The Invisible State: The Formation of the Australian State

by Alastair Davidson

Overview

The Invisible State is the first major book applying contemporary state theory to Australia. Professor Davidson takes a historical approach, tracing the development of the Australian citizen in the nineteenth century and examining the relationship of the citizen to the state. The book argues that giving the judiciary the last say about matters of state divests the people of ultimate authority and ends the supremacy of the legislature elected by the people.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521366588
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/26/1991
Series:	Studies in Australian History
Pages:	350
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.83(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments; Preface; Prologue; 1. Private vices become public benefits; 2. The under-keepers; 3. Dispossession; 4. The house that Jack built; 5. Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? The sovereignty of the law; 6. The Trojan horse; 7. 'Suffer little children'; 8. A state for a continent; 9. '… the triumph of the people'; Epilogue; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.

Editorial 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

From the Publisher