Scott Brenton
Biographic Data
| ID | 260901 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Scott Brenton |
| GIVEN NAMES | Scott |
| FAMILY NAME | Brenton |
| SIGNATURE | BRENTON S |
| AFFILIATIONS | The University of Melbourne |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-9776-8504 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 38 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 19 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The legitimacy of local government in the Australian federation
As these campaigns have consistently failed, this study considers how, and in which forms, local government obtains its own political legitimacy within a governance system centered on the citizen–state relationship, in addition to evaluating the relationships between the different forms of legitimacy. We find that positive perceptions of local government effectiveness are associated with higher levels of support for constitutional change, but tha…
Policy capacity
We trace the evolution of understandings and applications of policy capacity through a meta-analysis of studies in the policy and administrative sciences that focus on definitions or conceptualizations of capacity, capability or competency, political resources and the functioning of policy systems, and variables or mechanisms leading to outcomes. We critique and disentangle common operationalizations, such as policy success and failure, to enable…
Does federalism enhance representative democracy? Perpetual reform and shifting power in a divided Belgium
Theoretically federations are meant to divide and decentralise power with sub-national governments that are closer to the people, which can better accommodate diversity with policies best suited to each community. However, such differences may be inequitable and counter-productive rivalries among multiple governments can emerge. Thus the relationship between federalism and democracy is neither clearly beneficial nor non- existent. If federalism d…
Trustworthiness, Stability and Productivity of Minority Governments in Australia
In this study, we question commonly held negative perceptions of minority governments and determine whether they can be trusted to deliver on the promises contained in governance agreements, whether they are stable in being able to govern over full terms of parliament, and whether they are productive in being able to successfully pass legislation. We examine eight minority government agreements and the following eight majority government opening …
Managing Public Museums Appropriately and Consequentially
While public museums in advanced economies operate in constrained funding environments after public sector efficiency drives, there has not been a common, sector‐wide response. Museums cope differently with tensions between the two logics of consequences and of appropriateness, which are mapped in this study based on annual reports. A “logic of appropriateness” in adapting traditional curatorial missions to include social and political objectives…
The price of federation
This article examines the operation of fiscal equalization systems, where funds are methodically transferred predominantly from the central government to regions with weaker tax bases in particular (but not exclusively). Four of the oldest and most expensive equalization schemes – Australia’s, Canada’s, Germany’s, and Switzerland’s – are compared in terms of their purpose, procedures, and performance. Levels of equalization are measured, standard…
(Political) Consumers and Certification Schemes
Animal Activists, Civil Disobedience and Global Responses to Transnational Injustice
Budget surplus goal experiments in Australia and Sweden
From the mid-1990s until the 2008 financial crisis, two countries, each with different political, administrative and capitalist traditions, embarked on a radical macroeconomic policy experiment. Australia and Sweden took earlier New Public Management reforms to an ideological extreme, and pursued a profit-like goal for the public sector, in promising and delivering annual budget surpluses. From a historical institutionalist perspective, we challe…
State-based Representation and National Policymaking
Ostensibly, Australia’s constitutional framers designed the upper house as the ‘guardian of states’ interests’, ensuring that the smaller states were adequately represented in the federation. In recent decades the Senate has positively reinvented itself as a guardian of democracy, and is commonly known as the ‘house of review’. This study examines the changing representative role of senators and the Senate through surveys and interviews of curren…
Ministerial Accountability for Departmental Actions Across Westminster Parliamentary Democracies
This study examines the convention of individual ministerial responsibility for departmental actions in the four key Westminster countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The chain of ministerial responsibility traditionally began in the bureaucratic hierarchy of the public sector up to the minister, who is responsible to the parliament, which is responsible to the people. Many New Public Management reforms changed the r…
Commentary on “Democracy and Scandal
