Political Science

This course introduces students to key theories and concepts of social justice and invites them to consider how these ideas apply to the real world public policy questions with which they are concerned. Drawing on a range of philosophical, sociological, and political perspectives, the course provides students with theoretical tools for understanding what social justice is and how public policy is formulated and enacted, and enables them to use these tools to critically engage with contemporary examples across a range of international contexts and public policy areas and to think creatively about alternative ways in which public policy issues might be conceived and addressed. 

The Australian National Internships Program provides students from any discipline with the opportunity to undertake a significant research project within a work place. Placements are in national institutions (e.g., government departments and agencies), peak industry bodies, large industry organizations, public policy-focused NGOs, or international organizations (e.g., embassies). As part of a real-world experience, students have the opportunity to work in an office environment, learn to prioritize tasks and deadlines, develop the skills to express themselves concisely and provide a succinct précis of a complex topic. Admission to this course is selective due to the high academic standards required to successfully complete the course. The research topic is agreed between the Intern and the placement and topics usually have a focus relevant to both the organization and the intern. Students attend workshops to assist with the write up of their report and enhance professional skills.

This course is a general survey of the discipline of International Relations main theories and concepts, as well as a brief outline of the history of world politics since World War One. It proposes an intellectual history of the academic discipline as situated in the evolution of the world political context. The course provides the tools to form one's own rigorous analyses about how world politics works and why it works the way it works. It incites students to go beyond commonsense discourses and normatively biased or ideologically oriented assessments of world politics typical of politicians’ speeches, experts’ comments, and media coverage.

Today, the EU is a world leader in alternative energy efforts, most notably Germany's Energiewende, which aims to replace coal and nuclear with wind and solar electricity. However, the EU is also interconnecting member-state gas, electrical, and transport systems and unifying its energy markets aided by its new European Energy Union (EEU) — whose formation was spurred by the Ukraine crisis and Europe's heavy dependence on Russian gas. This course investigates how these transitions impact EU carbon emissions, resources, economy, society, and geopolitical security. It begins by surveying the EU's energy resources and infrastructure as compared to the USA's. It then studies Europe´s energy transitions from medieval times through its 20th-century energy crises and wars. With this preparation, the course covers Europe's intended 21st-century energy transitions. Topics include: Germany's Energiewende, its technical, economic, and social challenges and its impact on EU neighbors; problems of oil dependence and traffic congestion in the German and EU transport sectors; EU natural gas policy – external issues including dependence on Russia and pipelines through Ukraine, attempts to diversify with Norwegian, North African, and Caspian gas and with US liquefied natural gas (LNG); and internal issues such as market unification, interconnection of pipelines, anti-monopoly efforts, fracking, and competition from cheap carbon-intensive coal; finally, German rejection of nuclear energy is viewed in light of risks and promises of next-generation reactors. Throughout, students follow current German, EU, and related global energy affairs. This course should be of interest to students of both social and natural sciences.