Notice
As part of Phase 3 of our return to campus plan, most units will now run tutorials, seminars and other small group learning activities on campus for the second half-year, while keeping an online version available for those students unable to return or those who choose to continue their studies online.
To check the availability of face to face activities for your unit, please go to timetable viewer. To check detailed information on unit assessments visit your unit's iLearn space or consult your unit convenor.
Unit convenor and teaching staff |
Unit convenor and teaching staff
Ian Tregenza
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Credit points |
Credit points
10
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Prerequisites |
Prerequisites
40cp at 1000 level or above OR (10cp in HIST or MHIS or POIR or MHIX or POIX or POL units)
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Corequisites |
Corequisites
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Co-badged status |
Co-badged status
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Unit description |
Unit description
What are the limits of the legitimate use of force by political authorities? How should the power of government be limited? When is a government or political regime legitimate? These and related questions have been the subject of a continuous debate in political theory since the sixteenth century. This unit examines the various theories of human rights and of social contract as well as theories which reject the liberal/democratic approach to the question of legitimacy. Among the authors to be read are Machiavelli, Hobbes, Rousseau, Burke, Marx, Rawls, Schmitt, and Foucault.
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Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, (a) a penalty for lateness will apply – two (2) marks out of 100 will be deducted per day for assignments submitted after the due date – and (b) no assignment will be accepted more than seven (7) days (incl. weekends) after the original submission deadline. No late submissions will be accepted for timed assessments – e.g. quizzes, online tests.
Name | Weighting | Hurdle | Due |
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Literature review | 20% | No | Week 5 |
Essay | 40% | No | Week 10 |
Final test online | 40% | No | Week 13 |
Assessment Type 1: Literature review
Indicative Time on Task 2: 10 hours
Due: Week 5
Weighting: 20%
Short paper based on one or more of the unit readings
Assessment Type 1: Essay
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Week 10
Weighting: 40%
2500 word essay based on set questions
Assessment Type 1: Quiz/Test
Indicative Time on Task 2: 30 hours
Due: Week 13
Weighting: 40%
Two hour online test in final week of semester
1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:
2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation
Unit Readings will be available through Leganto on the ilearn site.
Weekly Topics:
Week 1. Introduction. Power, Legitimacy and the Modern State
Week 2. Before the Modern State: Machiavelli on Power
Week 3. Constructing Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes
Week 4. Constraining Leviathan: John Locke
Week 5. Social Contract versus Tradition: Rousseau and Burke
Week 6. Liberty and Representative Government: J.S. Mill
Week 7. Fairness and an Overlapping Consensus: John Rawls
Week 8. Reading Week.
Week 9. Against the Liberal State 1: Karl Marx
Week 10. Against the Liberal State 2: Carl Schmitt
Week 11. Contesting Patriarchal Legitimacy: Feminism
Week 12. Overturning Sovereign Power: Michel Foucault
Week 13. Class Test
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Students seeking more policy resources can visit the Student Policy Gateway (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/student-policy-gateway). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.
If you would like to see all the policies relevant to Learning and Teaching visit Policy Central (https://staff.mq.edu.au/work/strategy-planning-and-governance/university-policies-and-procedures/policy-central).
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Learning Skills (mq.edu.au/learningskills) provides academic writing resources and study strategies to help you improve your marks and take control of your study.
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