In my original article “Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics: A Durkheimian perspective” (2012b), I argued that scandals are actually a positive feature of liberal democratic politics, and rather than representing a threat to political stability serve an important function. Scandals provide a “safety valve” for the expression of negativity towards political actors while reinforcing collective values and ultimately strengt…
Policy traps for third parties in two-party systems
Despite a steady erosion of the major parties' share of the vote in Australia, minor parties have been unable to attract more than 15 per cent of the vote. Employing a variation of Katz and Mair's cartel party thesis, this paper argues that the major parties have an advantage in defining and limiting power sharing arrangements and setting and reacting to the policy agenda. They can act together to deny a third-party oxygen, or can deflect critici…
Trespass, Animals and Democratic Engagement
Political Chronicles
Reforming accountability in international NGOs
Home and field office staff disagreement often impedes international development NGOs (INGOs) from making their accountability systems more responsive to partner and community concerns. Drawing on a staff survey, and qualitative interviews across four country programmes, of a major INGO, three interlocking explanations for this disagreement are suggested: that staff perceive accountability practices differently because they place greater interpre…
Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics
Political scandals are an indicator of freedom of speech, an open and aggressive media and strong political competition. Émile Durkheim's ideas on social cohesion have a particular resonance in liberal democracies, and raise the question of whether scandals can only occur in liberal democracies. Scandals enable an interrogation of the collective moral code and public opinion is used to punish the 'deviant' behaviour of politicians, who are elevat…
Political Chronicles
2011 has been unusually tumultuous for Tasmania. The delicate minority governmentsurvived the change in the Labor leadership but the new premier has faced considerablescrutiny, particularly on economic matters. The forestry industry reform agenda iscontributing to a perception of declining economic prospects for which recent rescuepackages have apparently been inadequate. The state is also facing skill shortages andwhile the unemployment level is…
Political Chronicles
The consequences of a state election result that was not clear cut and the innovative parliamentary and ministry arrangements that followed have dominated recent events. At a federal level, the minority government arrangements have also had consequences for Tasmania, with a Tasmanian independent member influencing the outcome. Issues surrounding forestry and old growth logging remain topical with several groundbreaking changes occurring
Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics
Political scandals are an indicator of freedom of speech, an open and aggressive media and strong political competition. Émile Durkheim's ideas on social cohesion have a particular resonance in liberal democracies, and raise the question of whether scandals can only occur in liberal democracies. Scandals enable an interrogation of the collective moral code and public opinion is used to punish the 'deviant' behaviour of politicians, who are elevat…
Trespass, Animals and Democratic Engagement
Policy capacity
We trace the evolution of understandings and applications of policy capacity through a meta-analysis of studies in the policy and administrative sciences that focus on definitions or conceptualizations of capacity, capability or competency, political resources and the functioning of policy systems, and variables or mechanisms leading to outcomes. We critique and disentangle common operationalizations, such as policy success and failure, to enable…
The price of federation
This article examines the operation of fiscal equalization systems, where funds are methodically transferred predominantly from the central government to regions with weaker tax bases in particular (but not exclusively). Four of the oldest and most expensive equalization schemes – Australia’s, Canada’s, Germany’s, and Switzerland’s – are compared in terms of their purpose, procedures, and performance. Levels of equalization are measured, standard…
Budget surplus goal experiments in Australia and Sweden
From the mid-1990s until the 2008 financial crisis, two countries, each with different political, administrative and capitalist traditions, embarked on a radical macroeconomic policy experiment. Australia and Sweden took earlier New Public Management reforms to an ideological extreme, and pursued a profit-like goal for the public sector, in promising and delivering annual budget surpluses. From a historical institutionalist perspective, we challe…
State-based Representation and National Policymaking
Ostensibly, Australia’s constitutional framers designed the upper house as the ‘guardian of states’ interests’, ensuring that the smaller states were adequately represented in the federation. In recent decades the Senate has positively reinvented itself as a guardian of democracy, and is commonly known as the ‘house of review’. This study examines the changing representative role of senators and the Senate through surveys and interviews of curren…
