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Are Prime Ministers becoming more like Presidents? Are contemporary Australian political leaders more powerful than their predecessors? These questions have been intensely debated in the literature over the last two decades and central to these debates has been the ‘presidentialization thesis’. This paper will use one of the more systematic presidentialization frameworks as conceptualised by Poguntke and Webb (2005) and apply it to the Australian context by examining the case study of the Kevin Rudd leadership period of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). This paper will argue that the evidence for presidentialization in the Australian system is mixed. However the most compelling evidence in support of presidentialization is reflected in how leaders interact with their parties rather than in how they govern. This paper will also evaluate some of the strengths and weaknesses of the Poguntke and Webb (2005) presidentialization model when applied to the Australian context.

Item Type:	Refereed Conference Paper
Keywords:	Australia, Political Science, Leadership
Research Division:	Human Society
Research Group:	Political science
Research Field:	Australian government and politics
Objective Division:	Law, Politics and Community Services
Objective Group:	Government and politics
Objective Field:	Government and politics not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Kefford, G (Dr Glenn Kefford)
ID Code:	93506
Year Published:	2012
Deposited By:	School of Social Sciences
Deposited On:	2014-08-06
Last Modified:	2017-04-10
Downloads:	160 View Download Statistics