Assa Doron investigates how the boatmen of Banaras have repositioned themselves within the traditional social organization and used their privileged position on the river to contest upper-caste and state domination. Caste, Occupation and Politics on the Ganges examines the evolution of the boatmen community, drawing on a variety of sources to illuminate the cultural politics of social and economic inequality in contemporary India and offers insight into recent debates about the cultural and historical forms of social practice and resistance at the juncture between tradition and the global economy.

John Halligan, an expert on public sector governance, looks at the establishment and conduct of Centrelink as a service delivery agency. For many years there was a real ‘buzz' around the Centrelink experiment and staff and clients were generally enthusiastic about the transformation. However, after around eight years, the experiment was reined in and Centrelink was placed under closer ministerial direction and under a new managing department. The experiment continues, but its trajectory reflects the different pressures impacting on such dedicated ‘services delivery agencies'.

This book contains the first study of state-building intervention in the so-called 'Pacific arc of crisis', stretching from Aceh, through Timor, Ambon, Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea to the Solomon Islands and Fiji. Editor Greg Fry is Hedley Bull Fellow and Director of Graduate Studies in International Affairs in the Department of International Relations at ANU. Editor Tarcisius Tara Kabutaulaka is Research Fellow at the East-West Center's Pacific Islands Development Program.