John Howard said, The times will suit me,' and they did. For over a decade John Howard took advantage of international crises and local anxieties to not only stay in government, but to radically reshape Australian public life.
The Times Will Suit Them digs behind the headlines to explain the success of Howard's radical new conservatism. It shows how the Howard government and its small legion of culture warriors responded to deep changes engendered by two decades of economic reform by importing moral agendas from the US. The result was a brand of deeply postmodern' conservatism which undermined much that traditional conservatives hold dear.
From Hansonism to children overboard to the Intervention in the Northern Territory and beyond, The Times Will Suit Them offers a fresh and provocative analysis from two Young Turks. It is compelling reading for anyone seeking to understand the drivers in contemporary Australian politics.
Autorentext
Geoff Boucher and Matthew Sharpe lecture at Deakin University.
Inhalt
Acknowledgements
Introduction: A Postmodern Kind of Conservatism
Part 1
Chapter 1: Relaxed and Comfortable; Alert and Alarmed
Chapter 2: Refounding Australia and Getting It Right This Time
Chapter 3: In Whom Did We Trust?
Chapter 4: The New Spirit of Howard's Laws
Part 2
Chapter 5: Integration Crisis, or: Why Culture Wars Now?
Chapter 6: Culture Wars and the New Religiosity
Chapter 7: Social Solidarity or Postmodern Tribalism?
Chapter 8: The Politics of Fear and the Authoritarian Personality
Conclusion: After Howard Postmodernism or a Revitalized Australia?