Bachelor of Social Science – Security and International Relations

About this unit

This unit will introduce fundamentals of communication and learning in an online environment. Students will gain increased capability in a range of skills such as online written communication, collaboration in individual and group work, and critiquing and analysing a variety of information sources. Students will be encouraged to draw on their own understanding and experience while contributing and sharing ideas with peers.

Content

• Social media and communication technologies
• Models of online communication
• Current and evolving learning theories
• Identifying and evaluating sources of knowledge
• Critical analysis skills
• Referencing and attributing sources
• Creating and publishing in the online environment
• Strategies for reflecting on your own and others work

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit aims to provide students with an introduction to the foundations of the discipline of sociology. Successful completion of this unit will prepare students to undertake study in the discipline at more advanced levels through their understanding of the sociological imagination and central sociological theories as applied to a range of current events and issues. Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Apply a sociological perspective to the social world around them
• Identify and differentiate between the major theoretical perspectives employed by sociologists
• Define and use a range of key sociological concepts to appraise the ways in which social processes and social structures shape individuals and groups in contemporary society
• Discuss and critique published work and communicate this through informed written argument
• Undertake successful library-based research
• Identify and utilise the referencing style required by this discipline.

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of different research designs and research methods for psychology and health sciences. Students will gain familiarity with the scientific method, ethical issues in research, measurement, research design, and research methods. Students will be given the opportunity to develop professionally relevant knowledge in the selection and evaluation of research designs and methods and how to collect data that will address specific research questions.

Content

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Describe the scientific method and scientific thinking principles
• Demonstrate knowledge of the ethical issues in research
• Describe the main concepts of measurement and various sampling methods
• Explain the general concept of an experiment and a quasi-experiment and outline uses of these designs in research
• Describe a range of research methods and be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each method
• Select appropriate research designs and research methods to address hypothetical and real world problems.

View further information on this unit.

About this course

This unit examines contemporary culture as a construct through initiating the education of students in Indigenous issues. With particular focus on the world’s oldest living, continuing culture, students learn concepts of imperialism and colonialism, the diversity of Indigenous Australian people and culture, and a basic understanding of issues that define our experiences as Australian citizens in a postcolonial society. Fundamental Indigenous concepts are introduced, including respect and relationships, connection to country spirituality, and kinship. Students will learn to challenge existing knowledge of Indigenous cultures and encouraged to form their own connections to help underpin their knowledge of contemporary culture.

Content

• The roles of colonialism and imperialism in Australian society
• Culture as a construct; the role of race and racial identity
• Diversity within Indigenous cultures
• Connections to country and local Wurundjeri culture
• Sovereignty of Indigenous cultures and knowledges
• The roles of narrative and storytelling in cultural identity
• Concepts central to Indigenous culture including The Dreaming, kinship structures, non-linear time and gendered knowledges
• Indigenous cultures in contemporary society

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit of study aims to provide a critical and analytical introduction to the Australian political system in an international context and the challenges it faces from globalisation, oppositional social movements and growing discontent among voters.

Content

Students will acquire a body of knowledge about the system of government in Australia in an international context. This will include the basic organising principles of the system, the institutions that express those principles and the processes by which voters elect representatives to transfer the people's will into responsible government. As students move through the unit, it will be apparent that the organising principles of the system do not always deliver their intended outcomes. By examining some contemporary political issues such as citizenship and republicanism, industrial relations, the role of political parties in expressing voters' aspirations and the electoral system's ability to deliver workable parliamentary representation, the unit will test the effectiveness of those principles and assess in general terms how the system is working. It also explores the reasons many citizens have turned away from institutional politics and engaged in political activism through social movements and other organisations in civil society. The unit will offer a broad, long-term perspective against which students can analyse and interpret not just current policy issues, but the effectiveness of the whole system. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

After completing this unit of study, students will have developed an understanding of the major institutions, events and issues in international politics; how political scientists analyse and explain international politics, and the major concepts and theories used in the study of international politics.

Content

The unit of study provides students with an overview of the development of world politics. It introduces analytical approaches to the subject and explores a broad range of contemporary issues. It deals with the politics of nation states, and the traditional diplomacy and security issues based on them. The unit of study also deals with the emerging structures of the global political economy and international organisations, and their impact on nation-states. While global in scope, the unit of study highlights many issues relevant to the conduct of Australian foreign affairs and trade policy.

View further information about this unit.

