The Department of Politics teaches courses on the Caulfield, Clayton and Peninsula campuses. The department specialises in five broad areas: Australian culture and politics, international relations, Asian and regional studies, contemporary political cultures, and social and political theory. Students may specialise in one or more of these areas, but are encouraged to choose their subjects so as to explore the different approaches to political studies.
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 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.
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:
The student with the best overall result in first-year politics will receive $100 worth of books through the Monash University bookshop. The second-best and third-best students will receive $75 and $50 worth of books respectively. (Results will be derived by averaging the final marks obtained in politics subjects. If a student completes three politics subjects, then the best two results will be averaged.)
The student who heads the honours class list for the year will receive books to the value of $150 through the Monash University bookshop. The second-placed student will receive books worth $100. (Honours results and the class lists are decided by the fourth-year examiners' meeting.)
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 PLT1031. 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 twenty-four points of politics at the third-year level.
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 students 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-four points of coursework in politics, do a general paper, 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 normally offered by this department.
Departments may grant an extension of time for submission of the honours thesis or for final coursework up to the last day of the examination period of the semester in which the work is due. Applications for extensions beyond this date must be made to the Committee for Undergraduate Studies.
On the Clayton campus in 1998 the department will offer five first-year subjects, three in first semester (PLT1020, PLT1070, and PLT1120) and two in second semester (PLT1040, PLT1050). All students who wish to proceed to politics in second year must complete any two of these subjects. No previous knowledge of politics is assumed.
The prerequisite is successful completion of an approved first-year politics sequence at any Monash campus. The following subjects will be offered in 1998.
The normal prerequisite for a third-year level subject is successful completion of an approved first-year politics sequence and any two second-year level subjects at any Monash campus.
As well as fulfilling the requirements for the honours degree laid down by the Faculty of Arts, intending honours students in politics are expected to take extra work in politics (see the introduction to the politics entry). They are expected to take PLT3420 (Political Imagination). This subject should help students gain solid conceptual grounding in key areas of the discipline and in major theoretical debates.
The following subjects will be offered in 1998.
Fourth year comprises work to the value of forty-eight points made up as follows:
1 the honours thesis, PLT4049 (twenty points), written under supervision (this must be shown on all enrolment forms);
2 two of the twelve-point seminar subjects chosen from the list of subjects below;
3 PLT4179 Approaches to politics (four points). This is compulsory and must also be shown on enrolment forms.
The deadline for the submission of final coursework is the last day of the final semester of the honours program. The deadline for the submission of the thesis to the department is the last teaching day of the second semester. Any request for extension of time must be made in advance to the department honours coordinator and, for lengthy extensions, also to the Committee for Undergraduate Studies no later than two weeks before the end of the final semester.
Part-time honours students are required to take one seminar course in each semester of their first year, and the thesis and the `Approaches to politics' seminar in their second year.
Combined honours may be taken in politics and another discipline provided that all honours requirements have been met in both disciplines and subject or the approval of the heads of both departments/centres. This usually requires some discussion and negotiation between the two heads of department. Students who are interested should therefore discuss their plans with the heads of departments, preferably at an early stage.
On the Caulfield campus the department offers two first-year subjects (PLT1031 and PLT1531). No previous knowledge of politics is assumed. All politics students from these campuses who wish to proceed to politics in second year must complete both of the subjects offered on their campus.
The following subjects will be offered in 1998.
The following subjects will be offered in 1998.
Students who intend majoring in politics on these campuses with a view to entry into fourth-year honours in politics on the Clayton campus are expected to enrol in PLT3420 (Political imagination) on the Clayton campus. They must also discuss their choice of third-year subjects with the honours coordinator at the Clayton campus.