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<v Chair>My name is Christy Kokigi. I'm from the History Trust of South Australia.

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<v Chair>So it's great to be here this afternoon to introduce you to Professor Stuart McIntyre from the University of Melbourne.

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<v Chair>Now, many of you may have heard him earlier this morning speaking.

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<v Chair>He's a, and for those of you who don't know Stuart, he's a prolific and influential Australian historian.

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<v Chair>So we're quite privileged to have him here today.

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<v Chair>Some of you will know his work from the history wars many years ago now.

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<v Chair>He's passionate about heritage. He's chair of the Heritage Council of Victoria.

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<v Chair>And he's recently published on a number of things, including sort of looking at Australia's post-war reconstruction era in the 1940s.

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<v Chair>But today he'll be bringing his immense historical perspective to sort of a very sort of contemporary issue for us,

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<v Chair>which is that growing disillusionment.

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<v Chair>With democracy.

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<v Chair>So I'll just get Stuart up now because you don't want to hear from me.

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<v Chair>So Stuart, if you can come up and talk to us about this disillusionment.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Well, thank you very much.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land and I pay my respects to their elders past and present.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It's terrific to have Christy as a chair.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I had the great privilege of being experienced.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I was a former professor of history at the University of Australia.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I attended a seminar of her doctoral thesis.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And she doesn't muck around.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Slightly more disconcerting to have John Keane sitting on her right,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who's probably our preeminent historian of democracy as I enter into his territory.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>John Keane's history of democracy tells us that democracy didn't begin in Athens.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It began some 4,000 or more years ago in the Middle East with assemblies of people who came together

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to make decisions on how they should conduct their affairs.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And we can't say precisely when and where that first occurred, but it marked a radical innovation.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>These people were not ordering their affairs according to some divine order or precept or obeying the dictates of a ruler.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They were embarking on self-government.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They were deciding between alternative courses of action.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And you might say, given I've just acknowledged the Indigenous people, what about them?

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I've said 4,000 years ago, and no doubt there were collective decision-making processes among a number of peoples around the world before then.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The distinction, I think, with the form of democracy that we traced through the Middle East into Greece is that it's marked by greater formality of place and time and roles.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But it could only operate within small polities such as city-states.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It's obvious logistical.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And it was generally restricted to adult male citizens.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So that when this form of government was taken to some Greek cities some 2,500 years ago, it excluded slaves as well as women.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And it lives on today, that form of decision-making, in various settings where the members of organisations or institutions deliberate on matters of common concern.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So that in my own workplace, academics responsibly...

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>...are responsible for a given discipline, meet to determine what subjects should be offered and how they should be taught.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Or rather, they used to before university management took over those decisions.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Around 1,000 years ago, another form of democracy was created, representative democracy, through parliaments or other kinds of elected assemblies.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>England notwithstanding, these tended to flourish with the overthrow of imperial or monarchical rule.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>...and the overthrow of imperial or monarchical rule.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>As in Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United States and France.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Representatives were elected, meaning that citizens had a choice.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And representatives could be replaced.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now these democracies typically used a constitution that specified the means and length of the election, the rules of the government.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And this form of government came to be accompanied, commonly, with an independent judiciary...

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>...to separate the operation from the making of the law.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And also embodied the principle that the government was itself bound by the rule of law.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It couldn't behave arbitrarily. It was held to account.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, over the past 200 years, campaigns to extend and broaden representative democracy have been a powerful historical force.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It swept Europe in 1848, mostly unsuccessfully.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It brought long campaigns for women's franchise from the second half of the 19th century.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It displaced many of the crowned heads of Europe at the end of the First World War.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It has been demanded for much of the 20th century by colonial liberation movements.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But democracy fared poorly between the two world wars.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It was attacked and destroyed by fascist regimes.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It was displaced by one party rule in the Soviet Union.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In 1945, when the victorious Allies met in San Francisco to establish the United Nations, there were just 12 democratic states.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the number would grow in the 50s and 60s, but a number would fall back again into a military junta or some form of authoritarian rule.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Then, I'm looking for the age of my audience, and many of you will remember this.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Then, with the fall of apartheid regime in South Africa.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The replacement of dictatorships in countries such as Spain and Portugal.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And most of all, with the collapse of communism in Europe, the number of democracies increased to over 100 by the end of the 20th century.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Democracy, it seemed, had triumphed, allowing the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama to announce the end of history.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Well, by that he meant that the fundamental choices had been made.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now consider the present condition.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The Economist Intelligence Unit, Economist magazine, compiles an annual democracy index that distinguishes between full and flawed democracies.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>A full democracy, it understands, with a freely elected government in which there are checks and balances, an independent judiciary, the media are free, and there is protection of civil liberties.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And in 2017, the unit judged that the United Nations was the only country in the world to have a free democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The index, which is the most important one, is the one that has the most

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>!

