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A RECURRING PROBLEM IN POLITICAL ANALYSIS IS TO LINK PUBLIC OPINION TO PUBLIC POLICY. THE BURGEONING LITERATURE ON PUBLIC OPINION AND THE CRISIS OF THE WELFARE STATE HAS FAILED TO PROVIDE A CONSISTENT ACCOUNT OF WHAT ASPECTS OF POLICY MIGHT BE DRIVEN BY PUBLIC DEMAND OR VICE VERSA. THE INTERPRETATIONS OF SURVEY DATA ARE EITHER MISLEADING OR HIGHLY SELECTIVE. THIS APPLIES TO TWO CRUCIAL AREAS, ATTITUDES TOWARD POOR MINORITIES AND OPINIONS ABOUT STATE AND PRIVATE WELFARE. IN ORDER TO PROVIDE A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF THE PROBLEMS OF LINKING POLICY AND OPINION AND TO OFFER SOME GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR RESEARCH IN THIS AREAS, THIS PAPER ATTEMPTS TO CLARIFY SOME OF THESE DIFFICULTIES.

This report presents the major findings of the most detailed investigation of the attitudes of a cross-section of the Australian population and their attitudes to state and private welfare provisions. The survey, which was sponsored by the Social Policy Research Centre, was conducted in 1988-89 and based on a sample of 3507 people covering all States and Territories. The report addresses many of the issues raised in debates over the past two decades about the future of the welfare state in Australia and overseas. The release of the report is particularly timely since it coincides with arguments between the major political parties over the reform of statutory provision for health care, education and pensions. The Federal Opposition has placed on the agenda the notion of much greater involvement by the private sector and by charitable and voluntary organizations in all these spheres. The apparent justification for these suggestions has been to reduce government spending, to address the problem of an apparent decline in the work ethic among sections of the population, and to challenge the power of interest groups that are associated with the existing government welfare provisions. The Federal Government has been swift to condemn some of these proposals but has also continued to review existing welfare state provisions and arrangements. This report examines public attitudes relevant to some of these debates. Dr Papadakis has emphasised that the focus on public attitudes can easily be misinterpreted to mean that public opinion shapes public policy. In reality, the picture is more complex. Political parties, the media and interest groups are constantly attempting to shape public opinion about the welfare state, though not necessarily with great success. Dr Papadakis does, however, point out that it is possible to create radically different platforms for reform in social policy by being highly selective in the use of evidence from survey research.

The Green Party in West Germany represents a renewed challenge to interpretations of the relationship between social movements and parliamentary politics. Its emergence and durability can, to a large degree, be explained in terms of an attempt to reconcile innovative with established organizational forms, radical goals with reformist political practice, and the interests of the new middle class with those of marginalised social groups. Support for this interpretation is derived from empirical studies and from theoretical accounts of social movements. The latter have focused on the reconstruction of the most influential paradigms, namely, the traditional, resource mobilization and action-oriented ones (see Cohen 1985). Although largely conceptual, these attempts to arrive at a new synthesis lend support to an analysis of the Green Party in terms of its `self-limiting' characteristics.

Historical Dictionary of the Green Movement, Second Edition contains a chronology, an introduction, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 300 cross-referenced on green movements, green politics, green trends, and major environmental agreements and events.

The A to Z of the Green Movement provides a detailed and comprehensive overview of green parties and movements, green issues, and green concepts. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-referenced dictionary entries on countries in the world where green parties or proto-parties have formed, green movement organizations, major international environmental conferences, and green concepts. This useful reference will be greatly valued by students, academics, journalists, and policymakers alike.

One of the predominant issues on the agenda of diplomats and politicians is how to address the consequences of shifts in perception about threats to the environment and the actual short and long-term characteristics and effects of environmental degradation. Another challenge is that such issues as climate change impact on many areas including trade, economic and fiscal policies, employment, transport, agriculture and regional development. Furthermore, decisions taken at a national level cannot be isolated from international concerns, as in the case of the Kyoto Protocol. This article maps out some of the differences between Australia and the European Union in relation to the role of developing countries in tackling climate change, the use of market mechanisms to tackle environmental problems and the implementation of punitive compliance systems. We explore the challenges facing Australia and the EU in sustainable development, why the EU has a reputation as a leader in this field, how Australia has engaged the challenge and why the similarities in the approach of Australia and the EU are more striking than the differences.

In order to understand the potential of new policy instruments in tackling environmental problems we locate their development in the context of challenges to traditional roles of the Australian state in promoting welfare and national economic development

One of the predominant issues on the agenda of diplomats and politicians is how to address the consequences of shifts in perception about threats to the environment and the actual short and long-term characteristics and effects of environmental degradation. Another challenge is that such issues as climate change impact on many areas including trade, economic and fiscal policies, employment, transport, agriculture and regional development. Furthermore, decisions taken at a national level cannot be isolated from international concerns, as in the case of the Kyoto Protocol. This article maps out some of the differences between Australia and the European Union in relation to the role of developing countries in tackling climate change, the use of market mechanisms to tackle environmental problems and the implementation of punitive compliance systems. We explore the challenges facing Australia and the EU in sustainable development, why the EU has a reputation as a leader in this field, how Australia has engaged the challenge and why the similarities in the approach of Australia and the EU are more striking than the differences.