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I, Diarist: Examining Australian Politics from the “Inside”
Author(s) -
Scalmer Sean,
Hollier Nathan
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
australian journal of politics and history
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.123
H-Index - 23
eISSN - 1467-8497
pISSN - 0004-9522
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8497.2009.01518a.x
Subject(s) - ideal (ethics) , politics , subject (documents) , democracy , ideal type , sociology , political science , social science , law , library science , computer science
Political diaries can claim literary, political and intellectual significance, yet they have rarely been subject to serious or extended enquiry. In this article we offer the first comprehensive survey of the Australian political diary. We also analyse these writings in some depth, suggesting that, taken as a whole, the diaries reveal three Weberian “ideal types” of the politician: the “patrician”, the “professional”, and the “radical”. These ideal types are used to shed a new light on the functioning and limitations of parliamentary democracy in Australia.