The Executives

Abstract

This chapter surveys studies of core executive government in Australia. It focuses on the work of political scientists but because the discipline has blurred boundaries it also includes some work by biographers, journalists, politicians, public servants and historians. The chapter has four parts.

• 1. A survey of the existing literature outlining the main trends in the field.

• 2. An examination in more detail of the work of Patrick Weller, who has made the greatest contribution to the study of the Australian executive.

• 3. A comparison between Australian work on the core executive with equivalent work in Europe and North America.

• 4. An identification of possible directions for future research.

We would like to thank our colleagues at the workshop: Jenny Fleming (UTas); Patrick Weller (Griffith) for comments and advice; and Paul Fawcett (Sydney) and John Butcher (ANU) for research assistance.