Subject Area: Politics
This course can also be studied in the following specialisation: Legal Studies

For many years now people across America, Europe and Australia have been rejecting ‘politics as usual’ and searching for political alternatives, especially since the global financial crisis of 2008. They have been dissatisfied with politicians, major political parties and other institutions of representative democracy. That is, there has been a clash between idealism and pragmatism, although some scholars see a crisis of democracy. This course places Australian politics and clashes in this international context. You will come to appreciate the sources of unrest in democracy, populism, digital protest, the minor parties and social movements. And you will learn how ideals clash with institutions of pragmatism such as leadership, government, parties, parliament, representation, and electoral systems. These elements of Australian representative democracy, as well as the controversial issues that they cover, are compared to their counterparts in other countries. This course is predicated on the assumption that representative democracy is full of paradoxes and contradictions that need to be understood in order to change the world.