Books
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Displaying results 61 to 67 of 67.
Anomie and Violence »
Non-truth and Reconciliation in Indonesian Peacebuilding
Authored by: John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Michael Cookson, Leah Dunn
Publication date: March 2010
Indonesia suffered an explosion of religious violence, ethnic violence, separatist violence, terrorism, and violence by criminal gangs, the security forces and militias in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By 2002 Indonesia had the worst terrorism problem of any nation. All these forms of violence have now fallen dramatically. How was this accomplished? What drove the rise and the fall of violence? Anomie theory is deployed to explain these developments. Sudden institutional change at the time of the Asian financial crisis and the fall of President Suharto meant the rules of the game were up for grabs. Valerie Braithwaite’s motivational postures theory is used to explain the gaming of the rules and the disengagement from authority that occurred in that era. Ultimately resistance to Suharto laid a foundation for commitment to a revised, more democratic, institutional order. The peacebuilding that occurred was not based on the high-integrity truth-seeking and reconciliation that was the normative preference of these authors. Rather it was based on non-truth, sometimes lies, and yet substantial reconciliation. This poses a challenge to restorative justice theories of peacebuilding.
Racial Folly »
A Twentieth-Century Aboriginal Family
Authored by: Gordon Briscoe
Publication date: February 2010
Briscoe’s grandmother remembered stories about the first white men coming to the Northern Territory. This extraordinary memoir shows us the history of an Aboriginal family who lived under the race laws, practices and policies of Australia in the twentieth century. It tells the story of a people trapped in ideological folly spawned to solve ‘the half-caste problem’. It gives life to those generations of Aboriginal people assumed to have no history and whose past labels them only as shadowy figures.
Briscoe’s enthralling narrative combines his, and his contemporaries, institutional and family life with a high-level career at the heart of the Aboriginal political movement at its most dynamic time. It also documents the road he travelled as a seventeen year old fireman on the South Australia Railways to becoming the first Aboriginal person to achieve a PhD in history.
For more information on Aboriginal History Inc. please visit aboriginalhistory.org.au.
One World—Many Paths to Peace »
Edited by: Venerable Alex Bruce
Publication date: November 2009
In June 2007, The Australian National University’s College of Law hosted an extraordinary symposium in Canberra of religious leaders to discuss the issue of religion and world peace. In a world torn by violence and intolerance in the name of religion, the visit to Australia of His Holiness the Dalai Lama represented an ideal opportunity to bring together representatives of the Buddhist, Christian, Islamic and Jewish traditions to further the fundamental message that the world’s religions are really causes for peace and harmony. In the presence of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, representatives of the Christian, Jewish and Islamic spiritual traditions explained why their respective traditions embodied the highest ideals of wisdom and compassion and thus were not the principal cause of war and dissention within society. As part of that process, this volume includes chapters that explain the basic tenets of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and Judaism. Experts in their fields have written these chapters for the sole purpose of presenting their spiritual tradition in as transparent and accessible a form as possible
Policy Making and Implementation »
Studies from Papua New Guinea
Edited by: R.J. May
Publication date: September 2009
There is a vast literature on the principles of public administration and good governance, and no shortage of theoreticians, practitioners and donors eager to push for public sector reform, especially in less-developed countries. Papua New Guinea has had its share of public sector reforms, frequently under the influence of multinational agencies and aid donors. Yet there seems to be a general consensus, both within and outside Papua New Guinea, that policy making and implementation have fallen short of expectations, that there has been a failure to achieve ‘good governance’.
This volume, which brings together a number of Papua New Guinean and Australian-based scholars and practitioners with deep familiarity of policy making in Papua New Guinea, examines the record of policy making and implementation in Papua New Guinea since independence. It reviews the history of public sector reform in Papua New Guinea, and provides case studies of policy making and implementation in a number of areas, including the economy, agriculture, mineral development, health, education, lands, environment, forestry, decentralization, law and order, defence, women and foreign affairs, privatization, and AIDS.
Policy is continuously evolving, but this study documents the processes of policy making and implementation over a number of years, with the hope that a better understanding of past successes and failures will contribute to improved governance in the future.
Negotiating the Sacred II »
Blasphemy and Sacrilege in the Arts
Edited by: Elizabeth Burns Coleman, Maria Suzette Fernandes-Dias
Publication date: December 2008
Blasphemy and other forms of blatant disrespect to religious beliefs have the capacity to create significant civil and even international unrest. Consequently, the sacrosanctity of religious dogmas and beliefs, stringent laws of repression and codes of moral and ethical propriety have compelled artists to live and create with occupational hazards like uncertain audience response, self-censorship and accusations of deliberate misinterpretation of cultural production looming over their heads. Yet, in recent years, issues surrounding the rights of minority cultures to recognition and respect have raised new questions about the contemporariness of the construct of blasphemy and sacrilege. Controversies over the aesthetic representation of the sacred, the exhibition of the sacred as art, and the public display of sacrilegious or blasphemous works have given rise to heated debates and have invited us to reflect on binaries like artistic and religious sensibilities, tolerance and philistinism, the sacred and the profane, deification and vilification.
Endeavouring to move beyond ‘simplistic’ points about the rights to freedom of expression and sacrosanctity, this collection explores how differences between conceptions of the sacred can be negotiated. It recognises that blasphemy may be justified as a form of political criticism, as well as a sincere expression of spirituality. But it also recognises that within a pluralistic society, blasphemy in the arts can do an enormous amount of harm, as it may also impair relations within and between societies.
This collection evolved out a two-day conference called ‘Negotiating the Sacred: Blasphemy and Sacrilege in the Arts’ held at the Centre for Cross Cultural Research at The Australian National University in November 2005. This is the second volume in a series of five conferences and edited collections on the theme ‘Negotiating the Sacred’. The first conference, ‘Negotiating the Sacred: Blasphemy and Sacrilege in a Multicultural Society’ was held at The Australian National University’s Centre for Cross-Cultural Research in 2004, and published as an edited collection by ANU Press in 2006. Other conferences in the series have included Religion, Medicine and the Body (ANU, 2006), Tolerance, Education and the Curriculum (ANU, 2007), and Governing the Family (Monash University, 2008). Together, the series represents a major contribution to ongoing debates on the political demands arising from religious pluralism in multicultural societies.
Public Sector Employment in the Twenty-First Century »
Edited by: Marilyn Pittard, Phillipa Weeks
Publication date: November 2007
This book addresses the transformations which have occurred in employment arrangements and practices in the Australian public sector over the past decade and the changes in responsibilities and accountability through employment contracts, whistleblower legislation and partnerships between government and the private sector. It provides a comparative context through studies of reconstruction of the public service in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. Themes of contractualisation, privatisation and outsourcing are explored and critically examined, as well as influences of the industrial relations legislative framework including the Work Choices legislation.
Pacific Regional Order »
Authored by: Dave Peebles
Publication date: October 2005
The way ahead …
New policies are needed if the Pacific is to realise its potential as a peaceful, prosperous region, where the Pacific’s citizens enjoy good standards of health and education, long lives and many opportunities; where Pacific economic growth is constantly improving, driven by environmentally sustainable service industries; where coups, civil conflict and the dangers of failed states have been relegated to the past; where the Pacific is integrated into the wider region, and is an influential voice in world affairs.
This timely book argues that Pacific countries including Australia, need to embrace regional integration to realise this vision. The book sets out a comprehensive plan for realising a Pacific regional community dedicated to promoting sustainable development, security, human rights, the rule of law and democracy.