• Offered by Department of Pacific Affairs
  • ANU College ANU College of Asia and the Pacific
  • Course subject Pacific Studies
  • Academic career UGRD
  • Course convener
    • Dr George Carter
  • Mode of delivery In Person
  • Co-taught Course
  • Offered in Winter Session 2022
    See Future Offerings

Students will spend two weeks in Fiji undertaking learning with USP peers and leveraging the University's strong connections in the region to obtain hands on experience working with three leading regional institutions – the University of the South Pacific (USP), the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), and the Pacific Community (SPC). Students will be exposed to issues that are of direct relevance to Australia’s regional interests, and examine the main theoretical approaches to Pacific development such as Postcolonialism and Development Economics and how they affect development policy in the Pacific. Students will have an unique opportunity to experience policy-making and diplomacy in action from inside some of the region’s most important organisations. Case studies will allow students to explore Pacific development theory and issues that have been identified as priorities by Pacific leaders, including climate change, security, gender, and economic development. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges facing our neighbours and of the complexity involved in regional approaches to policymaking.

Learning Outcomes

Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:

  1. Identify and discuss key debates in Pacific regional policymaking and apply these to different case studies
  2. Identify and discuss different approaches to regional diplomacy in the Pacific and apply these to different case studies
  3. Analyse critical contemporary environmental, political, economic and social development challenges in the Pacific region
  4. Demonstrate advanced skills in critical thinking, reading, writing and oral presentation

Other Information

Students are required to participate in a competitive selection process to gain access to this course. click http://anu-au-sa.terradotta.com/ for more information.

Indicative Assessment

  1. Pre-departure quiz - This online quiz is based on understanding of key concepts, the research activity and the risk management policies and procedures discussed in the compulsory pre-departure training, and short answer questions based on issues discussed during the pre-departure roundtable seminar. (20) [LO 3]
  2. Participation - This assessment is based on students engagement in the course including participation in seminars both at the ANU and at USP. Each student will be assessed by field school academics (5%), USP academics (5%) and peers (5%). (15) [LO 1,2,4]
  3. Briefing - This briefing includes a presentation (10 minutes) and a critical reflections piece (1,500 words) based on their experience of the field school. (20) [LO 1,2,4]
  4. Research project - report- This 3,000-4,000 word research report will be based on a case study relating to an environmental, political, economic or social development issue in regional policymaking. (45) [LO 1,2,3]

The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.

Workload

120 hours — 84 contact hours (64 hours in-country field school component and 20 hours at ANU for pre- and post-travel workshops), 36 hours of library/online work.

Inherent Requirements

Not applicable

Requisite and Incompatibility

To enrol in this course, you must have successfully completed 24 units of university courses.

You will need to contact the Department of Pacific Affairs to request a permission code to enrol in this course.

Prescribed Texts

Prior to the in-country fieldschool component, students will have a set of required readings to complete and will be provided with additional supplementary readings. As there is no suitable textbook for this course, the readings will draw on a range of sources.

Preliminary Reading

An indicative list of readings is below:


Required readings:

Aqorau, Transform. 2016. State of the Pacific — Slippery Slopes and Rough Rides in Regional Cooperative Endeavours in the Islands. SSGM Discussion paper 8. Canberra: State, Society and Governance in Melanesia, ANU.

Carter, George. 2015. ‘Establishing a Pacific Voice in the Climate Change Negotiations.’ In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte. Canberra: ANU Press.

Dornan, Matthew and Tess Newton Cain. 2014. Regional Service Delivery among Pacific Island Countries: An Assessment. Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 1(3): 541-560.

Fry, Greg and Sandra Tarte. 2015. 'The 'New Pacific Diplomacy': An Introduction.' In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte. Canberra: ANU Press.

Lawson, Stephanie. 2016. ‘Regionalism, Sub-Regionalism and the Politics of Identity in Oceania.’ Pacific Review 29(3): 387-409.

Tarte, Sandra. 2014. ‘Regionalism and Changing Regional Order in the Pacific Islands.’ Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 1(2): 312-324.

Taylor, Meg. 'The Future of the Pacific Islands Forum and the Framework for Pacific Regionalism.' In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte. Canberra: ANU Press.


Additional supplementary readings:

Baker, Nicola. 2015. ‘New Zealand and Australia in Pacific Regionalism.’ In The New Pacific Diplomacy, eds Greg Fry and Sandra Tarte. Canberra: ANU Press.

Baldacchino, Godfrey. 2004. ‘Autonomous but Not Sovereign? A Review of Island Sub-Nationalism.’ Canadian Review of Studies in Nationalism 31: 77-91.

Carter, George and Stewart Firth. 2016. ‘The Mood in Melanesia after the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands.’ Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies 3(1): 2016.

Connolly, Peter J. 2016. 'Engaging China's New Foreign Policy in the South Pacific.' Australian Journal of International Affairs 70(5): 484-505.

Firth, Stewart. 1989. 'Sovereignty and Independence in the Contemporary Pacific.' The Contemporary Pacific 1(1-2): 75-9

Majors

Minors

Fees

Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.  

Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees

Student Contribution Band:
14
Unit value:
6 units

If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.

Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.

Units EFTSL
6.00 0.12500
Domestic fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $4200
International fee paying students
Year Fee
2022 $5700
Note: Please note that fee information is for current year only.

Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links

ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.

The list of offerings for future years is indicative only.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.

Winter Session

Class number Class start date Last day to enrol Census date Class end date Mode Of Delivery Class Summary
4637 22 Aug 2022 02 Sep 2022 02 Sep 2022 30 Sep 2022 In-Person and Online N/A

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