AIP107 Introduction to Politics - Assessment Task One

AIP107 Assessment Task One

Draft essay plan
Choose one of the topics listed below on which to write a draft essay of 500 words. Your draft essay must include:
1. Your name and student number – not included in the word count
2. The essay topic you are writing on stated clearly on the first page – not included in the word count
3. A summary of the major arguments (at least three) you intend to make in your research essay
4. A brief statement of your overall argument
5. A correctly formatted annotated bibliography containing at least 10 academic sources* that you have consulted to formulate your argument with a brief statement of why each source is relevant to your argument (not included in the word count). See http://www.deakin.edu.au/students/study-support/referencing for a complete guide to correct academic referencing. *Academic sources include books, book chapters and refereed journal articles. Newspapers, news websites and other periodicals can be also be used where appropriate. Blogs, popular websites etc. are not acceptable, unless they contain relevant factual material or analysis by a reputable commentator such as an academic, think-tank or community sector employee or journalist. Wikipedia may be used to locate appropriate sources, but it can never be cited directly.

Essay topics:

1. ‘In affluent and classless societies such as Australia, Europe and North America Labour/Labor and social democratic parties no longer have a political mission to fulfil. The future of the left is Green’. Do you agree?

2. ‘The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.’ (Marx and Engels 1848). Is this an accurate description of modern Australian government?

3. ‘Australian democracy is based on Judeo-Christian values. The increasing secularist dominance of public life threatens our democracy’. Do you agree?

4. ‘Politics is necessarily about force and violence whereas markets are about free exchange between equals. Australian democracy needs more markets and less government’. Do you agree?

5. ‘The modern Liberal Party of Australia is now a conservative party’. Do you agree?

6. ‘A two-party system (or a system where there are two polarised party blocs such as Liberal/National and Labor/Green) enables voters to choose between alternative governments rather than leaving it up to politicians as is the case in a multi-party system. A two-party system is thus more democratic’. Do you agree?

7. What are the political values that should underpin a liberal democratic political system and to what extent does the Australian political system manifest these values in comparison with at least two other liberal democracies?

8. ‘The problems of either legislative gridlocks or over mighty courts demonstrate that the ‘separation of powers’ has been carried too far in both of Australia and the United States’. Do you agree?

9. Should Australia adopt a system of reserved indigenous seat in the national parliament on the lines of New Zealand?

10. What is the ‘voice to parliament’ proposed by the Uluru Statement? How could it work in practice?

11. ‘Australian democracy is still dominated by masculinist values. Even successful female politicians only prosper by accepting these values’. Do you agree?

12. Why has climate change policy been so controversial in Australia?

13. Compare the political strategies that Australian indigenous people have pursued with those of the indigenous peoples of another Western post-colonial society such as Canada, New Zealand or the United States.

14. Compare Australia’s asylum seeker policies with two other nations from either North America and/or Europe using human rights norms.

15. Should Australia adopt either a jobs guarantee or universal basic income as a solution to the problem of unemployment and underemployment?

16. Should Australia adopt a system of citizen-initiated referenda as exist in many American states?

17. ‘The long delay in the legislation of same-sex marriage despite strong public support for this reform demonstrates the undemocratic nature of Australian political institutions.’ Do you agree?

18. Has the traditional media become less important in politics with the rise of social media?

19. Why are social movements necessary in liberal democracies?

20. ‘The growing disillusion among voters with the practice of Australian democracy is a healthy development’. Do you agree?