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>By this, this infer Kangololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololololol

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>either because they're absolute monarchies or dictatorships,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>or that any semblance, any aping of democracy is a sham.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, some of these states, Saudi Arabia is an example,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>have always been without any semblance of democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Some of them, Iran as an example,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>had a brief moment when popular mobilisation overthrew the Shah in 1979,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and the demand was made for representative and accountable government,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>only to be snuffed out by a different form of rule, theocracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I'd suggest that the fate of the former communist countries

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of Central and East Europe is particularly instructive.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>These communist regimes were installed by Stalin

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>at the end of the Second World War

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as part of the division of spoils

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that he agreed with President Roosevelt

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>at the Yalta Conference in 1948.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But with the single exception of Yugoslavia,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>they had no popular mandate.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>There wasn't a majority vote for communism,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>although the communist regimes that were installed

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>did succeed in rebuilding the shattered countries

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and indeed lifting living standards

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>through the initial post-war period.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But certainly by the 1980s,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>their command economies were faltering.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The inefficiency, lack of choice, mounting discontent

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>presented the regimes with the choice of a new government.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The choice of cracking down or giving way.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the party leaders were divided

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>between the two courses of action.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In practice, they alternated between both,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but the concessions were never sufficient

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and the repression only intensified the discontent.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So that by 1989, large protest meetings forced their hand.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Police violence and arrests

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>failed to intimidate the demand for freedom.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The leaders contemplated, but shouldn't,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>shrank from using the military.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And in a chain reaction, all of them surrendered.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And free, multi-party elections followed

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and new democratic governments were installed

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>on a wave of enthusiasm.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now nearly all of those post-communist states

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>continued to conduct elections,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but the elections have long ceased to excite interest,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>let alone command legitimacy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The turnout in parliamentary elections

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>has fallen to a very low point.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Poland, for example, has become an elective dictatorship

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that refuses to accept decisions of its constitutional court

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to restrict its powers,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and indeed is currently proposing to replace

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the independent judiciary in that court.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And Hungary reveals the same features.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Its president describes his system of government

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as an illiberal democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Both Poland and Hungary rely heavily on xenophobic nationalists,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and the government is a political dictatorship.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In Hungary, for instance,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>where the expatriate businessman George Soros

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>funded non-government organisations to defend human rights and civil liberties,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>he is singled out by the regime in large amount of publicity

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as a malign Jewish influence.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>These countries claim to be defending their country

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and their national identity and religion

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>against the threat of refugees

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>coming to Europe from the Middle East and Africa.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And that is principally the argument

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>they make for the powers they demand.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They exemplify a characteristic of democracy

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>when it's used as a form of national government,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the intense demands it makes on citizens.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And I just want to briefly reflect on that.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In democratic theory, a citizen is understood

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as being an autonomous member of a self-governing community.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, autonomy here means the freedom from constraint or dependence,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the freedom to exercise choice,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the freedom to participate fully in public life.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>That's why the Greek city-states excluded slaves

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and women and children from citizenship.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And to maintain autonomy,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>a free press, freedom of speech and association,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>protection from arbitrary treatment

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>are taken to be required.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, this aspect of citizenship

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as individual autonomy suggests,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>carries the implication that the participants

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>put aside their own personal prejudices and interests

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>in order to do their civic duty.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In order to behave as citizens,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>they shouldn't be thinking in terms of

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>their own personal interests or hatreds, for that matter.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But a self-governing community,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and remember I said the citizen could be understood

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as an autonomous member of a self-governing community,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>a self-governing community is constituted

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and indeed held together by shared interests and values,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>those that constitute the nation.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The nation, in other words,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>is a particularly powerful form of community.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It postulates a particular people

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with a deep attachment to a particular place

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to which they owe their loyalty

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and in times of emergency,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to which they owe their lives in its defence.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And as the examples of Poland and Hungary suggest,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the nation as community can often give limited toleration

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to those who fall outside its boundaries.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Their rulers don't accept the ethnic minorities

