166-416 Justice, Democracy and Difference

Admission to the postgraduate diploma or fourth-year honours in political science or public policy and management or postgraduate coursework programs in public policy or political science.

This subject provides a critical examination of contemporary debates about ideas of justice, democracy and the politics of difference. The subject critically explores both the major liberal approaches to justice alongside critiques of liberal approaches by communitarian, socialist, feminist, postmodern and radical ecological theorists. Students will be introduced to the different perspectives on justice in terms of their linkages and, in some cases, increasing convergence with different approaches to dealing with democracy and difference. Particular emphasis is given to the tensions between cosmopolitan versus communitarian approaches to ordering political life and the tensions between arguments for individual versus group/communal rights. The different perspectives on justice, democracy and difference are analysed and applied in relation to a range of contemporary political conflicts concerning race, ethnicity, class, gender, the environmental justice movement and the multicultural state. Examples include political claims for the recognition of ethnic minority rights; the political recognition of religious, ethnic and/or gender difference; the special or weighted political representation or veto rights of ethnic minorities; the different political interpretations of, and priorities accorded to, the human rights agenda; and claims for self-determination by indigenous peoples and national minorities.

• be able to apply research skills and critical methods to a field of inquiry;

• have developed persuasive arguments on a given topic;

• be able to communicate oral and written arguments and ideas effectively and articulately.

An essay of 5000 words 100% (due at the end of semester) or an essay of 2500 words 50% (due mid-semester) and an essay of 2500 words 50% (due at the end of semester).

A subject reader will be provided