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This research essay examines the emergence and development of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and its attempts to influence foreign policy. Established as the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs in 1952, it was the first committee to have a specific portfolio alignment. The purpose of the committee was to ensure that a considerable number of parliamentarians could become informed about foreign affairs issues. The establishment of a committee for such a purpose was surprising in that proponents of parliamentary reform at that tune were strongly advocating that a comprehensive system of committees be created for the purposes of financial scrutiny of government expenditure and consideration of legislation. Against this background it is interesting that the new committee was not given - and indeed showed no intention of assuming - the role of scrutinising the activities of the Department of External (and later, Foreign) Affairs. It is also interesting that Prime Minister Robert Menzies instigated the committee despite the fact that the government - and particularly the Minister for External Affairs R G Casey - feared the committee might go beyond its terms of reference and attempt to exert influence on government policy. Consequently the government imposed severe restrictions on the committee's activities which resulted in the Opposition steadfastly refusing to participate in the work of the committee for 15 years. Once some of these restrictions were removed, the committee began to operate as a bipartisan committee in 1967 and promptly set about attempting to influence government policy in foreign affairs. Casey's worst fears were realised. Over the years the brief of the committee expanded into the areas of defence and trade. Eleven of the committee's reports address significant defence issues and since 1987 the committee has conducted extensive inquiries into trade matters. For the purposes of this research essay however I have focused on the development of the committee's interest and influence in the area of foreign affairs. Chapter One of this essay describes the background of parliamentary reform which resulted in the establishment of a comprehensive system of committees within the Australian Parliament. Against this background the emergence of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs is outlined in Chapter Two. Chapter Three identifies the major trends in the work of the committee while Chapter Four examines the influence and some of the mechanisms through which the committee has exerted pressure on foreign affairs policy. The conclusions of my research are addressed in Chapter Five. This research essay is based on an analysis of official committee documents which address foreign affairs issues from 1967 to the present. The major sources for the essay therefore are the reports of the committee, government responses to those reports and parliamentary debates. Other works consulted include academic journals and monographs. I have also gained numerous insights into the powers and limitations of committees through informal discussions with members of various committees and colleagues. To these people I am indebted for their thoughtful and provocative remarks. In particular I thank Professor John Halligan of the University of Canberra for his assistance and encouragement in bringing this research essay to its conclusion.

Between 1790 and 1830 the Whig party in Britain championed the rights of continental European peoples to determine their governments free of outside interference. The universal right to national self-determination became an important part of their own domestic, partisan effort to oppose the ministries of William Pitt the younger and his acolytes—ministries which they believed were undermining the independency of the House of Commons by allying Britain with the despotic governments of the continent in their war against the French Revolution. By casting the wars against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France as an attack against the right to national self-determination, the Whigs were better able to maintain their party’s cohesion and unity. But as a result of their decision to interpret the revolutionary conflicts of this era as a struggle for national liberty, the Whigs faced unique challenges when continental events failed to fit the predictions of the national model. Instead of abandoning their interpretational archetype, the Whigs broadened their definition of who could rightfully claim to participate in the struggle for national liberty. The study that follows demonstrates how these broadened definitions were instrumental in enabling the Whig party to pass Parliamentary Reform in 1832.

This thesis examines the intellectual foundation of the London Corresponding Society’s (LCS) efforts to reform Britain's Parliamentary democracy in the 1790s. The LCS was a working population group fighting for universal male suffrage and annual parliaments in a decade that was wrought with internal social and governmental tension. Many Britons, especially the aristocracy and those in the government, feared the spread of ideas of republicanism and equality from revolutionary France and responded accordingly by oppressing the freedom of speech and association. At first glance, the LCS appears contradictory: it supported the hierarchical status quo but fought for the voice and representation of the people; and it believed that the foundation for rights was natural but also argued its demands for equal rights were drawn from Britain’s ancient unwritten constitution. This thesis contextualizes these ideas using a contemporary debate, the Burke-Paine controversy, as Edmund Burke was the epitome of eighteenth century conservative constitutionalism in Reflections on the Revolution in France while Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man represented a Lockean interpretation of natural rights and equality. Thus using Reflections and Rights of Man as a framework, this thesis demonstrates that the LCS thoroughly understood its demands for parliamentary reform and uniformly applied its interpretation of natural rights and equality to British constitutionalism and the social and governmental hierarchies.

