This class will give students a look into the murky and ambivalent relationship between violence and political order, from the historical origins of the state to the violent breakdown of political order today. Most theories of political order begin with the perspective that state institutions set limits on the legitimate use of violence and so control the violent tendencies of an anarchic society. Yet state building is itself a deeply violent process. Moreover the state continues to be a prolific user of violence. Aside from the obvious case of war between states, both democratic and authoritarian states engage in varying levels of everyday violence. In some cases, this violence is perceived as legitimate, as in the use of imprisonment as a punishment for criminal activity. In other cases, states transgress norms of legitimate violence, engaging in activities such as torture, sexual violence, and even ethnic cleansing. This course will cover topics including state building, torture, civil war, and crime and punishment. We will read work from political science, political economy, political sociology and political theory. This is a reading intensive seminar.

Learning Outcomes

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

1. Understand different empirical and theoretical approaches to the analysis of state formation and contested political orders
2. Develop appropriate conceptual, theoretical, and empirical research methods from political science, political economy, political sociology, and political anthropology
3. Compare and analyze variation in processes of state formation and in patterns of contestation over political order, both of which commonly involve very significant levels of violence
4. Apply the principles of good research design in developing their own research
5. Communicate knowledgeably on a range of topics within the area of state formation and contested political orders

Research-Led Teaching

The course convenor will draw on fifteen years of research experience on violence and state-building in Asia, including experience with diverse methodological approaches. Students will be encouraged to think broadly about research design and to develop empirically grounded approaches to the study of state formation and political order.

Examination Material or equipment

The final essay assignment is a take-home exam to be submitted online via Canvas.

Required Resources

All required readings are provided in PDF or HTML format. Recommended readings are listed and students are encouraged to find them via the ANU library.

Recommended Resources

This is a reading-heavy course. Students are expected, at a minimum, to complete the required readings. Students with a strong interest in any particular topic covered in the course are encouraged to read beyond the assigned pages and to seek advice from the convenor on further relevant sources.

Staff Feedback

Students will be given feedback in the following forms in this course:

• written comments
• verbal comments
• feedback to whole class, groups, individuals, focus group etc

Student Feedback

ANU is committed to the demonstration of educational excellence and regularly seeks feedback from students. Students are encouraged to offer feedback directly to their Course Convener or through their College and Course representatives (if applicable). Feedback can also be provided to Course Conveners and teachers via the Student Experience of Learning & Teaching (SELT) feedback program. SELT surveys are confidential and also provide the Colleges and ANU Executive with opportunities to recognise excellent teaching, and opportunities for improvement.

