Our systems are now restored following recent technical disruption, and we’re working hard to catch up on publishing. We apologise for the inconvenience caused. Find out more

Recommended product

Popular links

Popular links


Economic Rationalism in Canberra

Economic Rationalism in Canberra

Economic Rationalism in Canberra

A Nation-Building State Changes its Mind
Michael Pusey, University of New South Wales, Sydney
December 1989
Available
Paperback
9780521336611
$68.99
USD
Paperback
USD
eBook

    Throughout the world since the 1970s, state and public sector reform has been driven by a conservative agenda emphasising notions of 'streamlining' and 'rationalisation'; Australia has been no exception. Michael Pusey undertakes a detailed analysis of top bureaucrats in Canberra who have been responsible for this recasting of national policy. He concludes that economist rationalist view dominate each of the key ministries, and have altered the traditional balance between the economy, the state and society. The book also discusses the social significance of economic rationalisation and public sector reform from a theoretical perspective, contributing to contemporary understanding of modernisation, public morality and citizenship in the new global order.

    Reviews & endorsements

    'In 1994 Pusey decided to embark on an ambitious project to discover what Middle Australia really thought. Get out there into the suburbs, dig and listen, he told himself.' Asia Intelligence

    See more reviews

    Product details

    December 1989
    Paperback
    9780521336611
    324 pages
    216 × 140 × 18 mm
    0.41kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Preface
    • Introduction: Canberra in the balance
    • Part I. Canberra: A State Apparatus Changes Its Mind:
    • 1. Images of contemporary Australia
    • 2. Profiles of Canberra's political administrators
    • 3. The inner triangle
    • 4. The instrumentation of state power
    • Part II. State and Society: Reflections, Refractions, Reductions:
    • 5. 'Rationalisation' and modernity: what has happened to the state's deliberative capacity?
    • 6. Integrity under stress: the Lucky Country enters the world economy
    • Appendices
    • Notes and references
    • Index.
      Author
    • Michael Pusey , University of New South Wales, Sydney