On completion of their course, students undertaking the history and politics major are expected to have developed:
* the intellectual and critical skills necessary for independent learning;
* a broad and deep historical and political knowledge of their society, nation and Australia's place in the world;
* an understanding of the ethical, methodological and theoretical issues and debates associated with the disciplines of history and politics;
* sound foundations for a lifelong and critical interest in history and politics;
* a range of skills which will equip them for employment and postgraduate opportunities;
* the practical skills of citizenship and leadership that rest on their expert knowledge of history and politics
The course
The major provides students with a structured program of study of history and politics. The subjects are designed to build up, in a systematic way, significant bodies of knowledge on the history and politics of Europe, Australia, Asia and the major world powers. Students are provided with a systematic development of learning skills - including skills in reading, information retrieval, oral and written communications, and methodological approaches and research techniques.
The application of knowledge of political systems and structures is developed in public and social policy studies for students in the Bachelor of Arts and in other courses. The history-politics major provides a stimulating course which will give students a high level of academic competence in the study of continuity and change in human society and a deeper understanding of the nature of the past and the modern world. (Subjects with asterisks indicate those subjects are compulsory for a major sequence).
Subjects offered
First level
* GSC1501 Modern European history
* GSC1502 Australian politics
* GSC1503 Global and regional studies I: modern world events*
* GSC1504 Global and regional studies II: modern world ideas*
Upper level
* GSC2501 Australian history
* GSC2502 United States politics
* GSC2503 Russian politics
* GSC2504 Public and social policy
* GSC2505 Courtesans, concubines and conquest
* GSC3501 East Asian history
* GSC3502 Southeast Asian history
* GSC3503 International relations
* GSC3504 Theories and research in history and politics*
Fourth level
History
* GSC4510 Theory and method*
* GSC4511 Reading regional history
* GSC4000(H) Dissertation
Politics
* GSC4510 Theory and method*
* GSC4521 Mechanisms for international governance
* GSC4000(P) Dissertation
* Common for both history and politics honours
Restructuring of the history-politics major
The History-Politics section has developed interdisciplinary first-year subjects called global and regional studies. Based on historical and political approaches, they will give special emphasis to the emergence and nature of global systems, structures and institutions. The debates over globalisation and regional responses will be examined in a critical and research orientated framework.
The study of global social, political, economic and technological developments and interactions will lead to a more detailed study of the impact of global influences upon the Asia-Pacific region and the region's responses to globalisation. Australia's place and role in the Asia-Pacific region will be used as a point of departure to consider the antecedents and possible futures of social, political and economic dominance of the global and regional systems.