Political  Essays

Democratisation in Russia and Indonesia: Is liberal democracy inevitable?

    With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 (White 1997) and the Soeharto regime in 1998 (Lindsey 2001), both Indonesia and Russia have embarked on democratisation. This essay compares the processes of democratisation in Russia and Indonesia, both of which, besides internal factors, were initiated and are influenced to a large degree by external factors, by firstly defining concepts and providing the rationale for this essay, and then comparing factors leading to democratisation, citizenship, democratisation from above, civil society, political parties, as well as the rule of law for both countries. This will lead to the thesis that it cannot be concluded that liberal democracy is inevitable as Fukuyama (1992) suggests, rather that there are unique circumstances in each country's case with democratisation initiated from above or abroad being doomed to fail unless it is accompanied by the simultaneous bottom-up development of civil society.
© 2002 Deakin University

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Medicare bulk billing: Which model best explains the policy process?

    A steadily increasing federal expenditure on Medicare and a rapidly declining General Practitioner bulk billing rate, particularly since June 2000, based on medical practitioners' increasingly inadequate remuneration for bulk billing consultations, have seen bulk billing become a major policy issue. This essay will firstly define bulk billing whilst providing a brief historical background to the Medicare scheme and its bulk billing component and then address the question whether bulk billing benefits those patients most disadvantaged; look at why bulk billing has become an issue and discuss how the problem is defined; group the actors involved in the current policy debate according to the values they appeal to when constructing their arguments; highlight the differences between the policy positions put forward by each of these groups of actors whilst also citing the evidence in favour of or against each of these policy positions; establish who is shaping the current policy debate as well as to what degree the debate is dominated by elites and what kind of elites; and canvas likely policy options which may be considered by the federal government and their implications. This essay will further provide a brief summary of the theoretical perspectives as to how policies emerge; establish factors leading to the emergence of the policy process in the case of bulk billing; and provide a brief summary of the major theoretical frameworks and models that may explain the bulk billing policy process. This will lead to the thesis that no singular framework or model adequately captures policy–making regarding bulk billing, however, the policy cycle model may provide the best approximation of the policy process considering that the Australian federal government has made it clear that it is pursuing a reform agenda regarding Medicare and bulk billing.
© 2003 Deakin University

Note:

The above essay is used as an example for students studying Issues in Policy Studies / Principles of Policy Studies units at Deakin University.

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