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Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 Ministers, Prime Ministers, Mandarins : Politics as a Job
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'I am a political scientist. I seek to ask those political science questions at the core of any appreciation of how the political system works; especially the complexities and the different angles or perspectives. My first training, however, was in history. The combination of the two disciplines means that I have always been primarily interested in the way institutions work, the way power is exercised, the interactions between individuals and the institutions with which they work – institutions they often help shape and which in turn shapes them. I try to understand the capacity of people in a given timeframe and the opportunities provided by the institutions and events that confront them. Consequently I have written primarily about political practices and political processes, about the positions and office-holders in politics, the challenges they face and the frameworks that guide behaviour.' (Introduction)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Australian Political Lives : Chronicling Political Careers and Administrative Histories Tracey Arklay (editor), J. R. Nethercote (editor), John Wanna (editor), Canberra : ANU E View , 2006 12044331 2006 anthology criticism biography

    'This monograph brings together some of the best practitioners of the art and craft of political biography in Australia. They are simultaneously some of our best scholars who, at least in part, have turned their attention to writing Australian political lives. They are not merely chroniclers of our times but multidisciplinary analysts constructing layers of explanation and theoretical insight. They include academic, professional and amateur biographers; scholars from a range of disciplines (politics, history, sociology, public administration, gender studies); and politicians who for a time strutted the political stage. The assembled papers explore the strengths and weaknesses of the biographical approach; the enjoyment it can deliver; the problems and frustrations of writing biographies; and the various ways the ‘project’ can be approached by those constructing these lives. They probe the art and craft of the political biographer.'(Publication summary)

    Canberra : ANU E View , 2006
    pg. 55-60
Last amended 19 Oct 2017 10:33:40
55-60 Ministers, Prime Ministers, Mandarins : Politics as a Jobsmall AustLit logo
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