About this unit

This unit introduces students to Australia’s foreign policy with a particular emphasis on developments after WWII. It examines changing power dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region, explores post-colonial legacies and their relationship to the Anglo-American alliance, and highlights emerging ambiguities in this alliance. In addition, the unit draws on these legacies to analyse Australian bilateral/multilateral relations in its responses to 911, the Bali bombing, and the emerging resource challenges in the region.

Content

• Foreign Policy: legacies and continuing challenges
• The turn to America: the Pacific War to Vietnam
• Decolonisation in the Pacific and the challenge of Indonesia
• Australian foreign policy after 9/11.

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit is an introduction to the comparative study of politics. It provides an overview of the world’s political systems. It develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of political systems, and introduces students to the use of case studies to test hypotheses.

Content

This unit of study provides an introduction to the comparative study of politics. It provides an overview of the world's political systems and a conceptual framework which enables systematic analysis and comparison. The emphasis in the delivery of the unit of study is on concepts and theory, but it relates these to real-world situations through a variety of case studies. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit provides students with an understanding of how apparent points of conflict can be associated with underlying issues. It also explores the avenues that might be available to resolve these matters either before or after they have developed into overt conflict.

Content

• The nature of conflict
• The occasions for conflict: overt e.g. religion, culture, history; and underlying e.g. land, water, strategic resources
• How conflict develops, trajectories and outcomes
• Approaches to the resolution of conflict

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit provides students with an understanding of the evolution of global politics since World War II and the background to contemporary issues in global politics. It focuses on conflict and conflict resolution during and after the Cold War, with particular attention paid to the global role of the US and terrorism. It also aims to develop student skills in library and online research, working both individually and in groups, as well as in evidence-based assessment of theories of global politics.

Content

This unit of study surveys global politics since 1945 to provide students with the background to contemporary issues and conflicts. It requires them to evaluate conflicting claims against empirical evidence.

Topics:

• Creating “One World”: The US plans the post-World War II world
• One World divided: Cold War origins in retrospect
• The collapse of the European empires and the emergence of the “Third World”
• The course of the Cold War
• US global power after the Cold War
• The expansion of the global system: The turbulent transitions of post-communist countries
• Asia’s Industrial Revolution and the changing balance of world power
• Industry, energy and imperialism: The global politics of oil
• The Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict
• On a Mission from God: 9/11 and “war on terrorism"

This unit is found in Bachelor of Social Science With a Major in Security and International Relations. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit introduces students to the United Nations and the problems associated with global governance. It enables students to apply their knowledge developed in 'Sources of Conflict and its Resolution' to understand the legal framework of the United Nations as well as its potential and limitations. Throughout the subject, students will examine the power, passions and disappointments of diplomacy in the world order.

Content

In tracing the formation of the United Nations and the uneasy compromises it embodies this unit will examine the legal framework of the World body. It examines the role of the Security Council and the difficulties of gaining consensus through diplomacy for united action. Key issues examined include:

• A New World Order: The Soviet/USA stalemate
• Decolonisation and the third world challenge
• Peacekeeping and foreign intervention
• The coalition of the willing and the war against terror and its implications for the United Nations.

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit provide students with an understanding of why security and intelligence systems are established, how they are organised, what they do and how their work is used and supervised. It also explores the ethical and political debates about intelligence and security systems in open, democratic communities.

Content

• Problems in defining and conceptualising terrorism
• How knowledge of terrorism informs counter‐terrorism policy and practices
• Terrorism in its many forms and questions of security and political violence
• National, sub‐national and global implications of terrorism
• Case studies
• Political and ethical dilemmas, with particular emphasis on the growth of terrorism as an 'industry'

View further information on this unit.

About this Unit

Unpack some of the most important global issues such as international law, refugee rights, torture in security and humanitarian intervention. You’ll get a key understanding of the international framework of human rights. The aim of this unit of study is to introduce students to the international framework for human rights in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the unit examines responses to genocide, inequality and campaigns for self-determination. Through an historical analysis of case studies the unit reflects on contemporary political limitations in human rights law and protection.

Content

• Rights versus Justice
• The Trials at Nuremburg and Tokyo
• International Law versus the Sovereign State: The Declaration
• Displaced Persons and Rights of Refugees
• ‘The dove flies east’: Human Rights as ideology
• Human Rights as Self Determination
• The rights of man and woman
• Humanitarian Intervention to R2P
• Prisons and Punishment: a case study in human rights
• Drones, Torture, Justification and the Just War
• Transitional and Restorative Justice
• Rights versus Justice Revisited

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

The aim of this unit is to provide students with an introduction to microeconomic and macroeconomic theory with business and government policy applications. At the conclusion of the subject, students will understand important micro and macroeconomic concepts and how they improve decision making in business and government.

