'Does size matter?'

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    It's in the nature of politics to generate friends and enemies, by drawing borders and declaring hostilities. Of all the many criss-crossed trench-lines traversing our contemporary political battlescape, none is more enduring or more deeply-dug than the one than defines Right and Left according to calculations of the size and ambition of government. Where government absorbs a higher percentage of gross domestic product, and declares for itself a more ambitious roll-call of duties, it is usually presumed the Left is in the ascendant, and the Right's front-line is in danger of being breached. Conversely, where the public sector shrinks, and government proposes a narrower brief, the Right is evidently leading the assault. For many commentators the global financial crisis proves the point.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationAll That's Left: What Labor Should Stand For
    EditorsNick Dyrenfurth, Tim Soutphommasane
    Place of PublicationSydney, N.S.W.
    PublisherUniversity of NSW Press
    Pages57-76
    Number of pages20
    ISBN (Electronic)9781742245454
    ISBN (Print)9781742232423
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Keywords

    • political science
    • political planning

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