The unit introduces the core concepts of political economy through the lens of the principal schools of economic thought - Classical Political Economy, Marxian Economics, Neoclassical Economics, Institutional Economics, Keynesian Economics and Contemporary Political Economy. You will consider each school’s historical origins, their methodological approaches, analytical tools, policy prescriptions and insights. You will learn about the foundations for the application of political economic reasoning to advance understanding of contemporary issues like the climate crisis, precarious employment, energy impoverishment, the contemporary university business model, and global pandemics.

This unit explores the processes of socioeconomic change, and the forces involved in shaping these processes and thus bringing about such change. Through the lens of different theoretical perspectives, and contemporary case studies, you will consider the institutions, the political and ideological interests, the relationships, the spatial impacts, and the constraints involved in socioeconomic changes for nation-states, local communities, firms, classes, households, and individuals. You will learn about a range of issues and debates, and make a detailed study in one such area.

The focus of this unit is the conduct of research in political economy. You will learn a range of topics including research design, literature review, data collection and analysis, and writing a research proposal. You have the opportunity, through the weekly seminars, for critical discussion to identify, debate and reflect on the nature and challenge of undertaking research and the construction of a political economy analysis. Your assessment is structured to assist the progressive development of a research proposal. Completion of this unit is a pre-requisite for a Masters’ dissertation in political economy.

The sources of volatility and disruption to social provisioning are an ever-present concern for policymakers, firms, and households. In this unit, you will be introduced to an overview of social provisioning at the level of macroaggregates before drilling down into the sectors of the capitalist economy to understand where and why vulnerabilities emerge, and ruptures occur. You will learn a diverse range of methods and techniques for assessing the facets of country risk (eg economic risk, financial risk, sovereign (default) risk, socio-political risk) and the opportunity to conduct an assessment for a country of your interest.

This unit of study analyses the contemporary Chinese economic system and its role in the global economy. The drivers of this evolution, the domestic and international implications of the Chinese growth model and its sustainability, China's relationships with the United States, European Union, Latin America and Africa, and China's role in global economic governance through international institutions like the World Trade Organisation, form the focus of this unit. Two key questions considered by this unit are: is contemporary China a market socialist economy, a form of capitalism or a transitioning economy; and what is China's possible future role in the global economy.

The principle of equality is a widely held ideal, however, inequality is on the rise worldwide. In this unit, to understand this paradox, you will investigate the historical development of inequalities of wealth and income across the global economy. To do this, you will consider different strands of liberal, Marxian, feminist, and postcolonial economic thought that seek to shed light on how global economic processes produce different forms of inequalities. You will learn how to apply these different analytical frameworks to contemporary issues of inequality and policy debates in affluent and developing nations.

This unit explores the processes and social dynamics underpinning economic development. You will engage critically with key themes - such as social policy, employment, migration, aid, and finance - informing the discourse of ‘development economics’, and reflect on alternative approaches to understanding the connections, tensions and contradictions between economic development, growth and wellbeing. You will consider key debates within this scholarship in their historical context and survey contending theoretical approaches in relation to comparative global economic development.

This unit introduces students to environmental economic theory, ecological economics, and other critical perspectives in order to develop an understanding of the parameters that define management of economy-environment interactions. Students will develop a critical appreciation of the systemic nature of the pressures imposed on environmental/ecological systems and the intractable problems this presents. The unit examines the different tendencies that inform environmental management and sustainable development; and the relative merits/weaknesses of the strategies and policies advanced.

This unit focuses on the rich political-economic historiography of Australian capitalism. You will explore a range of themes in this historiography which include: British colonisation and First Nation’s dispossession; the long economic booms and depressions since the 18th century; the progressive and evolving integration of Australia with the global economy through trade, capital flows and migration; the making and remaking of class relations, and social protest; the evolving embeddedness of the Australian economy in the natural environment (including the growing reliance on extractive sectors like mining); and, the financialisation of the everyday life of Australians.

This unit links debates over social rights and democratic legitimacy to structural economic arguments. It introduces the competing arguments over social rights and the struggles that have created them, and promotes the use of evidence in these conceptual arguments. The approach of economic liberalism to rights is examined. Important global issues involving rights and economic argument - such as self-determination, land rights, food security, fair trade and economic governance - are examined.

