Environmental Politics and Institutional Change [Paperback]

An examination of the responsiveness of Australian political institutions to environmental concerns.Elim Papadakis asks whether Australian political institutions have been, and could become more, responsive to environmental concerns. The book includes detailed analysis of the major parties' environmental policies, and also tackles broader theoretical issues around the relationship between government and social change.Elim Papadakis asks whether Australian political institutions have been, and could become more, responsive to environmental concerns. The book includes detailed analysis of the major parties' environmental policies, and also tackles broader theoretical issues around the relationship between government and social change.Environmentalism is one of the major issues of our time. A key question is how responsive are Australian institutions to the challenges posed by environmental issues? This book focuses on how effectively political institutions and organisations are able to address concerns about the deterioration of the environment. The book considers the key players in environmental debate and policy-making: social movements, interest groups, political parties, the media, the parliaments and the bureaucracy. It contains much rich empirical material. This stimulating and original book makes an important contribution not only to environmental politics, but to the ways in which institutions can become more effective and responsive to social forces. It will be of interest not only to political scientists and sociologists, but to environmental activists and policy-makers themselves.Part I. Introduction: 1. Innovation and tradition; 2. Stimulus and response: the rise of environmentalism; 3. Framing the analysis; Part II. Political Institutions, Innovation and Social Change: 4. The 'centrality' of political institutions; 5. The circularity of political communication and dialogue; 6. Disrupting the circularity of political communication: the role of social movemlóé