Interdisciplinary Foundation Subject
100-185: Democracy
This subject is offered in semester one.
Subject Description
This subject offers a sustained analysis of the past, present, and future of democracy. First, it introduces students to the primary elements of democratic theory. Second, it traces the shifting place of democratic principles in political life from the ancient to the modern world. Third, it analyses the historical struggle to extend those principles in new directions. Finally, it identifies key tensions and possibilities in democratic practice over the coming years. The subject moves historically from the ancient world to possible futures and traverses a geography from Europe to Asia, the Americas and Africa. It examines the democratic struggles of the colonised, the working class, and women and ponders the current and possible future connections between democracy and the media, the environment, and the economy.
Subject Objectives
Students who complete this subject should:
- be familiar with central debates in democratic theory;
- be able to critically apply these theories to researching and understanding particular historical and contemporary cases;
- recognise the diversity of political forms that claim adherence to ‘democratic’ principles;
- be able to identify the exclusions and limitations that underlie particular examples of democratic governance;
- appreciate the historical conditions that might contribute to expanding or restricting the franchise, scope and authenticity of democratic rule.
Interdisciplinary Foundation Skills
Students who complete this subject should:
- understand a range of disciplines and methodologies appropriate to the texts, artefacts, theoretical structures and social practices with which they are concerned;
- have developed a capacity for critical thought and analysis through the construction and articulation of lucid, logical arguments;
- have developed oral and written skills through essay writing and tutorial participation;
- have acquired the tools for independent and targeted research, using library and other information services;
- have the ability to organise and manage their time through the planning of class assessments and the meeting of set due dates.