 
	   
	Fear and Politics
Condition: SECONDHAND
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'The survival of our democracies depends not on our  capacity to hit  back at the terrorists, but on our capacity to think for  ourselves.'
'The survival of our democracies depends not on our  capacity to hit back at the terrorists, but on our capacity to think for  ourselves.'
 To talk of Australians and fear in the one breath might seem a  contradiction. The defining element of our vision of ourselves is of a  resilient and fearless bunch of iconoclasts who could never be stampeded  into frightened submission.
 But Dr Carmen Lawrence argues that fear has been a crucial factor in shaping Australian public policy in recent years, and in Fear and Politics she charts its consequences on the Australian body politic. She  discusses how xenophobia has shaped policies toward refugees, indigenous  Australians, and Islamic fundamentalists, and examines the effects of  being constantly warned about the risk of terrorism. She also looks at  the sustained campaigns on law and order, and the exaggerated anxieties  people now have of the risks of assault, murder, child abuse, and  robbery.
 Dr Lawrence argues that fear can never provide a foundation of  moral and political argument, and that the necessary antidote to the  toxin of fear is a wholehearted embrace of the principles of freedom,  equality, and co-operation. Human betterment must again be the prime  focus of politics - for all of our sakes.
Author: Carmen Lawrence
  Format: Paperback, 144 pages, 136mm x 210mm, 160 g
  
  Published: 2006, Scribe Publications, Australia
  Genre: Current Affairs & Issues
  
                
                  Description
                  
                
                
'The survival of our democracies depends not on our  capacity to hit  back at the terrorists, but on our capacity to think for  ourselves.'
'The survival of our democracies depends not on our  capacity to hit back at the terrorists, but on our capacity to think for  ourselves.'
 To talk of Australians and fear in the one breath might seem a  contradiction. The defining element of our vision of ourselves is of a  resilient and fearless bunch of iconoclasts who could never be stampeded  into frightened submission.
 But Dr Carmen Lawrence argues that fear has been a crucial factor in shaping Australian public policy in recent years, and in Fear and Politics she charts its consequences on the Australian body politic. She  discusses how xenophobia has shaped policies toward refugees, indigenous  Australians, and Islamic fundamentalists, and examines the effects of  being constantly warned about the risk of terrorism. She also looks at  the sustained campaigns on law and order, and the exaggerated anxieties  people now have of the risks of assault, murder, child abuse, and  robbery.
 Dr Lawrence argues that fear can never provide a foundation of  moral and political argument, and that the necessary antidote to the  toxin of fear is a wholehearted embrace of the principles of freedom,  equality, and co-operation. Human betterment must again be the prime  focus of politics - for all of our sakes.
              
         
      Fear and Politics
         
    