Policy traps for third parties in two-party systems
Despite a steady erosion of the major parties' share of the vote in Australia, minor parties have been unable to attract more than 15 per cent of the vote. Employing a variation of Katz and Mair's cartel party thesis, this paper argues that the major parties have an advantage in defining and limiting power sharing arrangements and setting and reacting to the policy agenda. They can act together to deny a third-party oxygen, or can deflect critici…
Trustworthiness, Stability and Productivity of Minority Governments in Australia
In this study, we question commonly held negative perceptions of minority governments and determine whether they can be trusted to deliver on the promises contained in governance agreements, whether they are stable in being able to govern over full terms of parliament, and whether they are productive in being able to successfully pass legislation. We examine eight minority government agreements and the following eight majority government opening …
Animal Activists, Civil Disobedience and Global Responses to Transnational Injustice
Ministerial Accountability for Departmental Actions Across Westminster Parliamentary Democracies
This study examines the convention of individual ministerial responsibility for departmental actions in the four key Westminster countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The chain of ministerial responsibility traditionally began in the bureaucratic hierarchy of the public sector up to the minister, who is responsible to the parliament, which is responsible to the people. Many New Public Management reforms changed the r…
Commentary on “Democracy and Scandal
In my original article “Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics: A Durkheimian perspective” (2012b), I argued that scandals are actually a positive feature of liberal democratic politics, and rather than representing a threat to political stability serve an important function. Scandals provide a “safety valve” for the expression of negativity towards political actors while reinforcing collective values and ultimately strengt…
(Political) Consumers and Certification Schemes
Reforming accountability in international NGOs
Home and field office staff disagreement often impedes international development NGOs (INGOs) from making their accountability systems more responsive to partner and community concerns. Drawing on a staff survey, and qualitative interviews across four country programmes, of a major INGO, three interlocking explanations for this disagreement are suggested: that staff perceive accountability practices differently because they place greater interpre…
Political Chronicles
2011 has been unusually tumultuous for Tasmania. The delicate minority governmentsurvived the change in the Labor leadership but the new premier has faced considerablescrutiny, particularly on economic matters. The forestry industry reform agenda iscontributing to a perception of declining economic prospects for which recent rescuepackages have apparently been inadequate. The state is also facing skill shortages andwhile the unemployment level is…
Political Chronicles
The consequences of a state election result that was not clear cut and the innovative parliamentary and ministry arrangements that followed have dominated recent events. At a federal level, the minority government arrangements have also had consequences for Tasmania, with a Tasmanian independent member influencing the outcome. Issues surrounding forestry and old growth logging remain topical with several groundbreaking changes occurring
Political Chronicles
Reforming accountability in international NGOs
Home and field office staff disagreement often impedes international development NGOs (INGOs) from making their accountability systems more responsive to partner and community concerns. Drawing on a staff survey, and qualitative interviews across four country programmes, of a major INGO, three interlocking explanations for this disagreement are suggested: that staff perceive accountability practices differently because they place greater interpre…
Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics
Political scandals are an indicator of freedom of speech, an open and aggressive media and strong political competition. Émile Durkheim's ideas on social cohesion have a particular resonance in liberal democracies, and raise the question of whether scandals can only occur in liberal democracies. Scandals enable an interrogation of the collective moral code and public opinion is used to punish the 'deviant' behaviour of politicians, who are elevat…
Commentary on “Democracy and Scandal
In my original article “Scandals as a Positive Feature of Liberal Democratic Politics: A Durkheimian perspective” (2012b), I argued that scandals are actually a positive feature of liberal democratic politics, and rather than representing a threat to political stability serve an important function. Scandals provide a “safety valve” for the expression of negativity towards political actors while reinforcing collective values and ultimately strengt…
Policy traps for third parties in two-party systems
