Inflammatory rhetoric during the current parliamentary election campaign could reignite violent tensions in Timor-Leste, according to this briefing paper, which explores the political environment as the young country faces a key vote on 30 June. Successful elections could strengthen political institutions and thus be an important part of nation-building for a country badly shaken by...

Nine days before the NSW election of 24 March 2007, an accident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge left an estimated 35,000 rush hour train commuters stranded for many hours. It was the latest in a number of serious transport problems in the capital. Australian state and territory election arguments revolve around the issue of whether...

This paper has been prepared as a preliminary analysis of the results of the 2007 New South Wales election. It contains details of voting for all Legislative Assembly districts, summary tables analysing estimated two-party preferred swing, and an overall summary of results for the Legislative Council. A final version of this paper will be prepared...

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and the President of the World Bank are appointed under a 60 year old unwritten convention that the Managing Director is nominated by the countries of Western Europe while the President is nominated by the United States. All ten Bank Presidents since 1946 have been US citizens...

This brief study addresses a number of questions about pragmatism and principle in the context of recent electoral competition between the Australian Labor Party and the Liberal Party of Australia, particularly at the 2004 election. Some of these questions are about priorities, and some are about meanings. How strongly has the incentive to be pragmatic...