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Freedom of Information and Democracy in Australia and Beyond
Citation
Stubbs, RBF, Freedom of Information and Democracy in Australia and Beyond, Australian Journal of Political Science, 43, (4) pp. 667-684. ISSN 1036-1146 (2008) [Refereed Article]
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The definitive published version is available online at: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
DOI: doi:10.1080/10361140802429270
Abstract
Freedom of Information laws (FOI) throughout Australia have been routinely studied by law and media scholars. These authors have revealed widespread challenges to functioning FOI regimens, which range from government hostility to public sector restructuring to globalisation. Nevertheless, analysts have only begun to fully appreciate and explore the symbolism of FOI. Access laws are situated at the very heart of state and citizen relations, and they are especially sensitive to broader assumptions about citizenship and democracy. This paper aims to explore this sensitivity through a contextual examination that is as much about democratic theory as it is about access law. Many of the deficiencies outlined by various studies, it is argued, can be best viewed as a cluster of concerns that relate to one major problem - a lack of popular sovereignty. Australian and global democracy must be viewed and conducted in a more generally robust manner in order to strengthen FOI.
Item Details
Item Type: | Refereed Article |
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Keywords: | Freedom of Information legislation, FOI, democracy, access law, democratic theory, sovereignty |
Research Division: | Human Society |
Research Group: | Political science |
Research Field: | Citizenship |
Objective Division: | Law, Politics and Community Services |
Objective Group: | Government and politics |
Objective Field: | Civics and citizenship |
UTAS Author: | Stubbs, RBF (Mr Rhys Stubbs) |
ID Code: | 54842 |
Year Published: | 2008 |
Web of Science® Times Cited: | 7 |
Deposited By: | Government |
Deposited On: | 2009-03-01 |
Last Modified: | 2013-03-18 |
Downloads: | 3 View Download Statistics |
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