ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we argue that our analytical efforts should be focused on explaining how global and regional changes – by regional, we broadly refer to Oceania – in the political economy lead to contestations within established state institutions, as well as layering new practices of governance within established institutions (Jayasuriya, 2008, 2009). State institutions are not external to the market, but are partially shaped by economic and market processes (Glassman, 2011; Gough, 2004). We explore how Australia’s increasing integration into the regional political economy – particularly through China’s economic growth – has created social forces and interests that are reshaping national and subnational state institutions. From this vantage point, the “patchwork economy” is merely a symptom of a broader and deeper transformation of the Australian state.
