Institutionalists (see Chapter 2) would see the politicisation of the executive as a breakdown in, or at least a major evolution of, the institutional structures that have governed policy-making and policy implementation in Australia, because it undermines principles and practices long considered essential to Westminster democracies. The appointment of senior ministerial advisers, whose qualifications are sometimes as much to do with their party allegiance as their policy or administrative expertise, has also created a new set of actors for behaviouralists to study (Chapter 3). Elite democratic theorists would view this development as an extension of the ways in which governing elites seek to increase their advantages over challengers for power (Chapter 1). The same observation might be made by critical theorists in support of their view of politics as dominated by privileged socio-economic groups (Chapter 4).