This unit journeys through episodes of crises and instability in order to understand their key dynamics are embedded within historical, institutional and social contexts. You will study why some crises have a cyclical character while others do not, and how crisis contains elements to unlock the secrets of present-day and future sources of instability. To detect patterns (trends, cycles and volatility), you will be trained to use basic time series techniques for data analysis which will also assist you to undertake a project that evaluates sources of instability and discusses the challenges for policymakers to soften the ill-effects of economic downturns and create conditions for recovery.

This unit examines the development of the capitalist world economy. You will analyse the explanations offered by different theoretical perspectives of the long-term historical and uneven development which has occurred. To understand the dimensions, scale and implications of this uneven development of global capitalism, you will consider: capitalism's origins and Great Transformation; the post-World War long boom; the international monetary system's formation and crisis; the global role played by the United States; the development of growth poles in Europe and Asia; the Global Financial Crisis; the Arab Spring; drug war capitalism; and, the possibilities for non-capitalist development.

This unit focuses on the financial markets for foreign exchange, securities and derivatives which have grown exponentially since the 1980s, and were integral to the 2007-08 Global Financial Crisis, the largest global crisis after the 1930s Great Depression. You will be introduced to a political economy perspective about these markets, including their vulnerability to crisis, and the pervasive intrusion of the financial calculation arising from these markets into wider social and personal calculation. You will learn about the regulation of financial markets and institutions, including key regulatory and monitoring agencies, and the arguments for new regulatory regimes.

This unit seeks to develop a deeper understanding of the various theoretical frameworks within which political economic analysis is constructed, and to which you have been introduced in other political economy units. To do this, you will focus on the methodologies, core concepts and philosophical underpinnings of the principal schools of economic thought with particular emphasis on the nonneoclassical approaches to the study of economic issues. If you are considering further study in political economy (Honours, MPhil or PhD), you are strongly encouraged to undertake this unit as it provides the necessary fundamental preparation for further study.

The introduction and adoption of new technologies have always had profound social, cultural, political and ethical impacts. This unit explores theories for understanding how technologies emerge and are adopted, and critically interrogates the nature and potential impacts of contemporary emerging technologies such as AI, Robotics, live-streaming, deep fakes, social network manipulation, machine learning, computer vision and the automation of work. Students are equipped with a deep understanding of emerging technologies and issues.

Medicines save lives but they can be costly and can have serious adverse effects. Value-laden decisions are continuously being made at individual, institutional, national and international levels regarding the medicines we need, want and can afford. In this unit of study, we will explore and critique global and national policies and processes related to medicines, examining how research and development agendas are set; how medicines are assessed and evaluated; and how new technologies are translated into practice. We will also explore broader trends such as globalisation, commercialisation and changing consumer expectations. By the end of the course, students will understand the forces shaping the development, regulation, funding and uptake of medicines both nationally and internationally, and the political, ethical, legal and economic issues that are at stake. This course is designed to appeal to a wide range of students from ethics, law, public health, health care, policy, communications, economics, business, politics, administration, and biomedical science.

This unit assesses the political and security significance of disease-related events and developments. Whether one contemplates historical experiences with smallpox, the contemporary challenges posed by diseases such as HIV/AIDS and SARS, or the risks arising from new scientific developments such as synthetic biology, it is clear that diseases exercise a powerful influence over civilised humankind. The unit concentrates on areas in which human health and security concerns intersect most closely, including: biological weapons; fast-moving disease outbreaks of natural origin; safety and security in microbiology laboratories; and the relationships between infectious disease patterns, public health capacity, state functioning and violent conflict. The overall aim of the unit is to provide students with a stronger understanding of the scientific and political nature of these problems, why and how they might threaten security, and the conceptual and empirical connections between them.