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and cosmopolitans who they suggest

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>not only fail to satisfy the test of loyalty

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but betray the country.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And in those cases, I'd suggest,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>community is overriding autonomy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, my argument so far is concentrated

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>on countries.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Countries with a brief taste of democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>If you think, for instance,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>about the difficulties in Central and East Europe,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>these were countries, most of which were formed

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>after the First World War,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>from the Habsburg, Ottoman and Romanov empires.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They were new and unstable nation states.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They lacked many of the forms of civil society,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that is, the various forms of voluntary association

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that make for a more informed society

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and citizenry,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and allow its members to cooperate

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and give them the capacity to make informed political decisions,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>civil society being an important element of a democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And with no tradition of democratic government

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>when it was introduced at the end of the 1980s,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>it's hardly surprising that these societies struggled to realise it.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But that's not the case with many of the countries

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that have a long experience of democracy,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but are dissatisfied with it.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Let me just give you a few examples.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Think of Italy, where the established political parties,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Christian Democrat and Socialist,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>became mired in scandal,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>allowing Silvio Berlusconi to sweep to power

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with his Forza Italia.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, Berlusconi's appeal was that he was not a politician,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but rather a former popular singer,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>media tycoon and, as it turned out, sexual predator,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who claimed to speak for the people

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and to make his own rules.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, he's since gone,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but we now have Beppo Grillo in his Five Star Party.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In France, the failure again of the established parties

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>has allowed the rise of First John Marie Le Pen

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and his National Front,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>supplanted by his daughter, Marine,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but now upstaged by Emmanuel Macron,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who formed his own political party, Le Marche,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and for good measure chose all of its candidates.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>In Britain, think about Nigel Farage,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and...

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>..this insurgent UKIP party,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>which pushed the country into quitting the European Union.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Or Turkey, which has just re-elected a president

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who's taken complete legislative control from the Parliament.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Or India, the world's largest democracy,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>which has turned away from pluralism under the BJP

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to a winner-take-all form of Hindu supremacy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And I won't even mention the Philippines,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>or the Tea Party,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>for that matter.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, it's common to see these inroads into constitutional democracy

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as unprecedented.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And I disagree.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>There have been cycles of such restlessness

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with existing forms of government.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>There was one such cycle at the end of the 19th century,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with the mobilisation of labour and socialism and feminism.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I've already suggested how, in the 1930s,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the inability of governments to deal with the economic distress

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of the Depression fostered authoritarian and totalitarian solutions.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The rhetoric heated up against the existing forms.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Political parties that allowed for democratic participation

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and decision-making gave way to a different kind of party,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>where a charismatic leader held control and dissent was forbidden.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The history of democracy, it seems at times,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>reveals a sort of a disturbingly recurrent pattern.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Those who are denied democracy,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>those who lack it,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>demand it as a remedy for their ills.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Those who have it are disappointed.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It falls short of their expectations.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And in adverse circumstances,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>it becomes a cause of criticism and complaint.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, it's true that the complaints against representative democracy

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>can often arise from legitimate grievances.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Here in Australia,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>which I'll just deal with very briefly,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the major parties have shrunk to very small numbers.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They no longer have membership bases.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They no longer attract participation.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Politicians have low esteem.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The patterns of their careers,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>before, during and after public office,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>does nothing to enhance their reputation.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I think if I were a philosopher king,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I'd say that any politician who becomes a lobbyist

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>automatically loses their retirement benefits.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I doubt that would stop them.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Our public service has been weakened by outsourcing.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Its neutrality has been damaged

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>by fixed-term and, more recently,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>by partisan appointments.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the factionalism,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the relentless media cycle,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the rancour, the slogans,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>all of those, I think,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>have brought our representative government into disrepute.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But beyond what you could call those aspects

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>in some ways constitute a democratic deficit,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but...

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And here I'm going to finish with this chain of argument.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It seems to me that the present disillusionment with democracy

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>also needs to be understood

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>in terms of the historical context in which it's curved.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So let me attempt a brief and provocative one.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>First of all, the...

