Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy

About the Centre

The Centre was established in July 2008 as one of the five university research centres and areas of excellence within the College of Arts at the University of Western Sydney.

 

Mission of the Centre

We see three fundamental challenges for Australian citizenship and public policy at this time:

• Enabling human rights to become a reality
• The renewal of processes of genuine democratic participation in government and public policy
• The rebuilding of government capacity, public institutions, public service and public ethics

The mission of the Centre for Citizenship and Public Policy is one of providing research and research-informed public conversation that intelligently and creatively respond to these challenges within Australia in relation to its global context.

Activity profile

• Academic research valued for its independence, theoretical rigour, relevance, creativity and accessibility
• The training and education of postgraduate students
• Practical engagement in different kinds of citizenship-oriented public policy exchange between academics, practitioners, and citizens
• Professional training and education in citizenship-oriented public policy
• The modelling of practices and protocols of civility in everyday life.

Areas of expertise

Ideas of citizenship: political and social thought concerning citizenship, the state and public policy
Practices of citizenship: practices of citizenship including those concerning reconciliation, relational contractualism, protocols of civility, and multiculturalism
The subjective dimensions of citizenship: the subjective experience of citizenship both when it is on offer and when it is denied to people
Citizenship and public policy: citizenship-oriented policy development and evaluation