This unit critically examines the notion of state fragility within the global system. It investigates the characteristics of so-called 'fragile' and 'failed' states, and the nature of international engagement with (and discourses about) these states. It explores various perspectives on state formation in both Western and post-colonial contexts, and emphasises the ways in which knowledge is produced about non-Western states. The unit expands upon the theoretical literature with evidence from case studies in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

This unit examines the drivers of conflict and insecurity in the contemporary Middle East, starting with a theoretical framework that investigates the processes of state-formation and external intervention in the region. The unit focuses on the interplay between domestic factors (such as rentierism and regime dynamics) and international factors (including geopolitics/geo-economics, and the military industrial complex), and uses several detailed case studies to explore the relationship from various angles.

The post-1949 era of 'development' has seen a philosophical and policy shift from nation-building projects of 'modernisation' to the local responsiveness of market forces and civil society. An anthropological emphasis on cultural and local difference and a sociological understanding of state and civil society provide a critical perspective on both this history and current debates. Case studies raise questions of health, gender and childhood, project success or failure, and of the hopes and skepticism development evokes.

Development is an international and intercultural process that seeks to both implement projects with specific objectives, and change the way people live and think. Language, as communication both enables such projects and is a source of incomprehension, misunderstanding and exclusion within them. Education as the longer term attempt to change the thinking and values of people and communities also has language at its heart. This unit examines the nature and politics of language and education and their relationship within development.

Poverty reduction has always been a central development goal. Major international programs such as the UN's Millennium Goals place poverty at their centre. New explanatory concepts such as social exclusion, capability, social capital and sustainability have considerably expanded our thinking about its nature. Students will examine cases from many parts of the world of the way discourses, policies and development practices operate together, enabling an evaluation of contemporary approaches to poverty and their effects on those most vulnerable.

The unit develops the basic principles of data description and analysis, the idea of using the concept of probability to model data generation, and the statistical concepts of estimation and statistical inference, including hypothesis testing. It then develops these concepts and techniques in the context of the linear regression model to show how econometric models can be used to analyse data in a wide range of potential areas of application in economics, business and the social sciences. The unit combines theory and application. The emphasis is upon the interpretation of econometric estimation results and requires software for hands-on experience.

This unit presumes no prior exposure to economics and aims, by the end of the unit, to bring a proficiency equivalent to that of students with an intermediate level microeconomics unit in an Honours degree program. Many economic principles developed in this unit are routinely used in several other units in the program. Microeconomics studies how economic agents make choices in a variety of environments. The unit covers theory and applications of the principles of consumer choice, of firm behaviour, and of strategic interaction among economic agents. Equipped with these theories of decision making, students can address a range of interesting and important questions. Examples are: What market strategy should a firm adopt with its competitors? How might one create a market to deal with externalities such as pollution? What are the implications of different kinds of taxes? What compensation scheme will provide the right incentives to work?

This unit presumes no prior exposure to economics and aims, by the end of the unit, to bring a proficiency equivalent to that of students with an intermediate level macroeconomics unit in an Honours degree program. Many economic principles developed in this unit are routinely used in several other units in the program. Macroeconomics studies aggregate economic behaviour. The unit covers theories of the engines of long-run economic growth, of unemployment, of money, inflation, the interest rate and the exchange rate, as well as consumption, saving and investment behaviour. The unit also studies a number of applications of the theory and addresses contemporary macroeconomic problems and policy.

This unit provides both a conceptual and an empirical foundation for the analysis of relationships between society, the environment and natural resources. In our recent past the rapid rate of global environmental change has necessitated a breakdown of traditional disciplinary boundaries in research and social scientists are increasingly called upon to work alongside natural scientists in unraveling the complexities of the human-environmental nexus. Students will examine a number of environmental issues and consider a variety of social science academic perspectives about environmental management.

Modern life is marked by profound economic and social inequality. This unit guides students into their own research on the dimensions, causes, and consequences of inequality, with a special focus on Sydney. Students will learn in a hands-on way, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to social reality. They will learn practical skills in data visualisation with state-of-the-art software, and be asked to think creatively about responses to the processes reproducing inequality.

This unit aims to introduce students to how states and other actors in the international arena cooperate to build institutions as a response to common problems. After completing the unit students should be able to analyse contemporary international organisations to see how they work, whose interests they serve, and to what degree they attenuate or enhance the power of sovereign states.

