Understanding Prime-Ministerial Performance

Paul Strangio is a specialist in Australian political history with a particular focus on political parties and political leadership at both national and state level. He has published widely in the field as the author and editor of some ten books over the past decade, including biography and party history. Paul is also a leading commentator on Australian politics in the electronic and print media. He is a senior lecturer in politics in the School of Political andSocial Inquiry at Monash University.Paul 't Hart was, before joining Utrecht University, at Leiden University's Department of Public Administration from 1987 until 2002. Between 2005 and 2010 his main appointment was as Professor of Political Science at Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. He is also a fellow of the Australia New Zealand School of Government and has taught and trained thousands of public officials in Holland, Australia, and Sweden. His areas of expertise include: political andpublic sector leadership; crisis management; policy evaluation and policy change; political-administrative relations within executive government; and accountability in national and EU governance. He is Professor of Public Administration at the Utrecht School of Governance and Associate Dean at theNetherlands School of Government in The Hague.James Walter has previously held chairs at the University of London and at Griffith University (Brisbane). He is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a former President of the Australian Political Studies Association. His areas of expertise and publication cover Australian politics and political history, leadership and political biography, political ideas, political psychology, and policy decision making. He is Professor of Politics at Monash University, and ProfessorEmeritus at Griffith University.