The external relations of a small quasi-state within a federal system: the case of the Australian Capital Territory

✍ Scribed by Roger Wettenhall

• Book ID: 101291451
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1998
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 207 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0271-2075
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-162x(199805)18:2<123::aid-pad3>3.0.co;2-p

✦ Synopsis

Small territories that host the governing institutions of large federations ®nd diculty in establishing a distinctive political identity or autonomous political institutions. This article charts the long gestation of the Australian Capital Territory as a sui generis polity within the Commonwealth of Australia. It examines the diculties that arose in devising and managing a tissue of relationships with neighbouring states of the federation as well as with the Commonwealth government. It argues that the emergence of Canberra as a regional centre of commerce, residence and recreation, as well as a centre of government and a home of national symbols, modi®ed its identity within the Commonwealth and lent weight to the Territory's political claims # 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.