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>What, in retrospect, was a golden age

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of sustained economic growth

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and control of the market

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>from the Second World War broke down in the 1970s,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and that period of what we might call welfare capitalism

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>gave way to the policies known as the Washington Consensus.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Smaller government,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>fiscal discipline,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>trade liberalisation,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>financial deregulation.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And those policies did revive growth,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but in many cases at the expense of wiping out

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the lower-skilled manufacturing and service industries

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and removing much of the welfare safety net.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And that Washington Consensus,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>which was proclaimed by the International Monetary Fund

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and, of course, implemented by left-of-centre governments

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as well as right-of-centre ones,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>came to grief in 2007

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as the result of the excessive leverage of credit.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the financial crisis,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>we call it GFC here,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>spread rapidly to all market economies,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the bank bailouts,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the forced sale of assets wreaking havoc.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And particularly, I think, in Europe,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>because of the EU's enforcement of austerity,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>there was mass unemployment in countries

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>such as Greece, Spain and Italy,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>which is undoubtedly the exacerbated antagonism

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to governments, politicians, the established parties

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and, indeed, the conventional forms of liberal democracy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It's in those circumstances, I think,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that people have turned to a different sort of politician.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The painfully slow economic recovery over the past decade

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>brought little relief.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Business operations, enterprises,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>in many cases, have taken advantage of globalisation

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and globalised supply chains,

337
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>offshoring operations,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the rise of part-time

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and casual workers,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the marked increase in inequality

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>from a low point after the Second World War.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Indeed, except for the rich,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>a whole generation in the United States

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>has experienced either no improvement

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>or a decline in their standard of living.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Indeed, the International Monetary Fund

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>now recognises that the lack of wage growth

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and the precarious, insecure nature of employment

349
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>is stifling consumer demand

350
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>needed to restore business activity

351
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but without unions able to drive up wages,

352
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>there's little prospect of that stimulus occurring.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Meanwhile, the apparent triumph of the West,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Francis Fukuyama,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>proved illusory.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>With the fall of communism,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I think the free market was assumed to be synonymous

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with political freedom,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that globalisation was a force for integration

360
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and for opening up choice.

361
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But China's economic transformation

362
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>has been accompanied by a tightening of one-party rule,

363
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>heavy military expenditure and assertiveness.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The United States entered the present century

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as the undisputed superpower,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but President Bush's war on terror

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>revealed the limits of that supremacy.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And it also created the turmoil in the Middle East,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>fanning the tribal and religious and ethnic conflict

370
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that has sent ever since waves of refugees

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>fleeing the region in search of sanctuary.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Intercommunal violence, of course,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>is not restricted to the Middle East.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And indeed, the number of refugees coming to Australia

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>is a tiny fraction of those entering Europe.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And in countries over the last few years

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as different as Poland and Hungary,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the Netherlands and France,

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>most recently Austria and the Czech Republic,

380
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>they have fostered mass support

381
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>for parties promising to defend the nation

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>against the intruders.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It's common to describe the practicality

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of such politicians as populist,

385
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and to explain their appeal by reference

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to the discontents that I've summarised so boldly.

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Populism is a widely used but poorly defined term.

388
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Literally, it means support for the concerns of the people,

389
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but who are the people and who speaks for them?

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The populist movement in late 19th century Russia

391
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>identified with the mass of the peasantry

392
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and helped bring down the Tsar.

393
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The populists in the United States

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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>at the end of the 19th century

395
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>had a similar radical edge.

396
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<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But one characteristic of populism,

397
00:22:56.060 --> 00:22:59.840
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the way it pits a sort of a virtuous and homogenous people

398
00:22:59.840 --> 00:23:03.820
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>against the educated cosmopolitan elites

399
00:23:03.820 --> 00:23:06.320
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who betray and spurn them.

400
00:23:07.060 --> 00:23:09.660
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Elites is what's known in semiotics

401
00:23:09.660 --> 00:23:11.000
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as a floating signifier.

402
00:23:11.180 --> 00:23:12.800
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It has no agreed meaning,

403
00:23:12.900 --> 00:23:15.440
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but functions as a richly expressive term of abuse.

404
00:23:17.540 --> 00:23:19.840
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the same is true of the word populism.

405
00:23:19.860 --> 00:23:21.340
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And I find it too,

406
00:23:21.340 --> 00:23:24.620
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of limited utility in understanding the present grievances.

407
00:23:25.400 --> 00:23:27.220
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Movements described as populist

408
00:23:27.220 --> 00:23:29.120
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>certainly thrive on the feeling of left behind,

409
00:23:29.420 --> 00:23:31.920
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but they hardly offer a solution.

410
00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:35.280
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Why would struggling Americans vote for a president

411
00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:37.380
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>who combines extraordinary wealth

412
00:23:37.380 --> 00:23:39.260
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>with such poor employment practices

413
00:23:39.260 --> 00:23:42.880
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and repeated recourse to Chapter 11 bankruptcy provisions?

