National security law 515
Not offered in 1995
15 points * Three 1-hour lectures per week * Clayton
This subject is intended to assess the scope and legal implications of the concept of `national security' and the activities of security intelligence agencies in Australia and other liberal democratic political systems. It involves an examination of the concept of national security; an identification of the situation in which the concept is used to modify or justify the operation of legal rules, processes and institutions; and an assessment of the balance struck between this concept and other values which compete for recognition in liberal democratic societies. The subject has two distinct objectives: (1) to explore the tensions between competing societal values in a highly political context - that of the preservation of the contemporary state - and the resolutions of that tension adopted in different environments and different periods; and (2) to compare in a `problem-specific' context, the public law systems of five common law countries - how those systems and their differences reflect culture, history and ideology, and how much `cross-fertilisation' there has been between those systems.
Assessment
Written research assignment (5000 words): 60% * Terminal examination (2 hours): 40%