Australian Politics in Global Context

• • A week-by-week guide to the topics you will explore in this subject will be provided in your study materials.

Equivalent subjects

You should not enrol in this subject if you have successfully completed any of the following subject(s) because they are considered academically equivalent:

• MAQ-PLT110 (Not currently available)
• MAQ-POIX101-Australian Politics in Global Context (No longer available)

Others

If you have no prior university experience, you should complete BAR100 Academic Learning Skills or COM10006 Academic Literacies: Learning and Communication Practice before starting this subject. NCCW (pre-2020 units) PLT110, POL101, POL165, POIX101 NCCW (2020 and onwards) POIR1010 Australian Politics in Global Context

Additional requirements

• Other requirements -

  Students who have an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion under Macquarie University's Academic Progression Policy are not permitted to enrol in OUA units offered by Macquarie University. Students with an Academic Standing of Suspension or Exclusion who have enrolled in units through OUA will be withdrawn.

This subject was previously known as POIX101 Australian Politics in Global Context.

In this subject, we critically assess Australian politics from the perspective of political and economic history, through the lens of social power and financial interests, and drilling down into contemporary debates about economic crisis, globalisation, nationalism, environmental catastrophe and war. With this approach in mind, we examine key Australian political institutions, ideologies, and issues. What is the nature of Australia’s key political institutions (the Constitution, the High Court, Federalism, Government and Parliament), and are they democratic and just? Could we live without them? What are some of the radical critiques of these institutions and the interests they serve? What is ‘Australia’, after all – a unified nation of peoples with shared identities and interests, or a construct that serves wealth and power by masking deep social fractures, or something else again? 

• Examination (30%)
• Online quiz (20%)
• Major Essay (40%)
• Participation (10%)