Politics is a very broad discipline which tends to overlap continually with all the other major humanities and social science subjects. It is, therefore, an excellent subject for learning about the interrelationships which exist in the human world, and for acquiring a diverse range of interpretive, analytic, and synthetic (especially conceptual) skills. The discipline is not just concerned with the study of government, policy or political institutions; it also studies resource allocation, decision-making, social behaviour and political action, the management or resolution of conflict, power-struggles, the struggle for political freedom, ideologies and political movements, the nature of the state and relations between states. It is especially concerned with the nature of power and authority, with `practical understanding', with the relations between theory and practice and with the series of arguments which are created by the continual struggle by human beings to maintain their social existence and to devise more desirable and more satisfactory forms of human community.
Politics at Monash aims to offer students both up-to-date coverage and explanation of many aspects of the contemporary world, developed and underdeveloped, coupled with a solid intellectual grounding in the key debates, texts and traditions of inquiry which one finds in the humanities and social sciences.
Objectives
1. To instruct students in the discipline of politics and to foster in them a critical and imaginative understanding of the nature of political life and human community; to develop in them capacities for intelligent reading and communication, a theoretically informed understanding of the general nature, grounds, and purposes of political organisation and culture, and a practical understanding of government, political institutions, and political activity.
2. To offer students a comprehensive range of high-quality courses; to encourage as many as possible to pursue a systematic education in politics, preferably by taking a major sequence leading to a full honours degree.
3. Through the major sequence and the honours degree, to seek to develop in students:
a sound knowledge of Australia's political system and culture;
a comparative perspective on Australia derived from an understanding of other political systems and cultures;
an awareness of the factors influencing the development of Australia's institutions, policies, and political life;
a sense of international dimensions of politics, including the factors influencing the structure and development of the current world order;
an awareness of the conceptual foundations, historical sources and cultural dimensions of political activity, including a greater understanding of the links between politics and closely related subjects in the humanities and social sciences;
the capacity to identify and appraise value systems, including their own;
an ability to construct and evaluate arguments and interpretations intelligently and fairly;
the range of intellectual and practical skills necessary for obtaining suitable professional employment;
the capacity to be a more informed citizenry and to improve the quality of public debate and political discussion in Australia.
4. First-year subjects seek to reach the foundational level of these objectives; second and third-year subjects (the nature of the discipline generally does not allow their separation) seek to reach them on fuller and broader levels, especially conceptually; Honours subjects seek to reach them on a level of critical and imaginative sophistication and self-reflection.
Pass courses
A student who wishes to proceed to politics in second year on the Clayton campus must complete a first-year sequence in politics. This comprises any two of the options available in first and second semesters. On the Caulfield campus a first-year sequence consists of PLT1531 and PLT1541; on the Peninsula campus a first-year sequence consists of PLT1532 and PLT1042. A minor sequence in politics comprises the first-year sequence of twelve points and sixteen points of second-year politics. A major sequence requires an additional sixteen points of politics at the third-year level plus a further eight points of work at either the second or third-year level.
Honours courses
A fourth or honours year is available on the Clayton campus only, offering an opportunity for more specialised or advanced work in politics and leading to the degree of BA(Hons). The department strongly recommends that the Arts faculty honours entry requirements be seen very much as minimum requirements only and that intending honours complete a further eight points of work in politics at either second or third-year level. Further advice for honours students is included with the course outlines at second and third years and in the department's honours booklet.
Fourth-year honours students take twenty-eight points of coursework in politics and write a thesis. They may do fewer politics seminars if they are taking a combined honours degree. All are strongly advised to begin thesis work during the long vacation preceding their entry into the fourth year. Mid-year entry is not offered by this department.