414
00:23:43.320 --> 00:23:46.140
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It is possible to discern some common characteristics

415
00:23:46.140 --> 00:23:47.800
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>among the leader of these movements.

416
00:23:47.940 --> 00:23:50.640
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The men characteristically stress their virility.

417
00:23:51.340 --> 00:23:53.340
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So Berlusconi's Bunga Bunga,

418
00:23:53.340 --> 00:23:55.540
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>as well as their contempt for convention.

419
00:23:55.800 --> 00:23:59.000
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The women tend to present themselves as maternal figures.

420
00:24:00.180 --> 00:24:02.880
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Sarah Palin described herself as a hockey mom.

421
00:24:03.340 --> 00:24:07.080
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And Pauline Hanson has said of her country,

422
00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:08.020
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I'm like its mother.

423
00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:10.040
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Australia is my home

424
00:24:10.040 --> 00:24:11.720
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and the Australian people are my children.

425
00:24:14.220 --> 00:24:17.540
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And this personalised style extends

426
00:24:17.540 --> 00:24:19.580
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to the eponymous political party.

427
00:24:19.700 --> 00:24:21.320
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So you have Nick Xenophon's party,

428
00:24:21.340 --> 00:24:21.820
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the American Connection,

429
00:24:21.820 --> 00:24:25.080
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>or whatever Jackie Lambie's political movement was called,

430
00:24:25.240 --> 00:24:28.620
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>or in the case of Pauline Hanson's One Nation party,

431
00:24:28.760 --> 00:24:30.580
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>it becomes a fully franchised operation.

432
00:24:30.980 --> 00:24:34.400
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>That is, she licences candidates to stand for One Nation,

433
00:24:34.500 --> 00:24:37.540
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and in return she receives the public electoral funding.

434
00:24:38.540 --> 00:24:40.760
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, when they're elected to government,

435
00:24:40.940 --> 00:24:42.620
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>these leaders make no acknowledgement

436
00:24:42.620 --> 00:24:45.060
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that they hold a public office.

437
00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:47.980
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Their style remains constantly personal.

438
00:24:49.020 --> 00:24:51.040
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>You've seen Donald in England,

439
00:24:51.340 --> 00:24:52.020
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and you've seen the last few years.

440
00:24:52.280 --> 00:24:54.340
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>For instance, they don't conduct diplomacy,

441
00:24:54.660 --> 00:24:56.340
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>they make and break deals.

442
00:24:57.900 --> 00:25:01.560
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So I think the descriptor populism captures a certain style,

443
00:25:01.840 --> 00:25:04.080
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but it's not a helpful guide to political content.

444
00:25:04.940 --> 00:25:06.960
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>These movements gather up responses

445
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.960
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to a range of grievances that take different forms

446
00:25:09.960 --> 00:25:11.780
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and draw on different bases of support.

447
00:25:12.060 --> 00:25:16.380
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Some of them, I think, are grounded in the effects of austerity,

448
00:25:16.420 --> 00:25:18.260
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>inequality and insecurity,

449
00:25:19.000 --> 00:25:21.060
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but they extend to hostility

450
00:25:21.340 --> 00:25:25.380
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>against ethnic minorities and forms of identity politics.

451
00:25:26.540 --> 00:25:30.260
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And the political disengagement that I referred to, of course,

452
00:25:30.260 --> 00:25:34.800
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>goes beyond hostility to politicians and the conventional parties.

453
00:25:34.900 --> 00:25:39.480
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>It finds expression in attacks on secularism,

454
00:25:39.520 --> 00:25:42.400
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>a free press and independent judiciary.

455
00:25:42.940 --> 00:25:46.400
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Final provocative suggestion, I pause before I make it.

456
00:25:46.760 --> 00:25:49.180
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Movements exploiting these grievances

457
00:25:49.180 --> 00:25:51.320
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>have had an undeniable effect on democracy.

458
00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:56.220
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They've cut away the support base of established parties,

459
00:25:56.560 --> 00:25:59.800
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>rendering social democracy powerless in Europe

460
00:25:59.800 --> 00:26:02.900
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and forcing the main conservative parties there

461
00:26:02.900 --> 00:26:06.920
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to accommodate their demands or to share the same fate.

462
00:26:07.100 --> 00:26:08.400
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But not in Australia.

