Please note - Swinburne University of Technology

framework and changing relations with the West will be
reached. By the end of the subject, some insights into the
future options that lie before China will be possible.
References
Meisner, M. Ma03 China and After. New York, The Free Press, 1986
Spence, J. The Search For Modern China. New York, W.W. Norton &
Company, 1990
Townsend, J. and Womack, B. Politics in China. 3rd edn, Boston, Little
Brown. 1986
~ ~ 2 0 7 Modern Australia
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisite: any stage one political studies
subject or equivalent
Assessment: by essays and tutorial participation
Subject aims and description
This subject explores the patterns of change that have
shaped contemporary Australia. It starts by looking at the
attempts to build a fairer society at the turn of the century,
and at the modern social institutions which emerged from
that process. It next considers the impact of the Great War,
of prosperity in the 1920s and depression in the 1930s on the
manner in which wealth and power were shared. It then
examines how the experience of those thirty years shaped
the grand plans to establish a more just and secure nation
after the Second World War. Through a survey of the long
post-war boom, it analyses the effects of Australia's relations
with its major allies on domestic and foreign policies. The
subject concludes with a study of the ways in which recent
governments have tried to adapt national interests to a
rapidly changing world.
Preliminary reading
Macintyre, S. The Oxford History of Australia: vo1.4.1901-1942, The
Succeeding Age, Melbourne, Oxford University Press, 1986
AP~OO
Public Policy in Australia
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: API 00 or equivalent, two stage
two political studies subjects
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
In this subject the decision and policy-making structures and
processes of the Australian Federal Government are
examined. While the focus is on the Federal Government,
other institutions and actors in the policy process will also,
where necessary, be examined. This could include state
government, business and labour organisations, and other
interest and pressure groups. The approach to the study of
the decision and policy-making process is through a critical
evaluation of the performance and programs of the Hawke
and Keating Labor Governments.There are lectures and
workshops dealing with selected areas of labor government
policy. Students are able to specialise in an area of
government policy and are asked to submit a policy case
study at the end of the semester.
Textbook
Davis, G., Wanna, J., Warhurst, J, and Weller, D. Public Policy in
Australia. 2nd edn, St. Leonards, Allen & Unwin, 1993
Reference
Gruen, F. and Grattan, M. Managing Government Labor's
Achievements and Failures. Melbourne, Longman Cheshire, 1993
~ ~ 3 0 3 Politics of the USSR
(Not offered in 1995)
(This subject cannot be taken by students who
have passed AP302 Comparative Politics The
Soviet Union)
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: two stage two political studies
subjects
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
This subject introduces students to the political history of the
Soviet Union from 1924 to the Gorbachev era. It looks at the
decision to collectivise agriculture and embark on a crash
programme of industrialisation in the late 1920s as the key
for understanding Stalin's rise to power and the
establishment of his dictatorship. The political economy of
the Stalinist system in the 1940s and 1950s is examined with
the aim of providing a framework for understanding
subsequent attempts at economic and political reform.
Krushchev's rise to power is considered and the limitations of
his populist approach to reform examined. The ousting of
Khrushchev and the establishment in power of Brezhnev is
interpretated as a victory for the party apparatus and the
consolidation of a conservative bureaucratic dictatorship. The
failure of the reforms under Andropov provides the context
for understanding the radicalisation of the Gorbachev reform
agenda. The policies of glasnost and perestroika are
interpreted as a response to the failure of Andropov's
technocratic economic reforms. The priority given by
Gorbachev to democratic political reforms provides a basis
for understanding his loss of the political agenda and the
consequent collapse of the Soviet Union as a communist
state.
References
Hosking, G. A History of the Soviet Union. rev. edn, London,
Fontana Press, 1990
Schmidt-Haeuer, C. Gorbachev: The Path to Power: London, Pan
Books, 1986
~ ~ 3 0 4 Japan in Asia
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: twostage two political studies
subjects
Assessment: by seminar participation and papers
Subject aims and description
A study of Japan's involvement in South-East and East Asia
since 1952. Students will be required to investigate Japan's
relationship with one nation and to examine the ramifications
of Japan's expanding role and influence in the Asia-Pacific
region and the implications of the emerging patterns of
political relationships, investment, aid and trade.
~ ~ 3 0 8 Seminar in Political Studies
No. of hours per week: three hours
Prerequisites: twostage two political studies
subjects
Assessment: continuous
Subject aims and description
A series of advanced seminars on contemporary issues or an
intensive study of a specific topic in political studies.The
topics to be offered are specific illustrations of one or more of
the following broad themes within political studies: the