Overview

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Academic contacts

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Offerings

MURDOCH-S1-EXT-2018-ONGOING
MURDOCH-S1-INT-2018-ONGOING

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Requisites

Exclusion

Enrolment rules

Nil.

Other learning activities

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Learning activities

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Learning outcomes

1.

Demonstrate substantive knowledge as to why Australians political institutions do not produce policies that reflect the will of the people.

2.

Examine theories of democracy and apply these theories to the character and function of Australian political institutions.

3.

Construct evidence-based arguments with respect to the factors that prevent Australian political institutions from producing policies that reflect the will of the people.

4.

Clearly and persuasively communicate concepts, problems and arguments concerning ways that Australia’s political institutions could produce policies that reflect the will of the people.

Assessments

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Additional information

Unit content:

In this unit we address three key questions: Why do Australians doubt that their political system is democratic? Did Australians get democracy wrong in theory or do the problems result from the ways that Australian political institutions function? Do Australians need new ways of thinking about and doing democracy? These questions

Part 1. Democratic Failure in the Australian Political System
The reasons that Australians doubt that that their political institutions produce policies that reflect the will of the people relate to problems with the operation of institutions that are crucial for delivering democracy. The most important of these institutions are our problems concern the ways that Australian parliaments work. But these problems are related to the ways that political parties, our electoral system and our media affect our parliaments.

Part 2. Addressing the Deficiencies

Three of the ways that have been proposed for addressing the deficiencies in Australian democracy will be discussed here. The first is the introduction of Deliberative Democracy. Deliberative Democracy begins with people being more directly involved in choosing policies. It uses referendums but requires that voters must be informed before they choose policies. The second involves the use of Social Media in developing and choosing policies. The third is to promote Citizen Journalism as a means to overcome the ways that the traditional media are taken to undermine democratic process.