On belief in politics: Quarterly Essay 100
By (Author) Sean Kelly
Black Inc.
Quarterly Essay
17th November 2025
Australia
General
Non Fiction
Paperback
128
Width 1mm, Height 1mm, Spine 1mm
1g
In Quarterly Essay 100, Sean Kelly considers the strange transitional moment we are in. We seem sick of neoliberalism but afraid of what might replace it. We are obsessed with work but resentful of it; desperate for community but stuck inside our phones; protective of our way of life while wanting to change everything. Amid this uncertainty about who we are, what we believe and what we want, it seems harder than ever to make out where our politicians want to take us. The Liberal Party is in crisis. Labor, meanwhile, as it leaves old ideologies behind, insists it is both bold and incrementalist, committed to progressive values but middle of the road. With vividness and insight, Kelly diagnoses the state of the nation and the prospects for change and renewal. He argues that the end of ideology may yet offer hope for a new politics. As the prime minister promotes a new nationalism, could Australia show other countries the way forward
Sean Kelly is the author of The Game- A portrait of Scott Morrison, an award-winning columnist for the Nine papers and regular contributor to The Monthly and a former adviser to Labor prime ministers.