463
00:26:09.160 --> 00:26:12.100
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Here we've had periodic insurgencies,

464
00:26:12.100 --> 00:26:17.000
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>such as the ill-fated Jofa PM move in the 1980s,

465
00:26:17.020 --> 00:26:20.580
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and then Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party

466
00:26:20.580 --> 00:26:21.320
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>in the 1980s.

467
00:26:21.340 --> 00:26:24.740
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And then the 1990s, late 1990s, and again more recently.

468
00:26:25.220 --> 00:26:28.520
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>But in each case, the revolt has been ephemeral.

469
00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:31.320
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Not one of them has ever looked like disturbing

470
00:26:31.320 --> 00:26:34.480
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>the established political alignment, for better or for worse.

471
00:26:34.720 --> 00:26:37.740
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And there's no suggestion that the current siren songs

472
00:26:37.740 --> 00:26:39.940
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of Pauline Hanson or Christian Bernardi,

473
00:26:39.960 --> 00:26:42.240
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>let alone Clive Palmer, threaten it.

474
00:26:43.260 --> 00:26:45.380
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Now, Australia's not unique in that.

475
00:26:45.580 --> 00:26:47.500
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>The same is true...

476
00:26:47.500 --> 00:26:48.900
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>There may be other examples,

477
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:50.800
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but the two that come to mind immediately to me

478
00:26:50.800 --> 00:26:52.140
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>are New Zealand and Canada.

479
00:26:52.840 --> 00:26:55.100
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>So what do those three countries have in common?

480
00:26:55.500 --> 00:26:58.360
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Well, all have enjoyed economic success

481
00:26:58.360 --> 00:27:01.500
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and escaped the same erosion of living standards

482
00:27:01.500 --> 00:27:05.760
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>that was experienced in most advanced industrial countries

483
00:27:05.760 --> 00:27:07.960
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>after 2007.

484
00:27:08.600 --> 00:27:11.360
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>More particularly, all of them began as settler societies

485
00:27:11.360 --> 00:27:15.240
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and have been long troubled by their appropriation

486
00:27:15.240 --> 00:27:17.660
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>of the land of the Indigenous peoples.

487
00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:20.720
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And indeed, they practise racial exclusion

488
00:27:20.800 --> 00:27:24.440
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to a greater or less degree with particular intensity

489
00:27:24.440 --> 00:27:27.820
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>before they embraced after the Second World War...

490
00:27:27.820 --> 00:27:30.460
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>..before they embarked after the Second World War

491
00:27:30.460 --> 00:27:32.680
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>on embracing new settlers

492
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.040
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>from an increasingly wide variety of cultural backgrounds.

493
00:27:37.000 --> 00:27:39.300
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>All of them, if you like, are lands of opportunity.

494
00:27:39.680 --> 00:27:42.020
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>They're by no means free of prejudice and animosity,

495
00:27:42.120 --> 00:27:44.640
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but they have learnt to accommodate difference.

496
00:27:45.180 --> 00:27:49.120
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>By instinct and prejudice, Winston Churchill was not a Democrat,

497
00:27:49.120 --> 00:27:54.220
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>but he used in the British Parliament in the late 1940s

498
00:27:54.220 --> 00:27:56.680
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>a defence of democracy.

499
00:27:57.020 --> 00:27:58.860
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>He said that it was the worst form of government

500
00:27:58.860 --> 00:28:00.520
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>except for all the others.

501
00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:06.160
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>He failed to add that its advantages can't be assumed.

502
00:28:06.700 --> 00:28:11.060
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>You can't simply fall back on democratic institutions and values.

503
00:28:11.120 --> 00:28:12.940
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>You need to cultivate and maintain them.

504
00:28:13.140 --> 00:28:15.560
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>You need to think about the democratic forms

505
00:28:15.560 --> 00:28:17.900
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and how they can be both guarded and improved,

506
00:28:18.060 --> 00:28:19.100
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>and I've made no mention of that.

507
00:28:19.100 --> 00:28:20.380
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>I've made no mention of possible improvements

508
00:28:20.380 --> 00:28:21.880
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to our current system of democracy.

509
00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:25.520
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>And most of all, I think you need to give attention

510
00:28:26.100 --> 00:28:30.440
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>to the cause and consequences of neglecting this precious form

511
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.140
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>whereby we share power and govern ourselves.

512
00:28:33.520 --> 00:28:34.120
<v Professor Stuart Macintyre>Thank you.