Tokenism

Tokenism in political discourse has two distinct meanings. First, if we choose to view politics broadly, i.e.: in terms of the pattern of outcomes (material and otherwise) generated by a particular society, tokenism is defined as the practice of satisfying the moral requirement for the inclusion of members of structurally disadvantaged people in groups that are better placed in society. This maintains the idea that social mobility is available to all when it is not. Second, if we limit our definition of politics to those institutions and practices that are designated as the specifically political i.e.: set against civil society and the family, tokenism is defined as the practice of appeasing or placating a demand for a particular course of action. This act of placation is generally perceived as both instrumentally unsatisfactory and morally inadequate

Local Representation in Australia: A Review of the Legislation and Literature

ACELG has released a comparative study of political governance frameworks for local governments across Australia. The research, Local Representation in Australia - A Review of the Legislation and the Literature, seeks to understand the advantages, constraints and theoretical approaches to representative democracy across Australian local government in view of on-going reform processes. The project was undertaken in partnership with the Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA). The CEO of the VLGA Maree McPherson said: “Local government is under constant pressure to improve, both from within the sector and from the community. Fostering improved understanding about the various models of political representation across this large and diverse sector is an important step toward enhancing local democracy across Australia." The research is presented in two volumes. The first is a national review of all local representative governance frameworks by legislation, plus relevant guidelines by the local government associations and state agencies. A companion report documents a Victorian perspective of working within such legislative frameworks based on interviews with councillors and senior staff from 18 different councils. In general, the review found there is a great deal of diversity across the nation as to how these themes are dealt with. There is relatively little in terms of thinking or research on how to determine the number of councillors, with further research required to understand the implications of the different approaches and in view of structural provisions. The picture is mixed across Australia in terms of voting, with a question remaining about the inter-relations between the differing approaches and implications for local representation. Descriptions of mayor and councillors’ roles vary in the legislation but what is perhaps most pertinent is the perception of elected representatives themselves of their role. More work needs to be done to understand the implications of the differences for local representation, particularly in a context of reform whereby the number of local governments and councillors is being reduced in view of financial sustainability and efficiency. Useful legislative summaries are included as attachments to the research

'Bad teacher? Using films as texts when teaching business ethics: Exploring the issues'

The contemporary teaching of business ethics necessarily involves the recognition that texts, materials and modes of assessment ought to be rendered appealing to students, while at the same time ensuring the quality of teaching. Prima facie the use of film can be seen as a way to address this dilemma: Students may be attracted to the ‘delivery’ of course content through the medium of film as opposed to, for example, standard lecture format, participation in online activities or, at a stretch, reading and writing. An alternative scenario can also be envisioned where the use of film in teaching business ethics is bad professional practice, pandering to both the requirement for positive assessments from students and for technological change. This paper discusses these issues by critically examining the films recommended by a contemporary business ethics text, Crane and Matten (2010). We identify significant problems with the use of two films, The Corporation (2005) and Michael Clayton (2007). Against our own criticisms of these two texts, the paper then focuses upon Ken Loach’s (2007) film It’s a Free World, arguing that it is a useful text for the illustration of what students, more often than not, regard as the clichéd issue of unskilled foreign wage labourers being exploited in ‘advanced’ western economies. Despite the considerable virtues of Loach’s particular text, we argue that any recourse to film as an alternative method of examining a range of issues in business ethics has to be treated with caution

Reforming ‘Sydney global city’: Mapping enduring sites of institutional conflict

Local government in New South Wales (NSW) Australia presently faces the prospect radical consolidation alongside the implementation of metropolitan-wide governance structures. The pervasive modernity of these processes has been couched in the rhetoric of the need to achieve ‘Global City’ status such that Sydney can compete with other regionally-based centres. However, these narratives neglect the historically repetitive nature of these conflicts. Following from an account of the city’s early attempts at metropolitan governance, this discussion examines ‘Sydney Global City’ as it is portrayed in the advocacy literature exemplified by the work of the increasingly influential lobby group, the Committee for Sydney. We then provide an account of contemporary processes of state-local relations toward consolidation and metropolitan governance. We argue that former iterations of attempted reforms are instructive, particularly in directing attention to the institutional sites of conflict away from the economic reductionism of the ‘global cities’ narrative

Can we explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria?