Content

• Economic concepts of opportunity cost and comparative advantage
• Market behaviour
• Market failure
• Macroeconomic indicators
• Business cycle and economic growth
• Government stabilisation policy

View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This is a (Priestley 11) unit (VLAB required area of study) – completion is required for eligibility for admission to practice as a legal practitioner in Australia This unit enables students, through the study of cases, statutes and other materials, to acquire a comprehensive knowledge and understanding of, and competence in, Australian constitutional law. This unit introduces students to the Victorian Constitution and the matters covered in the Commonwealth Constitution. Its focus is the Australian federal system; in particular, the composition and legislative powers of the Commonwealth Parliament, the executive and judicial powers of the Commonwealth and the role and position of the states and the laws they make.

Content

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Identify the core principles of federal and state constitutional law to solve factual legal problems.
• Demonstrate an ability to develop a sustained legal argument both orally and in writing in a logical and effective way with particular regard to the cultural context and social and political impact of constitutional law.
• Locate and apply relevant case law and legislative provisions to solve factual legal problems relating to the law of torts.
• Analyse judgments from the High Court of Australia and other superior courts that deal with constitutional causes of action.

About this unit

Business has an urgent need to review the way it interacts with and contributes to society. Today’s leaders and managers need to be aware of the holistic views on organisations and society, learn how to identify challenges and opportunities in the future and develop ways to meet those challenges and capitalise on emergent opportunities. The unit challenges students to identify and evaluate major issues and trends impacting society and explore potential business implications that can drive sustainable innovation. The unit is designed to facilitate critical/analytical, systems, and creative thinking. Students in this unit will adapt a trans-disciplinary approach, drawing on relevant concepts and theories from philosophy, history, economics, geography, sociology and political science. A major focus will be a critical appreciation of stake-holder theory and how this theory frames integrative thinking across strategic management, finance, accounting, human resource management, marketing, law, public policy, and environment. It also covers two important areas that stakeholder theory has helped to shape and define: business ethics and corporate social responsibility.

Content

• The business-society interface
• Theory differentiating between philanthropy, corporate social responsibility and corporate citizenry
• Building sustainable value through
• Social enterprise
• Microfinance
• Public-private partnership (PPP)
• Stakeholder theory
• Emerging issues in social development
• Sustainability and corporate social responsibility
• Impact of climate change on global economic, political and social agendas impacting business and society.

View further information about this unit.

About this unit

This unit provides an introduction to the working knowledge of international communication as practised by Australian and foreign multi-national corporations, consultancies, Government agencies and not-for-profit organisations. The course will demonstrate the strategic requirements of different approaches to communication programs in different countries and markets (including Asia Pacific, Europe, the Americas, Africa and the Middle East).

Content

• The development of intercultural communication for a global society
• The nature of contemporary public relations activity and new technology on a global scale
• Application of multicultural communication theories to public relations practice in global arenas
• The fields of public relations practice including business, government and non-government organisations
• Roles and responsibilities for global public relations practitioners with a focus on social, organisational, administrative, cultural, ethical and legal responsibilities overseas
• Examination of public relations practice and the connectivity of global organisational relationships
• Theoretical framework for global public relations practice and research

View further information on this unit.

Elective units are what turn a degree into your degree. They tailor your course to suit your strengths, interests and career goals. Here are the elective units we offer online.

Why do you need to study electives?

Through elective units you can explore subjects of interest that may not be included in the core structure of your degree. The electives you choose will enrich your understanding of your field of study and shape the way you think about the core units in your degree. Electives can be an opportunity to further specialise in a particular area or diversify your knowledge base.

When should you choose your electives?

It’s a good idea to plan your electives at the start of your degree – this way you get a clear idea of what you’ll have completed at the end of your studies. However, if you’re unsure what to choose, or need more time, you do have the option to select them as you go.

How do electives work?

As a student who’s majoring in Security and International Relations you can choose twelve elective units. You can approach this in two ways:

• You might like to pick electives from a complimentary field of study. For example, you could choose subjects from another social science major. E.g., if you’re interested in human behaviour, you might like to enrol in units from Behavioural Studies major. However, you’ll need to double check the prerequisites to see if you’re eligible. You can do this here.
• OR you could take subjects that are unrelated to social science and give yourself a broad range of knowledge. For example, you could take units from the media and communications faculty, design, education, business, law and technology. To check what is available and whether you are eligible, check the list of units here.