Avoiding the cause : Australia and political persecution in West Papua

Despite formally acknowledging that political persecution exists in West Papua by granting 43 West Papuans TPVs on the grounds that if they were forcibly returned they would face a well founded fear of persecution, the Australian Government treats the symptoms of the problem - deterring further boat people by making it more difficult for them to assert their asylum claims - than its cause - Indonesia's persecution of independence activists in the province

Babylonia : reconfiguring the Australian political novel in the 'postfeminist', 'postmodern', 'postcolonial' era

The thesis comprises the comic novel "Babylonia", set in the Northern Territory, the Middle East and the United States in August 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, and the accompanying exegesis that links "Babylonia" to selected Australian fiction and to political and cultural concerns of the current era.

Human nature in Hobbes's political thought

This study of Thomas Hobbes's political thought maintains that, in Hobbes's abstract and historically presented view, short-sighted and self-absorbed people engaged in war to their ultimate harm. In Hobbes's societal remedy, citizens submissively obeyed centralised rule. Their compliance, and detachment from the political process, satisfied their wish for peace.

Citizenship and the political institutions of cultural diversity in Australia

This thesis uses political theory to analyse and compare the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia. It argues that 'self-determination' and 'multiculturalism' in practice hide the power of the Anglo-Australian dominant culture and stifle the possibilities of more viable intercultural political innovation.

Visualising clientelism in the Indonesian political tabloids 1998-2001

The thesis uses a discourse analysis approach to examine the visual grammar and the political meanings of the front cover designs of the Indonesian political tabloids in the period 1998-2001 and argues that the meanings show that Indonesian politics operates on the basis of clientelism.

State-NGO relations in Malaysia in the Mahathir years

This thesis states that the containment of NGOs is not simply due to the state's control of the political mechanisms. This study argues that the boundaries for NGOs are determined by the interplay between the state, the ruling elites, the middle class and the business elites.

Dream dolls : misogyny and political mythology in fin de siecle Australian culture

Examines Australian nationalism from the 1890s onwards through the interaction between cultural stereotypes of the feminine and issues of identity, citizenship and political constructions of "democracy". The employment of an idealised masculine aesthetic as catalyst to creating an imagined state was compared in Australia and Wilhelmine Germany.

Islam and political violence : Muslim diaspora and radicalism in the West

How do we engage with the pressing challenges of xenophobia, radicalism and security in the age of the "war on terror"? The widely felt sense of insecurity in the West is shared by Muslims both within and outside Western societies. Growing Islamic militancy and resulting increased security measures by Western powers have contributed to a pervasive sense among Muslims of being under attack (both physically and culturally). Islam and Political Violence brings together the current debate on the uneasy and potentially mutually destructive relationship between the Muslim world and the West and argues we are on a dangerous trajectory, strengthening dichotomous notions of the divide between the West and the Muslim world.