Politics, Policy, Performance

 

 

Queensland floods and cyclones: Communicating disaster relief money in 2011

Intellectual enlightenment: a method

Communication and risk in the monetarism controversy

  Now, you might look at this blog and think so what , that’s all common sense, I knew that . In that case, it sounds like you agree with what I have written.

I will refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit, and will tell you about my wisdom - whether I have any, and of what sort - and that witness shall be the god of Delphi.

  Policies that are either logical, or which are in the interests of the majority, or which keenly affect a minority, are often blocked by politically influential interests. This almost goes without saying.

  There’s another reason why politicians are motivated to cut taxes, and to look towards privatisation, outsourcing and market-based solutions to problems. It’s because that is what most of the experts recommend.

  Low taxes are always better than high taxes, or so we might be tempted to think.

  I like to have a beer with Cameron – ‘Cam’. We drink in moderation, of course. A nice bloke: Cam’s my mate.

Could something you have said really be a lie if someone has made you say it? Most of the time, if a politician lies, it’s partly our own fault. Especially if you agree that it’s not really a lie if we make them lie. The broader political situation really calls for a bit of maturity all round.  

  Among public servants there’s an interesting dynamic, a conflict that’s always just below the surface. Sam and her most senior bureaucrats are practical and politically motivated. Most of them want to get things done, and strive to actually achieve something. On the other hand, Peter, a career public servant without urgency, thinks this is a reckless approach.

  Being a very busy and stretched person responsible for making ministerial decisions, Sam, like all politicians, has to make time for the media, and for parliament, and for attending ceremonial events.

  If I had to choose, out of the ten things in this blog, which single reason for bad government policymaking was most significant, it would be this one.

  It’s really amazingly disgraceful, but public servants can usually get away with anything. The situation probably varies, and in some countries it may be better or worse than in others, but this really can be a silent killer.

To appear in Court representing a client, you have to have a qualification. To be allowed to perform open-heart surgery you have to be very well qualified. To be successful in business, especially when running very large organisations, you have to have a high degree of skills. To become a public policy officer, you have to be able to spell your own name – without help, of course.

  Jess, me and democratic passions

  I really have to tell you something about being a policy advisor. Like about what it actually is. In the past I always either assumed that people knew what a policy advisor was, or if they didn’t that it wasn’t important. But it is.

  Review of Katzenstein, P. 1985. ‘Small States in an Open International Economy: The Converging Balance of State and Society in Switzerland and Austria’ in Evans, P.,   Rueschemeryer, D. and Skocpol, T. (eds) Bringing the State Back In . Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.

Did the 1996 Federal Election See a Blue-Collar Revolt Against Labor? A Queensland Case Study

  New Zealand Industry Policy 2000-2008

This thesis represents an analysis of the Marxist-Weberian debate in a contemporary context. It examines changes in and convergence between these two contrasting traditions and investigates and evaluates the remaining points in dispute between two seminal contributions to the literature, Bob Jessop’s The Future of the Capitalist State (2002) and Linda Wiess’s The Myth of the Powerless State (1998).