In-depth analysis and evaluation of New Zealand political institutions and their role in policy making.
This paper will focus on New Zealand’s political history, political economy, public policy, political parties, interest groups and government formation and politics. This course will enhance your capacity to understand, analyze, explain, and critically evaluate the historic shifts in policy-making that have dominated New Zealand’s political history since 1935, especially the shift from Keynesianism to neoliberalism.
| Paper title | New Zealand Government and Politics |
|---|---|
| Paper code | POLS520 |
| Subject | Politics |
| EFTS | 0.25 |
| Points | 30 points |
| Teaching period | Semester 2 (On campus) |
| Domestic Tuition Fees (NZD) | $1,810.00 |
| International Tuition Fees | Tuition Fees for international students are elsewhere on this website. |
- Limited to
- MPols
- Eligibility
Available to students eligible to enrol in 500-level MPols papers.
- Contact
- More information link
- Teaching staff
- Paper Structure
The paper intorduces students to key concepts and theories before engaging in topics relevant to current policy debates in New Zealand.
- Teaching Arrangements
The paper is taught as seminar-style discussions around readings and topics.
- Textbooks
Required readings available via eReserve
- Graduate Attributes Emphasised
- Communication, Critical thinking, Ethics, Research, Self-motivation, Literacy.
View more information about Otago's graduate attributes. - Learning Outcomes
This course helps you to:
- Engage with theoretical perspectives that explain why governments do what they do.
- Learn about New Zealand's political past in order to develop a clearer understanding of the present.
- Develop an awareness of the wider social and economic context, including inequality within society, to understand how social and economic forces shape politics and influence government.
- Describe the main features of, and actors within, New Zealand's distinctive political economy.
- Know what government is and how it works.
Students who successfully complete the paper will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge of the methods of inquiry, the techniques and the procedures employed in the study of politics, as well as those employed in investigating particular political problems and phenomena.
- Analyse written or oral communications in order to break them into constituent parts to make political ideas and assumptions clear and make the connections between ideas explicit.
- Judge the appropriateness of methods used to solve political problems and evaluate whether to use methods if these bring about ends other than those desired.
- Apply abstractions (general ideas and methods) to new and unfamiliar, particular and concrete situations.
- Articulate ideas, feeling and experiences to others, both as a writer and speaker.
- Carry out self-directed and independent research.
