POLI3203
10 units
3000 level
Course handbook
Description
Democracy in the 21st Century explores and evaluates solutions to the growing Global disenchantment with the liberal consensus of free markets and liberal representative democracy. Institutions and organisations as distinct as the World Bank, Left of Centre Governments in Latin America, non-governmental organisations, the Occupy movement in the States, #NiUnaMenos (#Not One More in Argentina, the glocal Alt-Right and social movements in the Middle East are all responding to this political situation by valuing political organising, authority, decision-making, and policy-making which are based at the scale of the local, sometimes glocal, are organised through the local community and are justified through the language of participation, citizenship and freedom.
The course builds on skills, concepts and critical theories studied in 1000 and 2000 level courses to offer both, a 'bottom up' and 'top down' view by exploring the debates and practices surrounding this focus on the local and the role of participation, citizenship and freedom in the re-enchantment of democracy in the 21st Century. It will begin with a focus on key debates in political theory which are shaping political practice and then use these to evaluate a series of case studies from across the Globe, including good governance, participatory budgeting, participatory poverty reduction, insurgent citizenship, and the politics of autonomy of social movements.
Availability2024 Course Timetables
Newcastle City Precinct
- Semester 1 - 2024
Learning outcomes
On successful completion of the course students will be able to:
1. Identify, describe, interpret, analyse and apply key political theories of local power, politics and policy.
2. Identify, describe, interpret, analyse and apply different conceptualisations of participatory democracy and citizenship.
3. Evaluate experiences of participatory democracy and local politics in comparative perspective
4. Demonstrate skills of critical policy analysis.
5. Conceptualise and analyse political decision-making and motivations to participate.
Content
The topics in this course include the following:
- Introduction: The Turn to the Local
- The Limits and Challenges of a Turn to the Local
- Participation and Policymaking i): Policy and Discourse
- Participation and Policymaking ii): Policy and Hegemony
- Participation and Policymaking ii): Policy and Gender
- Good Governance and Decentralisation
- Participatory Poverty Reduction Strategies
- Participatory Budgeting
- Indigenous Cosmopolitics and Constitutionalism
- The Alt-Right
- Insurgent Citizenship
- Autonomous Social Movements
- Case Study essay support workshop
Assessment items
Essay: Mid-Semester Essay
In Term Test: In Class Test
Essay: Policy Analysis
Essay: Case Study Essay
Contact hours
Semester 1 - 2024 - Newcastle City Precinct
Workshop-1
- Face to Face On Campus 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 13 week(s) starting in week 1
Course outline
- POLI3203 - Semester 1, 2024 (Newcastle) (PDF, 211.1 KB)
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.