PLT4319

Globalism and governance

Alastair Davidson

12 points
* 2 hours per week
* Second semester
* Clayton

Objectives At the end of this subject students will have been introduced to the major debates on the nature of social and political order in the twenty-first century and to discussions of the role of human beings as citizens within the anticipated changed global system.

Synopsis The rapidly changing nature of the world system has put into question the traditional social and political categories which we use to make sense of political events. Among these categories are the social contact, the nation-state, sovereignty, citizenship and democracy, the public/private distinction, human rights and ethnicity and even the notion of power itself. What new categories are being developed to replace these? What are the concrete proposals which are advanced in the European, Australian and non-European world as strategies for meeting these changes? These issues are examined critically to assess their adequacy for the twenty-first century both on a practical and an ethical level. Particular attention will be paid to techniques for managing continuing difference like enlarged democracy and federalist solutions to devolution of power. At the end of the subject we hope to answer tentatively the Kantian questions. Who am I? What can I know? What might I be?

Assessment One essay (6000 words): 50%
* Examination (3 hours): 50%

Preliminary reading

Castles S and Davidson A The citizen who does not belong: Citizenship in a global world Macmillan, 1997
Commission of Global Governance Our global neighbourhood OUP, 1995
Horsman M and Marshall A After the nation-state: Citizens, tribalism and the new world disorder Harper Collins, 1994
Reich R The work of nations: Preparing ourselves for twenty-first century capitalism any edn