Whose mandate? Policy promises, strong bicameralism and polled opinion

The political theory of Australian politics has been dominated, since the e lection of a Liberal-National Party government in 1996, by claims and count erclaims about electoral mandates. The government has privileged its positi on in the House of Representatives; opposition parties have pointed to thei r support in the Senate. This paper provides a historical re-examination of the meanings and merits of mandate theories; it outlines the difficulties posed by strong bicameralism for any mandate theory; and it shows how the r ise of survey research has strengthened some claims to a mandate, especiall y in bicameral systems, while weakening others.