Australian National Tourism Policy: Influences of Reflexive and Political Modernisation

Using meta-theories of reflexive and political modernisation, this paper examines four Australian national tourism policy developments. The analysis reveals that key dimensions of these meta-theories are present in policy development including identification of risks, processes of individualisation and reflexive responses by government and industry. Boundaries are dissolving between public and private sectors and there is greater interdependency of actors in policymaking. The paper finds that these meta-theories hold some value in explaining broader social shifts but that more critical analysis of these theories is needed, especially given the abundance of existing theories of social change. The key contributions of this paper are in exploring the key social science theories of political and reflexive modernisation and in mapping the theoretical space of tourism policy studies.