' (such as Paul Kelly), unlike scholars of Graham Maddox's standing, have usurped critical appraisals of the possibilities of politics. This new anti-democratic liberalism wrongly suggests that political achievements reached when Australia was less rich (such as compulsory industrial arbitration) now need to abandoned, subordinating national well-being to an international policy orthodoxy.