Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 6/5/2007
Refugees and the Myth of the Borderless World
February 2002
Australian National University Department of International Relations
Abstract
When governments suffer crises of legitimacy, politics becomes desperate and truth is often a casualty. For more than a decade the Australian public has been losing faith with politicians, political parties and governments. As Coalition and Labor governments have radically restructured Australian society to accommodate the forces of economic globalisation, their promises of the good life have clashed with widespread perceptions of social breakdown. The message that Australians must endure short-term pain to reap long-term gain has worn thin, and the idea that governments are serving the people has been undermined by the perceived neglect of rural communities, the crises of the national health and educations systems, the national drug problem, urban crime, and more. As trust in the two major parties has declined, support for minor parties has grown, particularly on the right.
