Facebook Versus Ghaddafi: Social Networking as a Tool for Democratic Change in Libya

Ezieddin Elmahjub
The emergence of the Internet is one of the most significant leaps in the history of humanity. Information, knowledge and culture are exchanged among masses of people through interconnected information ...
» Read More

Free Speech, Responsible Media, Law and Liberal Democracy

Michael Lavarch
In this chapter I will be discussing the role of the media in a liberal democracy, and the tension between the essential free flow of information in a free society ...
» Read More

Freedom of Speech

John Hartigan
In Australia we cherish the freedom to tell it as it is. It’s part of our heritage, and now ingrained in our culture: we like our facts unfettered so we ...
» Read More

Hope for a competitive and climate-friendly Australia

Benjamin Parr
Australia, along with much of the rest of the world, faces the challenging task of balancing the need to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, while at the same time nurturing ...
» Read More

Indigenous Exceptionalism and the Constitutional ‘Race Power’

Marcia Langton
Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is a fraught topic, presenting legal as well as moral challenges, and involves a large set of issues beyond my scope here. I want to ...
» Read More

Is the future of democracy safe in the hands of the under-30s?

Jane Smith
In a stable, prosperous country such as Australia, it can be easy to take democracy for granted. Democracy has become a somewhat dirty word, especially with the ‘Millennial Generation’ (born ...
» Read More
Nicholas Gruen

Will democracy be enhanced by the new technology, or are we all doomed?

Shortly after Barack Obama became the first US President to build his campaign around online social media, his new administration held an online ‘brainstorming’ session, seeking ideas for making government ...
» Read More
John Hartigan

Freedom of Speech

In Australia we cherish the freedom to tell it as it is. It’s part of our heritage, and now ingrained in our culture: we like our facts unfettered so we ...
» Read More
Andrew Jakubowicz

Cyber Racism

The internet has played a key role in the spread of racism, offering opportunities that amplify the reach and potential impact of White power, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, Islamist and ultra-nationalist ideologies ...
» Read More
Barry Jones

New Media, Political Infantilisation and the Creativity Paradox

When Sleepers, Wake!: Technology and the Future of Work was published in 1982, my predictions about the potential impact of the ICT (Information and Communications Technology) Revolution were regarded as ...
» Read More
Barry Jones

Liberty, Fraternity and – what was the other word? How equality fell off the political agenda in Australia

‘Equality’ dropped off Australia’s political agenda in the 21st century. Both sides of politics recognise that winning elections depends on winning votes from ‘aspirationals’. So progressive taxation was dropped, education ...
» Read More
Barry Jones

Re-Framing Australia

The Australian colonies began very unpromisingly as a convict society built on Aboriginal dispossession. Nevertheless, robust elected institutions soon developed. There was responsible government by the 1850s, full manhood suffrage ...
» Read More