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The Invisible State

The Formation of the Australian State

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Hardcover | 15 July 1991

At a Glance

Hardcover
350 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
25.4 x 17.78 x 2.06

Hardcover

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In the modern State, power rests on the consensus of the citizens. They accord its institutions the authority to regulate society. Contemporary state theory suggests that this authority is a right to speak on certain matters in certain ways and to have the audience agree with those statements. It is a matter of an authorised language; all others fall into the category of ratbaggery. In this, the first major book applying contemporary State theory to Australia, Alastair Davidson shows how Australian citizens were formed in the nineteenth century, and how their particular characteristics led to the empowering of a certain language of power: legalism. He further shows that this made the judiciary the most powerful arm of government - unlike countries where the people arm sovereign and the legislature supreme - because the judiciary has the last say on all issues and in its own language.

Industry Reviews

"Alastair Davidson uses conceptual tools forged in the thought of Antonio Gramsci and Michel Foucault...to move beyond a more traditional descriptive approach to political history...In a striking conclusion, Davidson argues that the result was and is an Australian state that lacks popular sovereignty and consequently is not a democracy...The wider significance of Davidson's achievement is the way in which he supplies a new dimension to the discussion of fundamental issues such as political development, state formation, sovereignty, and democracy. These are complex and difficult issues; but when history and political science can be brought together to mine generally significant insights from unique cases like the development of the state in Australia, real progress can occur." American Political Science Review

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction History Regional & National History Australasian & Pacific History Law Jurisprudence & General Issues Legal Skills & Practice Laws of Specific Jurisdictions Constitutional & Administrative Law

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Paperback

Published: 22nd October 2002

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Acknowledgments
Preface
Prologue
Private vices become public benefits
The under-keepers
Dispossession
The house that Jack built
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The sovereignty of the law
The Trojan horse
'Suffer little children'
A state for a continent
'... the triumph of the people'
Epilogue
Notes
Select bibliography
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

The Invisible State

The Formation of the Australian State

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

Other Editions and Formats

Paperback

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