Contemporary Australia (Social Change and New Developments in Political Economy)

Author: Han Feng, Liu Fande (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: This book is divided into fifteen chapters. Chapters 1 to 2 cover the social development of Australia, primarily examining the social structure and development of Australia from aspects such as population, family, and ethnic composition. Chapters 3 to 4 offer new interpretations of Australia's traditional literature, music, and art. Additionally, the inclusion of religion in the social culture section reflects the editors' new thinking on the scope of cultural coverage. Chapters 5 to 7 focus on politics, exploring the evolution and recent developments of Australia's political system. They provide a detailed analysis of the structure of the Australian government, the relationship between the executive, legislative, and judicial branches, the reasons for retaining the monarchy, the role of Parliament in government, the functions of elections and party politics in government, the relationship between media and politics, the relationship between the federal and state governments, and the characteristics of the civil service system. Chapter 8 examines the economic development of Australia, tracing the historical evolution and current status of various industries in Australia, with a focus on the changes in Australia's industrial structure and the economic reforms and adjustments since the 1980s. Chapters 9 to 13 describe the state of Australia's education, science and technology, healthcare, social welfare, media, and sports. Although these aspects belong to the soft environment of national socio-economic development, they are closely related to the hard environment, such as material foundations, and can even play a more important role under certain conditions. Therefore, they are analyzed as a whole. Chapters 14 and 15 primarily cover Australia's foreign relations. Chapter 14 analyzes Australia's status and role in the world today, while Chapter 15 provides a comprehensive analysis of Australia-China relations, elaborating on the importance of the continuous development of bilateral relations between Australia and China for peace in the Asia-Pacific region and even the world.