Staff profile

Emeritus Robert Manne

Emeritus Professor

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences

SS 325, Melbourne (Bundoora)

Qualifications

BA (Melbourne), BPhil (Oxford).

Membership of professional associations

Chair, Editorial Committee, The Monthly Magazine

Area of study

Australian Studies
International Relations
Politics

Brief profile

Emeritus Professor Robert Manne was educated at the Universities of Melbourne and Oxford. He is a Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Convenor of The Ideas & Society Program at La Trobe University, and is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. Manne has written or edited twenty books including The Petrov Affair: Politics and Espionage; Left, Right, Left; Political Essays-1977-2005; and most recently, Making Trouble: Essays against the New Australian Complacency and the Quarterly Essay, “Bad News: Murdoch’s Australian and the Shaping of the Nation”. His books and essays have won various awards. Between 1987 and 2004 he was a columnist on public affairs for both the Murdoch Press and Fairfax, and also a regular commentator on ABC Radio. He is a frequent contributor to The Monthly. In 2005 he was voted Australia’s leading public intellectual in a survey conducted by The Sydney Morning Herald.

Research interests

Australian Government and Politics

- Australian political culture

International Relations

- Climate Change

Recent publications

Books:

  • Manne, R, and C.Feik (eds.) 2012, The Words that Made Australia: How a Nation Came to Know Itself, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2011, Bad News: Murdoch’s Australian and the Shaping of the Nation, Quarterly Essay, no.34.
  • Manne, R 2011, Making Trouble: Essays against the New Australian Complacency, Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2010, Goodbye to All That? On the Failure of Neo-Liberalism and the Urgency of Change, (edited with David McKnight), Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2009, W.E.H. Stanner, The Dreaming and Other Essays, (edited & introduced), Black Inc. Agenda, Melbourne.
  • Manne, R (ed.) 2008, Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia, Black Inc, Melbourne.
  • Manne, R and Beilharz, P (eds), 2006, Reflected Light: La Trobe Essays, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2005, Left Right Left: Political Essays—1977-2005, Black Inc, Melbourne.

Book Chapters:

  • Manne, R 2012, “Dark Victory: How Vested Interests Defeated Climate Science”, in Ramona Koval (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2012, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2011, “Julian Assange: The Cypherpunk Revolutionary” in Ramona Koval (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2011, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2011, “Primo Levi: A Tribute” in Christopher  Cordner, Philosophy, Ethics and a Common Humanity: Essays in Honour of Raimond Gaita, Routledge, London.
  • Manne, R 2010, “Asylum Seekers and Australian Democracy: What Do We Fear?” in Robert Drewe (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2010, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2010, “Is Neo-Liberalism Finished?” in Robert Manne & David McKnight, Goodbye to All That? On the Failure of Neo-Liberalism & the Urgency of Change, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2009, “Why We Weren’t Warned”, in Robyn Davidson (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2009, Black Inc., Melbourne.
  • Manne, R 2009, “On the Political Corruptions of a Moral Universal” in Jeffrey Alexander et al., Remembering The Holocaust, Oxford University Press, New York.
  • Manne, R 2008, 'What Went Wrong?', in Peter van Onselen (ed.), The Liberals and Power: The Road Ahead, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, pp 9-32.
  • Manne, R 2008, '26 August - 11 September; From Tampa to 9/11', in Martin Crotty and David Andrew Roberts (eds), Turning Points in Australian History, University of New South Wales Press, Sydney, pp 239-254.
  • Manne, R 2008, 'Sorry Business', in David Marr (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2008, Black Inc, Melbourne, pp 101-117.
  • Manne, R 2008, 'Pearson's Gamble: Stanner's Dream'', in Tony Jones (ed.), The Best Australian Political Writing, Melbourne University Press, Carlton, pp 75-91.
  • Manne, R 2008, 'Introduction', in R Manne (ed.), Dear Mr Rudd: Ideas for a Better Australia, Black Inc, Melbourne, pp 1-14.
  • Manne, R 2007, 'Pearson's Gamble, Stanner's Dream', in D Modjeska (ed.), The Best Australian Essays 2007, Black Inc, Melbourne, pp 286-304.
  • Manne, R 2006, 'The New Dominion', in P Beilharz and R Manne (eds), Reflected Light: La Trobe Essays, Black Inc, Melbourne.

Research projects

  • The International Politics of Climate Change