In the last 12 months, under the leadership of an eastern suburbs small-l liberal, the Liberal Party has decided it wants to look more like the party of Hewson than the party of Howard.
Labor’s strategy is to portray Bill Shorten as a caring politician, in contrast to an out-of-touch Malcolm Turnbull.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
History suggests Labor should be more concerned than it currently appears to be about the effects of its populist rhetoric in mobilising opposition from business.
Demoted to the background by benign automation?
EPA/JUAN CARLOS HIDALGO
A Brave New World of worklessness and a universal wage is attracting advocates across the political spectrum.
Many members of conservative political parties, like the Republican Party in the US, undoubtedly subscribe to the values captured by ‘conservative syndrome’.
Reuters/Mike Segar
Several recently reported cross-cultural studies show the correlation between social conservatism and intelligence is lower than previously thought.
Do the divisions within the Liberal Party reflect differences of personality and tactical emphasis? Or do they come down to differing worldviews?
AAP/Mick Tsikas
The decline in Malcolm Turnbull’s popularity and the increasingly explicit critiques of his leadership have raised the question of whether the Liberal Party has a unifying ideology.
Managing the ‘broad church’ of the Liberal Party is one of Malcolm Turnbull’s greatest challenges.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Ultra-conservatism has a rich and complex history within Australian parties, and Malcolm Turnbull has the difficult task of balancing the more extreme elements of his party with his own liberal views.
An open and honest discussion about radicalisation cannot ignore the alienating impacts of racism and Islamophobia, starkly on display at this vandalised Muslim prayer centre in Brisbane.
AAP/Tertius Pickard
A frank debate about the causes of extremism and terrorism would acknowledge uncomfortable issues like the alienating impacts of racism, Islamophobia and Western military actions and foreign policy.
Tony Abbott’s modest domestic policy record in office is dwarfed by Margaret Thatcher’s dismantling of socialism.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Tony Abbott’s Margaret Thatcher Lecture, delivered in London on Tuesday night, provides a fitting epitaph to his government.
It’s not that studying psychology made me a bleeding heart, but that studying psychology gave me a better understanding of how people think and behave.
Sign via www.shutterstock.com.
There was a bit of talk over the last election cycle, expressed in the usual language of political left and right, about returning the pendulum to the “sensible centre”. Sounds a good idea, but what does…
A protest against the killing of journalists by the Islamic State
Mast Irham/EPA
Over recent weeks there has been a constant background noise that Islamic State and its ideology are some sort of throwback to a distant past. It is often framed in language used last week by the deputy…
With his strong views on industrial relations, Family First senator Bob Day is what we might call a ‘conservative libertarian’.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Few members of the 20th-century political right were more important than Milton Friedman. As an academic, author, television presenter and adviser to Ronald Reagan – who once described his show Free to…
In its first year in office, the Abbott government has been revealed as utterly tone-deaf when it comes to matters of political ideology.
AAP/Lukas Coch
As we approach the first anniversary of the Abbott government coming to office, The Conversation is examining how the Coalition has fared in remaking Australia and keeping its election promises. Labor…
Has Pyne signalled the death of evidence-based policy in favour of ideology?
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As federal Education Minister, Christopher Pyne has been a revelation. Once seen as a leading moderate, it has been noted that he has emerged as one of the most hardline ideologues in the ministry. Certainly…
Governments in Australia appear to be voted out when they veer to far to the political Left or Right. Are we just a nation of centrists?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Ongoing reflections on the fall of the Rudd/Gillard Labor governments continue to feature suggestions about the impact of policy shifts to the Left, especially under Gillard (possibly influenced by her…
When you’re smiling: research has previously shown the more politically conservative you are, the happier you tend to be. But how true is it?
AAP/Alan Porritt
Although Labor supporters may find it easier to smile since the impending election became something of a contest in June, Coalition voters may always have more to smile about. It has nothing to do with…