This paper examines the changing nature of provincial constitutions in Canada. Provinces are granted the right to have their own constitutions by Sections 58-90 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and various sections of the Constitution Act, 1982. The substance of provincial constitutions includes various Acts of provincial parliaments, long-standing constitutional conventions, unwritten rules and principles and common law. With respect to the practice of responsible government, the provinces have long relied on the traditionally “flexible” nature of their largely unwritten constitutions. Using the case studies of statutes dealing with the executive and legislative branches of government in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, this paper analyzes recent changes in the statutes (and therefore constitutions) of the provinces. The analysis shows that there have been many changes in provincial constitutions on the subject of responsible government. The constitutions increasingly recognize the role of the Premier and cabinets, to the detriment of the traditional roles of Lieutenant Governors and the legislatures. This is in line with general trends in Canada’s provinces toward increased executive dominance. The practice of codifying changes in provincial constitutions is also more in line with how constitutional change happens in the states of comparable federations such as Australia and the United States.

This thesis examines the intellectual foundation of the London Corresponding Society’s (LCS) efforts to reform Britain's Parliamentary democracy in the 1790s. The LCS was a working population group fighting for universal male suffrage and annual parliaments in a decade that was wrought with internal social and governmental tension. Many Britons, especially the aristocracy and those in the government, feared the spread of ideas of republicanism and equality from revolutionary France and responded accordingly by oppressing the freedom of speech and association. At first glance, the LCS appears contradictory: it supported the hierarchical status quo but fought for the voice and representation of the people; and it believed that the foundation for rights was natural but also argued its demands for equal rights were drawn from Britain’s ancient unwritten constitution. This thesis contextualizes these ideas using a contemporary debate, the Burke-Paine controversy, as Edmund Burke was the epitome of eighteenth century conservative constitutionalism in Reflections on the Revolution in France while Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man represented a Lockean interpretation of natural rights and equality. Thus using Reflections and Rights of Man as a framework, this thesis demonstrates that the LCS thoroughly understood its demands for parliamentary reform and uniformly applied its interpretation of natural rights and equality to British constitutionalism and the social and governmental hierarchies.

This paper examines the changing nature of provincial constitutions in Canada. Provinces are granted the right to have their own constitutions by Sections 58-90 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and various sections of the Constitution Act, 1982. The substance of provincial constitutions includes various Acts of provincial parliaments, long-standing constitutional conventions, unwritten rules and principles and common law. With respect to the practice of responsible government, the provinces have long relied on the traditionally “flexible” nature of their largely unwritten constitutions. Using the case studies of statutes dealing with the executive and legislative branches of government in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, this paper analyzes recent changes in the statutes (and therefore constitutions) of the provinces. The analysis shows that there have been many changes in provincial constitutions on the subject of responsible government. The constitutions increasingly recognize the role of the Premier and cabinets, to the detriment of the traditional roles of Lieutenant Governors and the legislatures. This is in line with general trends in Canada’s provinces toward increased executive dominance. The practice of codifying changes in provincial constitutions is also more in line with how constitutional change happens in the states of comparable federations such as Australia and the United States.

This paper examines the changing nature of provincial constitutions in Canada. Provinces are granted the right to have their own constitutions by Sections 58-90 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and various sections of the Constitution Act, 1982. The substance of provincial constitutions includes various Acts of provincial parliaments, long-standing constitutional conventions, unwritten rules and principles and common law. With respect to the practice of responsible government, the provinces have long relied on the traditionally “flexible” nature of their largely unwritten constitutions. Using the case studies of statutes dealing with the executive and legislative branches of government in the provinces of British Columbia, Quebec, and Newfoundland and Labrador, this paper analyzes recent changes in the statutes (and therefore constitutions) of the provinces. The analysis shows that there have been many changes in provincial constitutions on the subject of responsible government. The constitutions increasingly recognize the role of the Premier and cabinets, to the detriment of the traditional roles of Lieutenant Governors and the legislatures. This is in line with general trends in Canada’s provinces toward increased executive dominance. The practice of codifying changes in provincial constitutions is also more in line with how constitutional change happens in the states of comparable federations such as Australia and the United States. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is focused on the development of the English and Scottish radical reform movement in the 1790s and analyzes the relationship between the British government and the radical reformers who endeavored for introduction of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. The thesis also emphasizes the reaction of a large part of the public, and especially the wealthy, who in fear of spreading the ideas of the French Revolution, decided to suppress the activities of the reformers through the so-called loyalist movement. The result of fear of loyalists from the threat of domestic Jacobinism was a wave of persecution, which ended with great political trials in Scotland and England in 1793 and 1794. The thesis is also focused on the question of the influence of the French Revolution on the activities of the reformers and explains to what extent, the ideas of republicanism prevailed among the radicals. The work also emphasizes that not only thoughts of the French Revolution but also an effect of the domestic reform tradition and Glorious Revolution had an impact on the ideas of the radical reformers. In addition, this thesis analyses also the activities of the reformers themselves, who founded in 1792 a number of new societies whose membership base consisted mainly of the working class. British...