Why the third sector should interest (Australian) political scientists

Despite their diversity – government departments, government schools and hospitals, the police, the courts people understand that there is a common core of logic to government organisations. They know that they are the mechanism by which a country is ruled, or by which a government provides services to its people; that they are, finally, thought often indirectly, controlled by the ruler. In a democracy, the behaviour of these organisations is accountable, in theory, through the minister that is responsible for them, to the parliament, and through parliament, to the people.