Best Selling Books by Ian Mcallister

This book examines the impact of Australian public opinion towards defence and foreign policy from the mid-twentieth century to the present day. For most of this period, the public showed little interest in defence and security policy and possessed limited knowledge about the strategic options available. The principal post-war exception to this pattern is, of course, the Vietnam War, when political divisions over Australia’s support for the U.S.-led action eventually resulted in the withdrawal of troops in 1972. The period since 2001 has seen a fundamental change both in the public’s views of defence and foreign affairs, and in how these issues are debated by political elites. This has come about as a result of major changes in the strategic environment such as a heightened public awareness of terrorism, party political divisions over Australia’s military commitment to the 2003-11 Iraq War and the increasing overlap of economic and trade considerations with defence and foreign policies, which has increased the public’s interest in these issues. Combining the expertise of one of Australia''s foremost scholars of public opinion with that of an expert of international relations, particularly as pertains to Australia in Asia, this book will be a critical read for those wishing to understand Australia''s alliance with the U.S., interactions with Asia and China, and the distinctive challenges posed to Australia by its geographic position.

After three decades of violence, Northern Ireland has experienced unprecedented peace. This book examines the impact of the 1998 Agreement which halted the violence on those most affected by it – the Northern Ireland people themselves. Using public opinion surveys conducted over half a century, this book covers changes in public opinion across all areas of society and politics, including elections, education, community relations and national identity. The surveys show that despite peace, Protestants and Catholics remain as deeply divided as ever. The vast majority marry co-religionists, attend religious schools and have few friends across the religious divide. The results have implications not just for peace-making in Northern Ireland, but for other societies emerging from conflict. The main lesson of peace-making in Northern Ireland is that political reform has to be accompanied by social change across the society as a whole. Peace after conflict needs social as well as political change.

This nonfiction picture book is part of the My Great Bear Rainforest series. Stunning photographs follow a pod of orcas as they roam the waters of the Great Bear Sea, hunting for their next meal.

The late twentieth century saw more changes in political attitudes and behaviour in Australia than at any other time since federation. There have been major changes in the way that election campaigns are conducted, with an increasing reliance on the electronic media and a trend towards the personalisation of politics. Voters attitudes towards political institutions have changed, with decreasing confidence in politics and politicians and changed level of cynicism. And political participation has declined, with reduced levels of pain and election involvement. What does all this mean for Australian democracy? Do these trends suggest a long term realignment of the party system, with new parties emerging that appeal different groups of voters? Are our political institutions sufficiently flexible to respond to these new demands? And how does Australia compare with the other established democracies? Book jacket.

An analysis of elite opinion on issues of defence, security and foreign policy. It provides fascinating data that will assist the student of political science, policy analysts, media commentators and the public alike.

Employee engagement is one of the most researched topics in the field of industrial and organizational psychology, mainly because it has been shown to be linked to many positive individual and organizational outcomes. Although past research has consistently shown that job and personal resources are related to employee engagement, little attention has been paid to understand the underlying mechanisms of such relationships. The present study hypothesized that psychological empowerment would be a mediator between job and personal resources (i.e. supervisor support, opportunities for growth, and core self-evaluations) and employee engagement. Using survey response data from 165 employees throughout several industries, results showed that psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between core self-evaluations and employee engagement. Furthermore, the psychological empowerment dimension of meaning mediated the relationship between all of these resources and employee engagement. These results suggest that meaning is an important mechanism leading employees with these resources to become engaged in their work. These results suggest that organizations should place employees in roles that align with their personal set of beliefs and values, and further research should be conducted on potential positive work outcomes of meaning.

Recent work from the U.S. has demonstrated positive effects of internet use on individuals'' levels of sociability which have in turn been linked to the development of democratic behaviors and norms. This paper extends this research by examining the links between internet use, social capital and political engagement in Australia, using data from the 2007 Australian Election Study (AES) which directly replicated questions asked in a 2005 U.S. study (Kittilson and Dalton, 2008). We first measure levels of online interpersonal contacting among Australians, dividing these into bridging and bonding associations and then assess how far such behavior links to democratic engagement in terms of promoting attitudes supportive of democratic institutions and political participation. Our findings show that online social capital and particularly the bonding version is positively associated with levels of political efficacy and active engagement. We conclude that the Australian case provides further support for the argument that the internet offers an important new platform for social group activity that in turn may be helping to foster and sustain democratic norms and activities.