About the Australian Citizenship Database                

This searchable database contains material relating to the sociological, political, policy and welfare dimensions of citizenship. The searchable database includes a range of material, from theoretical and analytical academic literature through to descriptive material useful for case studies on specific current issues.

The database contains entries for books, book chapters, journal articles, reports, media items and theses. Many of these have abstracts, and where possible the full text is included, or a link is provided to to the Internet location of the full text. The database includes a special Privatisation Collection, which has a main focus on privatisation in Victoria .

Material is selected for the database on the following criteria:

• academic literature in English that is directly relevant to citizenship studies and that has been published since 1989, or published earlier but considered to be basic to current thinking and debates;
  
• published Australian material such as reports by government agencies, advocacy organisations and practitioners, and select media items, that describe and analyse current social, political, policy or welfare issues that are relevant to citizenship;
  
• unpublished Australian material such as theses, reports and pamphlets that make theoretical or descriptive contributions to understanding debates about citizenship, or provide information about current issues that are relevant to citizenship.

The theoretical and analytical literature is intended to represent current thinking and debates in the English language literature, and does not have an Australian focus. The material on specific issues focuses on Australian cases, although non-Australian cases may be included for comparative purposes. There is an emphasis on case material, which initially will relate to the following issues: privatisation, voluntary associations, public sector restructuring and community development. Other issues will be added later.

Surfing the database

You can 'surf' the database by using the built in links between records. Use the pull down list of descriptors at the end of each detailed record to do a new search for other records on related topics.

Surfing lets you link conceptual and case study material.

• Once you have found records about a particular issue, you may check these records to see what general citizenship topics are relevant to that issue, and then search on those topics to see how they relate to other issues that on the surface may seem quite different. Click here for an example.
  
• Alternatively, if you are interested in a particular theoretical topic you may search the database to find case studies where it is relevant. Click here for an example.

Database home page | Search | Privatisation collection