Research Projects and Grants

Government, Social Science and the Concept of Society

This is a joint project with Bruce Buchan (Humanities, Griffith University) and Christine Helliwell (School of Archeology and Anthropology, ANU) which explores how processes of imperialism and the perceived necessity to impose imperial government on subject peoples around the globe impacted on European discourses of 'society'. We have already produced a number of book chapters and journal articles and are preparing two research monographs.

Liberal Government

This monograph is due to be completed later this year. . Standard academic accounts of liberalism tend to present it as, on the one hand, concerned with relations between the state and its subjects and, on the other, committed to the promotion and defence of individual liberty and/or private property. This book disputes both. Along with international relations and international political economy, it stresses the cosmopolitan, supra-state aspects of the liberal tradition. However, if we are to fully grasp the character of this cosmopolitanism, it is also necessary to focus on liberalism's governmental character, that is, on its concern with mundane problems involved in the government of populations. I suggest not only that the adoption of this broader view of liberalism fosters a better understanding of the work of central figures in the liberal tradition but also, more importantly, that it provides a fuller and more powerful account of liberal governmental practice at both national and supra-national levels – and especially of many recent developments which, for want of a better name, tend to be grouped together under the label of neo-liberalism.

The Cost of Kant

This is collection of papers, edited jointly with Rob Walker, which is also due to be completed later this year. Kant is one of the central figures in the development of modern political thought. In the area of international relations, his work is widely regarded as providing the foundations of contemporary cosmopolitanism, democratic peace theory, and the modern tradition of critical thought. This book presents critical perspectives on Kant and the Kantian legacy, suggesting that the Kantian framework, and the account of political freedom it both affirms and circumscribes, comes at a heavy intellectual and political cost.

Democratic Audit of Australia

Since 2002, the Political Science Program in the Australian National University's Research School of Social Sciences, has been conducting Audits to assess Australia's strengths and weaknesses as a democratic society. These aim:

1. To make a major methodological contribution to the assessment of democracy—particularly through the study of federalism and through incorporating disagreements about 'democracy' into the research design;
   
2. To provide benchmarks for monitoring and international comparisons—the data we find could be used, for example, to track the progress of government reforms as well as to compare Australia with other countries; and
   
3. To promote public debate over democratic issues—the Audit is contributing to a dialogue about the ways in which Australia's democratic arrangements might be improved. With this in mind, the Program is communicating Audit findings through this web site and through discussion papers as well as through academic publishing.
   

Corruption and Anti-Corruption

There is increasing international concern with official and political corruption. Corruption is said to deter or distort investment, and to undermine the legitimacy of governments. The new international concern with corruption has been driven by a International Non- Government Organisation, Transparency International (TI), which has assembled an influential body of anti- corruption doctrine, including a Corruption Perceptions Index, and the idea of 'National Integrity Systems'. This project uses the history of TI to map and understand the new ways in which corruption is being conceptualised. This research is being carried out with Peter Larmour, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government at ANU, and Louis de Sousa, Centro de Investigação e Estudos de Sociologia, Lisbon. We are currently preparing a monograph and an edited collection.