Undergraduate - UnitATS3599 - Modern Israel: History, politics and society

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Undergraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Arts
Organisational Unit	Australian Centre for Jewish Civilisation
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Dr Ran Porat

Synopsis

The unit examines the history, politics and society of modern Israel from the early days of the Zionist movement to the beginning of the 21st century. Main topics include the varieties of Zionist ideology and practice, pre-independence Jewish society, the history of Jewish-Arab conflicts, constitutional and legal history of the State of Israel, and the growth of modern Israeli society. We will look at issues of identity, cultural coherence and variety, social divisions along national, ethnic, political and religious lines, Israel's international standing, and the common denominators of Israeli polity and society.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit students will:

understand major topics in the political and social history of modern Israel
be able to demonstrate skills in analysis of conceptual issues involved in the study of identity, social division and coherence
understand Israel's international standing and related issues in Middle East and international politics
understand the major ideologies and institutions at work in the development of modern Israeli society
be able to discuss and analyse the major social and political facing the State of Israel
demonstrate an appreciation of the complexity of Israeli society through analysis of historical, religious, ethnic, national and political determinants.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 80%
Exam: 20%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

Chief examiner(s)

Associate Professor Mark Baker

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Religious studies
Jewish studies

Prohibitions

ATS2599