It is widely believed that we are entering a new era in which the transborder flows of capital, goods, ideas, and people are rapidly transforming human society. 'Globalisation', many claim, threatens the autonomy of nation-states and erodes the power of national governments to provide social protection and promote the nation's economic prosperity. This unit examines not only the causes and mechanisms of this process, but also assesses its social, economic, and political impacts. The views of radicals, transformationalists, skeptics, and institutionalists are compared and criticised. While globalisation is often viewed as a singular process, trending towards a global society, this unit offers a distinctive approach. Globalisation has uneven and highly differentiated impacts, whether harmful or beneficial, and this unevenness is closely associated with the nature of institutions of governance, at both the domestic and international levels.

This unit will provide students with the fundamentals for constructing and conducting effective research projects in the social sciences. An overview of social science inquiry will be presented through an examination of the diversity in theoretical and methodological approaches used in research. This will include a focus on both primary research, using interviews and questionnaires, and secondary research, using statistical databases, content analysis and textual analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be covered in the unit, as will an overview of ethical practices associated with research design. The assessment will be based around constructing practical research projects that can be utilised in both university and workplace-based research.

This unit introduces students to the interdisciplinary field of Peace and Conflict Studies and the history, philosophy, economics and politics of peace. Students will learn about the causes of violence and the potential for nonviolence, peaceful conflict resolution and other means of achieving peace with justice in different conflict settings.

This unit offers a comparative consideration of different concepts of democratisation and development including the criteria for compiling country development indices and typologies of democracy. Experiences of implanting and/or imposing democracy are examined in Japan, Iraq and other nations. The pan-Pacific model of development, and the pros and cons of using authoritarian means to achieve it, is also considered, with examples including Indonesia under Suharto and Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew. Relationships between development, conflict and poverty are examined - do elections lead to more democracy? More development? Or do they allow authoritarian winners to institutionalise power? What about the coup in Thailand?

International development and humanitarian assistance are often delivered in a context affected by violent conflict. Aid and development operating in such complex situations risks feeding the conflict rather than alleviating it. A conflict-sensitive approach minimises the negative impact of aid and development ('do no harm') and maximises the positive impact on local capacities for peace. In this unit we take a skills-based approach to understanding and applying theories and methods of conflict analysis to designing conflictsensitive interventions that support more effective and accountable development practice in the field.

This unit will provide an analysis of theories and practices of citizenship rights in Australia, other Anglophone countries and European countries in the 20th and 21st centuries. It will examine the relationships between different modes of citizenship, claims for rights and the formation of social movements with regard to the women's movement, Indigenous movements (where applicable) and movements concerned with migration, ethnic diversity and multiculturalism. Analyses will focus on the processes, content and outcomes of social movement advocacy.

This unit explores a series of issues of controversy and debate in social theory. These include debates over: the information age; new information and communication technologies; the new capitalism and changing work practices; the cultural sphere; new forms of power and surveillance; shifting claims to insight in knowledge societies; the role of education in social inequality; the bases of making knowledge claims; and globalisation. The unit involves both face-to-face seminars and online discussions.

The unit provides a comparative analysis of welfare state development. It discusses how to meaningfully compare different welfare states and their social programmes. As a defining characteristic of welfare states, our primary focus is on the state's involvement in welfare services and benefits. Starting from there, we also explore various ways of `doing social policy' across different parts of the world and discuss the sort of socioeconomic outcomes they produce. Comparative research provides a useful venue to investigate the relationship between the institutional design of the welfare state and its size and how this relationship changes over time under the changing structural conditions.

Quantitative methods are vital to social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analysing numerical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It addresses the description of data with graphs and tables, descriptive statistics, statistical models, hypothesis testing, and other topics. The unit is appropriate for beginners, who will gain perspective and confidence conducting their own quantitative research and critically understanding that of others. It is taught in a computer lab, giving students practical experience with statistical software.

Qualitative research rests at the heart of social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analyzing categorical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It examines case studies and comparative history; interviews, ethnography, and fieldwork; plus archives and content analysis, among other topics. Instruction is provided by a team of teachers with experience using these methods. Students therefore gain valuable insight into how to conduct and consume qualitative research.