The scoring of wines and the ratings of wineries is the source of much debate. In this paper we attempt to explain variations in winery ratings in Victoria by examining two winery rating systems, the winery 5-star ratings system of Halliday and the WineBoss version that modifies the Halliday system, to obtain a consensus industry rating from a variety of sources; in conjunction with a limited number of other data about the wineries that are rated. We use ordered logit models and odds ratios on a sample of rated Victorian wineries (291 in the Halliday sample and 331 in the WineBoss sample) to see which predictor variables increase the odds of a winery being in a higher-rated category. Wineries that are older, use a consultant winemaker and/or produce predominantly red wines are more likely to be in a higher-rated category than those wineries that do not; conversely, wineries that use a contract winemaker and/or are located in a number of particular regions of Victoria are more likely to be in a lower-rated category than those wineries that do not. All of these results are as expected and confirm previous research. However, neither the size of the winery in terms of output nor whether the winery has other revenue sources, such as a restaurant, has any significant correlation with winery rating. The paper concludes with some suggestions for further research

Institutional vehicles for place-shaping in remote Australia

© 2015 Taylor & Francis. Some communities in remote Australia represent the most impoverished people in the country, with the problem especially acute amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Effective remedial intervention is often undermined by the absence of democratically elected, local government institutions. Place-shaping as a developmental process enables local people to become agents of change, and thereby self-determine and shape their places for the future. This paper considers the different institutional structures which could underpin place-shaping in remote settlements. Drawing on a range of governance structures, an emphasis on less traditional entities and polity-forming bodies may better serve the interests of remote people

The governance of grapes: The NSW Inquiry into the Wine Grape Market and Prices (2010) -- An assessment

The contribution of the grape growing and wine making industries to Australia’s continued economic prosperity is under threat. While international market dynamics are often cited as the cause, the problem of oversupply and more specifically calls for government intervention were the focus of the recently completed NSW Legislative Council’s Standing Committee on State Development Wine Grape Market and Prices Inquiry (Catanzariti Inquiry, 2010a). This paper examines the process and outcomes of the Inquiry and the NSW Government’s response to its recommendations. It is argued that a mandatory Code of Conduct ought to be adopted by the industry to govern the relationships between winegrape growers and wine makers

Singapore's Opposition Community - Grassroots Activists in the Concrete Jungle

Based on data gained from qualitative research techniques, this paper presents and discusses the opinions of leading Singaporean oppositional grassroots activists about the state of play in Singaporean politics and civil society and likely developments over the next ten years. Our interviewees show that the Singaporean grassroots opposition activist community, while small, is passionate and committed to taking its country away from the right-wing authoritarian pathway. Those activists more interested in civil society and NGOs than contesting elections are eager to expand and deepen the civil society in Singapore. We also find that certain school-age opposition activists have already decided that the official establishment ideology, as taught in school textbooks, is not the reality of Singapore¿s history as they understand it. Activists will continue to focus on the income-inequality problem and human rights issues surrounding Article 377A of the Penal Code (which continues to make homosexual sexual acts between males illegal), the Internal Security Act (which allows detention without trial), and use of defamation suits by ruling-party politicians to bankrupt opposition party politicians and activists

Training Monitoring for Resistance Exercise: Theory and Applications

Resistance exercise is difficult to quantify owing to its inherent complexity with numerous training variables contributing to the training dose (type of exercise, load lifted, training volume, inter-set rest periods, and repetition velocity). In addition, the intensity of resistance training is often inadequately determined as the relative load lifted (% 1-repetition maximum), which does not account for the effects of inter-set recovery periods, repetition velocity, or the number of repetitions performed in each set at a given load. Methods to calculate the volume load associated with resistance training, as well as the perceived intensity of individual sets and entire training sessions have been shown to provide useful information regarding the actual training stimulus. In addition, questionnaires to subjectively assess how athletes are coping with the stressors of training and portable technologies to quantify performance variables such as concentric velocity may also be valuable. However, while several methods have been proposed to quantify resistance training, there is not yet a consensus regarding how these methods can be best implemented and integrated to complement each other. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to provide practical information for strength coaches to highlight effective methods to assess resistance training, and how they can be integrated into a comprehensive monitoring program