Despite a steady erosion of the major parties' share of the vote in Australia, minor parties have been unable to attract more than 15 per cent of the vote. Employing a variation of Katz and Mair's cartel party thesis, this paper argues that the major parties have an advantage in defining and limiting power sharing arrangements and setting and reacting to the policy agenda. They can act together to deny a third-party oxygen, or can deflect critici…
Trespass, Animals and Democratic Engagement
Ministerial Accountability for Departmental Actions Across Westminster Parliamentary Democracies
This study examines the convention of individual ministerial responsibility for departmental actions in the four key Westminster countries of Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The chain of ministerial responsibility traditionally began in the bureaucratic hierarchy of the public sector up to the minister, who is responsible to the parliament, which is responsible to the people. Many New Public Management reforms changed the r…
State-based Representation and National Policymaking
Ostensibly, Australia’s constitutional framers designed the upper house as the ‘guardian of states’ interests’, ensuring that the smaller states were adequately represented in the federation. In recent decades the Senate has positively reinvented itself as a guardian of democracy, and is commonly known as the ‘house of review’. This study examines the changing representative role of senators and the Senate through surveys and interviews of curren…
Budget surplus goal experiments in Australia and Sweden
From the mid-1990s until the 2008 financial crisis, two countries, each with different political, administrative and capitalist traditions, embarked on a radical macroeconomic policy experiment. Australia and Sweden took earlier New Public Management reforms to an ideological extreme, and pursued a profit-like goal for the public sector, in promising and delivering annual budget surpluses. From a historical institutionalist perspective, we challe…
Animal Activists, Civil Disobedience and Global Responses to Transnational Injustice
(Political) Consumers and Certification Schemes
The price of federation
This article examines the operation of fiscal equalization systems, where funds are methodically transferred predominantly from the central government to regions with weaker tax bases in particular (but not exclusively). Four of the oldest and most expensive equalization schemes – Australia’s, Canada’s, Germany’s, and Switzerland’s – are compared in terms of their purpose, procedures, and performance. Levels of equalization are measured, standard…
Managing Public Museums Appropriately and Consequentially
While public museums in advanced economies operate in constrained funding environments after public sector efficiency drives, there has not been a common, sector‐wide response. Museums cope differently with tensions between the two logics of consequences and of appropriateness, which are mapped in this study based on annual reports. A “logic of appropriateness” in adapting traditional curatorial missions to include social and political objectives…
Does federalism enhance representative democracy? Perpetual reform and shifting power in a divided Belgium
Theoretically federations are meant to divide and decentralise power with sub-national governments that are closer to the people, which can better accommodate diversity with policies best suited to each community. However, such differences may be inequitable and counter-productive rivalries among multiple governments can emerge. Thus the relationship between federalism and democracy is neither clearly beneficial nor non- existent. If federalism d…
Trustworthiness, Stability and Productivity of Minority Governments in Australia
In this study, we question commonly held negative perceptions of minority governments and determine whether they can be trusted to deliver on the promises contained in governance agreements, whether they are stable in being able to govern over full terms of parliament, and whether they are productive in being able to successfully pass legislation. We examine eight minority government agreements and the following eight majority government opening …
Policy capacity
We trace the evolution of understandings and applications of policy capacity through a meta-analysis of studies in the policy and administrative sciences that focus on definitions or conceptualizations of capacity, capability or competency, political resources and the functioning of policy systems, and variables or mechanisms leading to outcomes. We critique and disentangle common operationalizations, such as policy success and failure, to enable…
The legitimacy of local government in the Australian federation
As these campaigns have consistently failed, this study considers how, and in which forms, local government obtains its own political legitimacy within a governance system centered on the citizen–state relationship, in addition to evaluating the relationships between the different forms of legitimacy. We find that positive perceptions of local government effectiveness are associated with higher levels of support for constitutional change, but tha…
Political science (19 works) · Law (16 works) · Politics (16 works) · Law (12 works) · Economics (8 works) · Public Administration (7 works) · Commonwealth, Australian Politics and Federalism (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Political economy (6 works) · Public Administration (6 works)