James Walter is a widely published political historian, an Emeritus Professor at both Monash and Griffith Universities, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia. His next book (with Carolyn Holbrook), Australia Fair? Democracy, Bureaucracy and the Making of Modern Australia will be published by Melbourne University Press in July 2026.
Books & arts
Dark passions and inflammatory speech
James Walter
1 December 2025
Is democracy more likely to perish from within than at the hands of external enemies?
Books & arts
Democracy’s dark shadow
James Walter
9 August 2023
Resentment can be a potent — and not always destructive — motivator in political life
National affairs
What the leader wants
James Walter
2 May 2023
ScoMo, Teflon Dan and the democratic deficit
Books & arts
Cometh the hour
James Walter
9 December 2022
Katharine Murphy’s latest Quarterly Essay probes where politics meets personality
Essays & reportage
Governing in times of crisis
James Walter
24 October 2022
What does history tell us about Anthony Albanese’s prospects?
Essays & reportage
Power without purpose?
James Walter
24 September 2021
A long process of change has reached its apogee in the prime ministership of Scott Morrison
Books & arts
Man of the moment
James Walter
31 July 2017
Books | Donald Horne is a breezy, argumentative and sometimes wrong-headed guide to postwar Australia
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