This unit offers students the opportunity to gain a working knowledge of applied social and political science practice by undertaking a project-based placement in a domestic or international organisation. Under the supervision of the organisation, students undertake a specific focused task or set of tasks relevant to the organisation's mandate. Building on knowledge and skills developed in the course of a SSPS Master degree, this unit allows students to draw links between their practice and scholarship relevant to their host degree program. Completion of this unit of study is assessed as pass/fail. Permission required from Department and / or School.

This unit examines theories of consumption in regards to cultural and media products and practices, with a specific focus on gender. Drawing upon a wide range of feminist media and cultural theories, we will critically analyse different forms of belonging and identity that are created through these practices. We will also pay close attention to the critiques of globalisation and consumption, theories of the 'citizen consumer' and the realities of geo-political and economic inequalities that underpin many forms of consumption.

The unit provides an integrated overview of the social, legal, psychological, ethical and strategic dimensions of human resource management (HRM) and industrial relations (IR). The learning content develops broad and deep knowledge in a select number of topical HR and IR issues and links these to a real-world context. As such the unit provides students with the essential preparatory knowledge and skills to build an intellectual foundation for the suite of subsequent core and elective units in HRM and IR available in the program.

This unit provides students with insights into the debate about the effect of globalisation on employment relations by using comparative analysis to identify the range of factors that account for similarities and difference in national patterns of industrial relations. The unit focuses on providing an understanding of the nature of industrial relations patterns in developed and developing market economies and invites students to compare a range of developments across these countries.

This elective is designed for international postgraduates who are new to study in an English language university. It supports the development of study, research, and critical thinking abilities, spoken English and academic language. Knowledge acquired in this unit will strengthen written and spoken English to help meet the standards necessary for successful completion of FASS Masters by coursework degrees. It is recommended that this elective be taken during your first semester.

This elective supports development of skills in critical analysis, writing in different genres, research, presentation, and developing individual scholarly 'voice'. While valuable for all commencing postgraduates, it is of particular benefit to those returning to academia after an extended break, or for International students wishing to orient themselves to local standards of practice for academic communication. This unit is structured to have additional seminars and lectures early in the semester and fewer later in the semester so students have the opportunity to apply new skills to all their coursework. The unit is ideally taken in the first semester of study.

Quantitative methods are vital to social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analysing numerical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It addresses the description of data with graphs and tables, descriptive statistics, statistical models, hypothesis testing, and other topics. The unit is appropriate for beginners, who will gain perspective and confidence conducting their own quantitative research and critically understanding that of others. It is taught in a computer lab, giving students practical experience with statistical software.

Qualitative research rests at the heart of social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analyzing categorical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It examines case studies and comparative history; interviews, ethnography, and fieldwork; plus archives and content analysis, among other topics. Instruction is provided by a team of teachers with experience using these methods. Students therefore gain valuable insight into how to conduct and consume qualitative research.

The focus of this unit is the conduct of research in political economy. You will learn a range of topics including research design, literature review, data collection and analysis, and writing a research proposal. You have the opportunity, through the weekly seminars, for critical discussion to identify, debate and reflect on the nature and challenge of undertaking research and the construction of a political economy analysis. Your assessment is structured to assist the progressive development of a research proposal. Completion of this unit is a pre-requisite for a Masters’ dissertation in political economy.

Modern life is marked by profound economic and social inequality. This unit guides students into their own research on the dimensions, causes, and consequences of inequality, with a special focus on Sydney. Students will learn in a hands-on way, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches to social reality. They will learn practical skills in data visualisation with state-of-the-art software, and be asked to think creatively about responses to the processes reproducing inequality.

This unit will provide students with the fundamentals for constructing and conducting effective research projects in the social sciences. An overview of social science inquiry will be presented through an examination of the diversity in theoretical and methodological approaches used in research. This will include a focus on both primary research, using interviews and questionnaires, and secondary research, using statistical databases, content analysis and textual analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative methods will be covered in the unit, as will an overview of ethical practices associated with research design. The assessment will be based around constructing practical research projects that can be utilised in both university and workplace-based research.

This unit introduces students to key issues, debates and ethical questions in human research, enabling them to acquire knowledge and develop skills for research degrees and funding applications. It examines values and principles of research ethics, and encourages students to reflect on these in relation to research with human subjects. The unit offers practical support to higher degree research students developing, or planning to develop, a human research ethics application.

