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Articles by Mark Chou
When the Towers Fell: Mourning and Nostalgia after 9/11 in HBO’s The Wire
*Preserved and republished as part of our archive project. Get E-International Relations delivered to your inbox, free of charge. As you sign up, consider becoming a paid subscriber, or make a donation, to support our work. In the season three opener of HBO’s crime series, The Wire, audiences see something that strangely resembles the destruction of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center.
Mapping the ‘fringe’ in Australian local politics: fringe political actors in the 2024 NSW and VIC local government elections
ABSTRACT Local government in Australia has become a frontline for ‘fringe’ politics. Once confined to protest and disruption, far-right, anti-government, and conspiratorial actors are now contesting and winning council seats. This article offers the first systematic study of this phenomenon by mapping fringe candidates in the 2024 New South Wales and Victorian local elections.
Going Local: Understanding and Avoiding the Dangers of Localism - Mark Chou, 2023
Review article : Latimer Trevor, Small Isn’t Beautiful: The Case Against Localism (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2023), 288 pp., ISBN: 9780815740483. Vey Jennifer S. and Storring Nate (Eds.), Hyperlocal: Place Governance in a Fragmented World (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press, 2022), 270 pp., ISBN: 9780815739579.
Beyond roads, rates and rubbish: Australians now expect local councils to act on bigger issues, including climate change
Tue Feb 21 Written by Mark Chou, Associate Professor of Politics, Australian Catholic University News headlines about local government in Australia often have a familiar storyline: councils should stick to their “core purpose […] to collect rubbish, fix local roads and keep rates down”. However, our newly published research shows most Australians expect more from their local councils, and that includes climate action.
Australians now expect local councils to act on bigger issues, including climate change
News headlines about local government in Australia often have a familiar storyline: councils should stick to their “core purpose […] to collect rubbish, fix local roads and keep rates down”. However, our newly published research shows most Australians expect more from their local councils, and that includes climate action.
Beyond roads, rates and rubbish: Australians now expect local councils to act on bigger issues, including climate change
News headlines about local government in Australia often have a familiar storyline: councils should stick to their “core purpose […] to collect rubbish, fix local roads and keep rates down”. However, our newly published research shows most Australians expect more from their local councils, and that includes climate action.
The changing role of local government in Australia: national survey findings
Description This report investigates how Australians view the changing nature and roles of local government in Australia. Traditionally sitting at the bottom of Australia’s federal hierarchy, the roles played by Australian local governments have typically been restricted to the administration of a relatively select number of services to property, which accounts for local government’s association with the ‘Three Rs’ (Roads, Rates, and Rubbish).
Democide: An Inside Job?
Democide traditionally means the killing of a person or people by their government, but political theorists have given it another, newer meaning: democratic suicide, the killing of democracy by self-destruction.
Forcing Australia Day citizenship ceremonies on councils won't make the issue go away
In the latest instalment of the culture wars surrounding Australia Day, Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Sunday said he plans to force councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26. The announcement was spurred on by a few local councils’ decisions to move citizenship events to a different day out of respect for Indigenous people. Morrison claimed he was protecting the day from those trying to “play politics”.
Let's give 16-year-olds the right to vote - they're more than ready
Lowering the voting age to 16 would "show young people that we hear them", says Jordon Steele-John. Should 16-year-old Australians be given the vote? That's the subject of a recent bill introduced to Federal Parliament by Western Australian Greens senator Jordon Steele-John. Lowering the voting age to 16 would "show young people that we hear them, we care about their opinions and we are working for their future," the 23-year-old WA senator said.
Let's give 16-year-olds the right to vote - they're more than ready
Should 16-year-old Australians be given the vote? That's the subject of a recent bill introduced to Federal Parliament by Western Australian Greens senator Jordon Steele-John. Lowering the voting age to 16 would "show young people that we hear them, we care about their opinions and we are working for their future," the 23-year-old WA senator said. But the bill, which has already stoked its share of controversy, goes one step further.
Agenda|
Miki joined KIDBOX LLC — the first kids’ style box offering cool brands, amazing savings and a mission to clothe one million children in need — as Chief Executive Officer in September 2016. From 2014 to 2016, Miki was President, Digital Commerce & Chief Marketing Officer, EVP at Chico’s FAS. She oversaw the Digital Commerce business and Marketing strategy for three distinct brands, Chico’s, White House Black Market and Soma Intimates.
China’s Political Meritocracy under Xi Jinping
Having successfully lobbied the removal of presidential and vice-presidential term limits in China, Xi Jinping now looks set to join the ranks of other populist authoritarian leaders like Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russia’s Vladimir Putin who have used constitutional means to consolidate authoritarian power.
‘Foot Voting’ and the Dilemma of the Two Americas
Recently, J.D. Vance wrote in the New York Times about his decision to move back to his native Ohio. Readers of his breakout 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, will know that Vance, who grew up between the Rust Belt city of Middletown and the Appalachian town of Jackson, has resided in California, working as a Silicon Valley venture capitalist, since graduating from Yale Law School. He explained that his motivations for moving to Columbus were twofold.
Getting Voters to Focus on the Things They Actually Know About
Several weeks ago, I cast a postal ballot in a local election that was being held in Victoria, the Australian state where I live. But instead of paying the usual attention that I've become accustomed to before voting in both state and federal elections, I'm embarrassed to admit that what I did was a lesson in what not to do.
US election: Donald Trump will change the United States and the world, experts predict
Leading Australian academics respond to Donald Trump's victory, and look ahead to what kind of president he might be. This result confirms that 2016 is a year of tectonic shifts in politics of the Western democracies. The surge of populism, Brexit and Trump's victory are all testament that it is no longer "business as usual". This is perhaps the most critical departure from the way US politics has been operating in the post-Cold War era.
President Trump will change the United States and the world, but just how remains to be seen
Leading Australian academics respond to Donald Trump’s victory, and look ahead to what kind of president he might be. Gorana Grgic, lecturer in US politics and foreign policy, University of Sydney This result confirms that 2016 is a year of tectonic shifts in politics of the Western democracies. The surge of populism, Brexit and Trump’s victory are all testament that it is no longer “business as usual”.
Britain’s 'Bregret' offers timely lessons for Australian voters this weekend
This article is part of the Democracy Futures series, a joint global initiative with the Sydney Democracy Network. The project aims to stimulate fresh thinking about the many challenges facing democracies in the 21st century. Last week’s Brexit decision sent more than financial markets into a spin. Britain’s historic referendum result prompted Prime Minister David Cameron’s resignation, as millions of Britons began expressing their “Bregret” at voting to leave the European Union.
Our 350 on BREXIT: Had British political leaders refused to sacralise the ’will of the people’...
“There are times when governments also have to realise that there is no substitute for expertise and experience.” According to Google Trends, searches for “what is the EU?” and “what is Brexit?” began to surge across the UK only after polling stations had closed.
If Trump is just “playing a part,” then here’s how to understand his brand of theater
In April, one of Donald Trump’s top aides made news with revelations that his candidate had been “projecting an image” during the early phases of the election campaign. The “part that he’s been playing” wasn’t real, said Paul Manafort, named Trump’s campaign chairman in May. The person that Americans have gotten to know so far is just “an act.” Come the general election, the country should expect to see a more “presidential” figure.
Shorten's plan to lower the voting age could help increase political engagement
Speaking at a NSW Young Labor conference over the weekend, Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called for Australia’s voting age to be lowered to 16. In a bid to “tackle the apathy and cynicism of young people towards politics”, Shorten said politicians must find ways to re-engage a generation of citizens who no longer seem interested in government affairs.
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