The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation

As part of a larger comparative project, “Dynamic De/Centralization in Federations,” this article studies the dynamics of Australian federalism since 1901. A constitution drafted in the 1890s left the majority of domestic governance responsibilities to the States. Within two decades, though, a proce...

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Main Author: Fenna, Alan
Format: Journal Article
Published: OUP 2019
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74340
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author Fenna, Alan
author_facet Fenna, Alan
author_sort Fenna, Alan
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description As part of a larger comparative project, “Dynamic De/Centralization in Federations,” this article studies the dynamics of Australian federalism since 1901. A constitution drafted in the 1890s left the majority of domestic governance responsibilities to the States. Within two decades, though, a process, continuing to this day, was underway whereby the financial power and the policy reach of the Commonwealth expanded in an apparently inexorable and irreversible fashion. This article charts those developments across both a broad sweep of policy domains and in respect of changing fiscal relations for the Australian case and attempts to provide a more systematic assessment of the extent, degree, and timing of change since Federation than previously attempted. It then relates the main patterns of change, over time and across policy domains, to the apparent mechanisms and, in turn, to a range of hypothesized causes.
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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-743402020-07-22T04:51:04Z The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation Fenna, Alan As part of a larger comparative project, “Dynamic De/Centralization in Federations,” this article studies the dynamics of Australian federalism since 1901. A constitution drafted in the 1890s left the majority of domestic governance responsibilities to the States. Within two decades, though, a process, continuing to this day, was underway whereby the financial power and the policy reach of the Commonwealth expanded in an apparently inexorable and irreversible fashion. This article charts those developments across both a broad sweep of policy domains and in respect of changing fiscal relations for the Australian case and attempts to provide a more systematic assessment of the extent, degree, and timing of change since Federation than previously attempted. It then relates the main patterns of change, over time and across policy domains, to the apparent mechanisms and, in turn, to a range of hypothesized causes. 2019 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74340 10.1093/publius/pjy042 OUP restricted
spellingShingle Fenna, Alan
The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title_full The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title_fullStr The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title_full_unstemmed The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title_short The Centralization of Australian Federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
title_sort centralization of australian federalism 1901–2010: measurement and interpretation
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/74340