National framework for protecting Australia's children: Perspectives on progress and challenges
April 2011 marked the second anniversary of the announcement of the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2009–2020 (“the National Framework”) by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG, 2009a). The aim of the National Framework is to make a substantial and sustained reduction in child abuse and neglect; such a goal is to be achieved through a series of three-year action plans to 2020.
Safe and supportive families and communities for children A synopsis and critique of Australian research
This paper reviews the research on building safe and supportive families and communities for children in Australia. Based on assessments of 22 research and evaluation reports, it examines the evidence base in the areas of:  community attitudes and awareness of child safety;  parenting and family support; and  child-friendly communities. The paper synthesises the findings and discusses the implications for future research. The reports were identified in the research audit, Protecting Australia’s Children Research Audit, 1995–2010.
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1