Nationalism and Federalism in Australia

By W.G. McMinn

Beginning with a discussion of the idea of the national state in Europe the book aims to examine the growth of a sense of Australian nationality, the extent to which such a sense was expressed in the development of 'self-government within the Empire' and 'federation within the Empire', and the subsequent emergence of the idea of de facto and then de jure indpendence. While it treats the constitutional details, including the most recent developments, thoroughly, it aims to put these in the widest possible context, examining such things as the alienation of the early convict settlers, racial attitudes and conflicts, 'nationalist culture', immigration policy and the effects of immigration, attitudes to the mother country, the survival of provincialism and changing perceptions of Australia's place in the world, as well as global influences on Australian ideas. The book argues that the development of Australian nationalism was slow and uneven in the nineteenth century, that its manifestations continued to be remarkably ambivalent in the first half of this century, and that even in recent decades such factors as a new consciousness of Aboriginal rights, 'multiculturalism', the survival among large sections of the population of other national loyalties, and the effective surrender of sovereignty in some fields to international agencies may well be seen as making it something very different from the traditional nationalisms of Europe and the more recent manifestations of the idea in Asia.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195536673
• ISBN13: 9780195536676
• Release Date: March 1995
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 328 Pages
• Weight: 0.87 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.5"