This unit provides training in applied qualitative data analysis using NVivo software. Students are able to apply a range of qualitative methods.

Social science research abounds with data of different nature, sources, and forms. In many situations, available data can be summarised and analysed quantitatively to identify trends, uncover patterns, or test hypotheses. This unit presents fundamental ideas behind modern data analytics and provides students with hands-on experience of analysing social science data. First, we cover data manipulation, data cleaning, and basic visualisation. We will then move on to the methods of exploratory data analysis and finding patterns in data. The unit will conclude with an introduction to statistical inference, linear regression analysis and its limitations for causal analysis.

The rise of big data, mobile phones, digital media, and other new ICT has not only affected the way we live and created new social phenomena worth of studying, but has also enabled social scientists to address a variety of important social science questions using new data, methods, and approaches. This unit serves as an introduction to the emerging field of the Computational Social Sciences. We are going to learn how to collect digital data via web scraping and how to analyse it using a variety of methods developed for computational text and network analysis.

The sources of volatility and disruption to social provisioning are an ever-present concern for policymakers, firms, and households. In this unit, you will be introduced to an overview of social provisioning at the level of macroaggregates before drilling down into the sectors of the capitalist economy to understand where and why vulnerabilities emerge, and ruptures occur. You will learn a diverse range of methods and techniques for assessing the facets of country risk (eg economic risk, financial risk, sovereign (default) risk, socio-political risk) and the opportunity to conduct an assessment for a country of your interest.

This unit critically examines the notion of state fragility within the global system. It investigates the characteristics of so-called 'fragile' and 'failed' states, and the nature of international engagement with (and discourses about) these states. It explores various perspectives on state formation in both Western and post-colonial contexts, and emphasises the ways in which knowledge is produced about non-Western states. The unit expands upon the theoretical literature with evidence from case studies in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Quantitative methods are vital to social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analysing numerical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It addresses the description of data with graphs and tables, descriptive statistics, statistical models, hypothesis testing, and other topics. The unit is appropriate for beginners, who will gain perspective and confidence conducting their own quantitative research and critically understanding that of others. It is taught in a computer lab, giving students practical experience with statistical software.

Qualitative research rests at the heart of social science. This unit introduces students to commonly used techniques for collecting and analyzing categorical data to answer empirical questions about social, cultural, and political phenomena. It examines case studies and comparative history; interviews, ethnography, and fieldwork; plus archives and content analysis, among other topics. Instruction is provided by a team of teachers with experience using these methods. Students therefore gain valuable insight into how to conduct and consume qualitative research.

This unit, in conjunction with ECOP6122, enables you to write a 12,000 word dissertation, under supervision, within a nominated topic area. The nominated topic areas are: the global climate crisis; the evolving role/influence of financial markets; inequality under globalisation; the practice of wage theft; the Chinese economy’s growth trajectory; the intersecting crises of economy, health, care, gender, race and climate; and new forms of repression. In discussion with your supervisor, you will determine a research question to be answered. For example: what is Australia’s role in, or response to, the global climate crisis? Is energy impoverishment a new form of globalised inequality?

This unit, in conjunction with ECOP6121, enables you to write a 12,000 word dissertation, under supervision, within a nominated topic area. The nominated topic areas are: the global climate crisis; the evolving role/influence of financial markets; inequality under globalisation; the practice of wage theft; the Chinese economy’s growth trajectory; the intersecting crises of economy, health, care, gender, race and climate; and new forms of repression. In discussion with your supervisor, you will determine a research question to be answered. For example: what is Australia’s role in, or response to, the global climate crisis? Is energy impoverishment a new form of globalised inequality?

This unit is offered as a capstone for the Master of Political Economy, as an alternative to the two dissertation units (ECOP6121 and ECOP6122). You are provided with the opportunity to conduct a supervised research project of your own design, drawing on the theoretical perspectives to which you have been introduced to through other Master of Political Economy units, and to explore issues previously encountered in greater depth. You will complete a 4,500 word political economy analysis, and the opportunity to present and gain feedback on your progress during the semester.