200 Level Papers

NOTE: The prerequisite or co-requisite for one 200-level POLS paper is one POLS 100-level paper or 72 points. No more than one 200-level POLS paper may be taken until one 100-level POLS paper has been completed successfully. Students majoring in Politics or taking Politics as a minor can substitute one 200-level POLS paper with one of GEND208, HEAL203, PHIL227, PHIL228, or PSYC204.

POLS202 Theories of Justice

Dr Vicki Spencer (18pts 1st Semester 2013)

This paper explores different theories of justice in modern and contemporary political thought. All societies need rules. But what constitutes a just law and why? What might be a fair distribution of society's resources? Do we need to accommodate and affirm cultural differences or should justice be blind to such differences? And how should we punish those who transgress our laws? In examining these questions, among others, topics to be examined include human and positive rights, utilitarianism, distributive justice and, the politics of community, representation and difference, retributive justice and revenge, forgiveness, historical injustice and reconciliation.

POLS204 International Relations - Concepts

Dr Lena Tan (18pts 1st Semester 2013)

This paper explores concepts and models used in the analysis of international relations. Actors, processes, instruments, and limitations that structure foreign policy.

POLS207 Environmental Politics

Associate Professor Janine Hayward (18pts 2nd semester 2013)

An introduction to environmental politics in New Zealand: the history of environmental reform; the Resource Management Act 1991; green politics in New Zealand; also discussion of international and theoretical perspectives on environmental ethics.

POLS208 Democracy

Dr Brian Roper (18pts 1st semester 2013)

An introduction to the history and major theoretical interpretations of democracy in Europe, United States and New Zealand.

POLS210 The Politics of the Middle East

Professor William Harris (18pts 2nd semester 2013)

An introduction to the peoples, states, and political regimes of the Middle East. Covers North Africa, Arab-Israeli affairs, and the Persian Gulf. Themes include state and identity, regional conflict, the geopolitics of oil and water. Compares the fortunes and problems of different countries across the region within the historical and cultural context.

POLS211 Global Political Economy

Professor Philip Nel (18pts 2nd semester 2013)

Analyses the interaction between markets and national/transnational sources of authority and the resulting patterns of power and privilege. Focuses on actors, structures, institutions, norms and outcomes in world trade, finance, production and development.

POLS213 New Zealand Foreign Policy

Dr Iati Iati (18 points 2nd semester 2013)

This paper examines important trends in New Zealand foreign policy, New Zealand's relations with major countries, its policy in regions of interest, and its position in respect to contemporary issues in international politics.

POLS215 Mass Media and Modern Politics

Dr Chris Rudd (18 points 2nd semester 2013)

Analyses the role of the media in the construction of political life. Examines the nature of news, the democratic functions of the news media, how political figures manage the release of information to the news media, and the importance of political image. Issues of political reportage, including interviews, source relations, and the role of the press gallery.

POLS216 Politics of the European Union

Dr Jim Headley (18pts 2nd semester 2013)

This course studies the development of the European Union and contemporary issues in European Union politics. The first part of the course examines the historical development of the EU, placing it in the context of theories of regional integration. Part 2 focuses on the institutions, policy processes, and policy issues in the contemporary EU. The third part considers past and potential future enlargement of the EU, and the role of the EU in contemporary international affairs. The course concludes with consideration of the lessons of European integration and its potential future.

POLS217 War and Politics

Dr Nicholas Khoo (18pts 1st semester 2014)

This paper critically evaluates the role of war in world politics since 1945.

POLS221 Political Parties and Elections

Dr Bryce Edwards (18pts 1st semester 2014)

This paper examines electoral politics with special reference to New Zealand.

POLS231 Special Topic: Science, Technology and International Diplomacy

Mr Daryl Copeland (Summer School 2013)
Jointly offered with the Centre for Science Communication

In the globalisation era, the most profound challenges to human survival – climate change, public health, food security, and resource scarcity, to name a few – are rooted in science and driven by technology. This paper examines the tension between these looming challenges and the near invisibility of science and technology issues in contemporary diplomacy and most international policy institutions.

Summer School Link

Daryl Copeland is an analyst, author, educator and consultant specializing in diplomacy, international policy, global issues and public management. His first book, Guerrilla Diplomacy: Rethinking International Relations, was released in 2009 by Lynne Rienner Publishers and is cited as an essential reference by the editors of Oxford Bibliographies Online. Mr. Copeland is a frequent public speaker; he comments regularly for the national media, and has written over 100 articles for the scholarly and popular press.

Link to Daryl Copeland's full biography

POLS232 Special Topic: From Repression to Revolution: Authoritarian Regimes Today

Professor Patrick Koellner (Summer School 2013)

Despite the rising tide of democratisation, a quarter of all states/territories are ruled by authoritarian regimes. This paper surveys explanations for the survival of these regimes, and the internal and external pressures to which they are subjected.

Summer School Link

Patrick Koellner is director of the Institute of Asian Studies, GIGA German Institute of Global and Area Studies and a professor of political science at the University of Hamburg, Germany. He is co-editor of the yearbook Korea: Politics, Economy and Society (Leiden and Boston: Brill). His work on parties and elections in Japan has appeared in journals such as Japanese Journal of Political Science, Journal of East Asian Studies, Politische Vierteljahresschrift, and Social Science Japan Journal. Prof Koellner has recently co-edited two special journal issues on 'Comparing Autocracies' (Politische Vierteljahresschrift, special issue no. 47, forthcoming in late 2012) and on 'The Rise, Dynamics and Fall of (Electoral) Autocracies' (Democratization, forthcoming in early 2013). From January to June 2013 he will be a visiting scholar in the Department of Politics.

POLS233 Special Topic: The Good Society and the Market

Professor Jim Flynn (18pts 1st semester 2013)

Examining thinkers from Plato, Marx, and Mill to the present to trace the transition from giving political expression to the good life toward satisfying demands. Developments analysed are the degeneration of moral philosophy and the rise of the market economy. Tawney is singled out as a thinker who saw the need to tame the market rather than abolish it. The moral: thinkers who cannot argue economics cannot face the greatest challenge of the modern world, namely, how to humanize market capitalism.