The Republican push : a sociological study of political reform

The spread of civic nationalism and the push for an Australian republic became inextricably linked in the 1990s. Specific socio-historical and socio-political factors provided the impetus for both in the post-WVV II period. In the early 1990s civic national sentiments were harnessed by public intellectuals and activists of the ARM in the push for an Australian republic. The push started with Citizens for Democracy in the 1970s and it culminated in a referendum on November 6th 1999. The referendum for Australia to move to a republic was unsuccessful — which is surprising considering the pro-republican public sentiments and the successful mobilization of the Australian Republican Movement. This study addresses this puzzle of the 'surprising defeat'. It proposes a sociological model identifying the key factors necessary for major political reform. The model includes three sets of conditions of success and assesses the presence of these conditions empirically. The conditions include conducive public sentiments, the programmatic articulation of these sentiments by a social movement organization, and a high degree of strategic and tactical consensus among political elites, including the leaders of the republican movement. The study concludes that this consensus amongst republican and political elites was weak or missing on the eve of the referendum