Class Schedule

Week/Session	Summary of Activities	Assessment
1	Week 1 (Jul 27–31): Political Order Before the StateThis seminar introduces the course by asking what political order means before we assume the existence of the modern state. Discussion will centre on hierarchy, violence, and the problem of authority. The readings raise competing explanations for early state formation, including voluntary cooperation, agricultural surplus, coercion, environmental constraint, and inequality. Rather than treating the state as natural or inevitable, we will explore how people have historically organised rule, obligation, protection, and punishment in many different forms The larger aim is to separate political order from the state, while asking why the state became such a dominant form.Required Readings• James C. Scott, Against the Grain: A Deep History of the Earliest States (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2017), Introduction (pp. 1-35), Chapters 4 and 5 (pp. 116-182).• Robert L. Carneiro, “A Theory of the Origin of the State,” Science 169, no. 3947 (1970): 733-738.• Dyble, G. D. Salali, N. Chaudhary, A. Page, D. Smith, J. Thompson, L. Vinicius, R. Mace, and A. B. Migliano, “Sex Equality Can Explain the Unique Social Structure of Hunter-Gatherer Bands,” Science 348, no. 6236: 796-798.• Leacock, Eleanor Burke. 1972. “Introduction.” In Friedrich Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State: In the Light of the Researches of Lewis H. Morgan, 7–67. New York: International Publishers.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
2	Week 2 (Aug 3–7): Empire, Durability, and the Modern StateIn this class we will examine empires as early forms of states, compare different imperial experiences to ask what makes a state “modern,” why some empires endure, and how rulers manage diversity, legitimacy, environment, and elite power. We will also discuss whether strong centralisation is always the best measure of state success, whether durability depends on coercion alone, or on the ability to absorb social forces, negotiate with rivals, and survive environmental, political, and military shocks.Required Readings• Francis Fukuyama, The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011). Read three chapters on early Chinese polities (Chapters 7-10), pp. 110-150; three chapters on Indian polities (Chapters 11-14), pp. 151-188; two chapters on relatively later Chinese polities (Chapters 20 and 21), pp. 290-317.• Kyle Harper, The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease, and the End of an Empire (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2017), pp. 6-22, 259-275. Recommended: pp. 65-118.• Karen Barkey, Empire of Difference: The Ottomans in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008), Chapter 1 (pp. 3-27), last section of Chapter 2 (pp. 64-65), first and last sections of Chapter 3 (pp. 67-72 and pp. 104-108), first section and final chunk of Chapter 8 (pp. 264-265 and 294-96).• Wang, Yuhua. The Rise and Fall of Imperial China: The Social Origins of State Development. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2022. Part 1: Introduction (pp. 3-60).	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
3	Week 3 (Aug 10–14): War, Coercion, and European State FormationThis seminar turns to the relationship between war, coercion, and state formation. It examines how taxation, armies, capital, bureaucracy, and territorial control became linked in early modern Europe. We will consider the limits of this model: whether it travels beyond Europe, whether peaceful learning can also produce strong states, and how legitimacy, class conflict, local institutions, and international recognition complicate the picture. The broader conceptual problem we will debate is how different external and internal pressures produce different kinds of states, and why some forms of political organisation become more durable than others.Required Readings• Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1992 (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Blackwell, 1992). Read “Cities and States in World History” (Chapter 1), pp. 1-37. Recommended: “European Cities and States” (Chapter 2), pp. 38-66, and “How War Made States, and Vice Versa” (Chapter 3), pp. 67-95.• Thomas Ertman, Birth of the Leviathan: Building States and Regimes in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997), pp. 1-34, 317-324.• Theda Skocpol, “France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 18, no. 2 (1976): 175-210.• Blaydes, Lisa, and Anna Grzymala-Busse. 2025. “Historical State Formation within and beyond Europe.” World Politics 77, no. 1: 205–223.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
4	Week 4 (Aug 17–21): The Emergence of the Modern StateThis class examines the modern state through its institutions, functions, and historical pathways. The discussion moves from basic definitions of the state — territory, coercion, administration, rule-making, and authority — to the more specific problem of bureaucratic development. A central theme we will examine is the distinction between bureaucratic and patrimonial forms of rule, and the possibility that real states often combine both. We will also ask why different historical trajectories produced different kinds of states: highly bureaucratic, weakly institutionalised, or politically fragmented.Required Readings• Theda Skocpol, “Bringing the State Back In: Strategies of Analysis in Current Research,” in Bringing the State Back In, ed. Peter B. Evans, Dietrich Reuschmeyer, and Theda Skocpol (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), pp. 7-11, 20-21, 27-28.• Max Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978), pp. 973-75, 1028-31.• Lloyd I. Rudolph and Susanne Hoeber Rudolph, "Authority and Power in Bureaucratic and Patrimonial Administration: A Revisionist Interpretation of Weber on Bureaucracy," World Politics 31, no. 2 (1979): 195-227.• Michael Mann, “The Autonomous Power of the State: Its Origins, Mechanisms, and Results,” European Journal of Sociology 25, no. 2 (1984): 185-213. Read pp. 185-92 and skim the rest.• Timothy Mitchell, “The Limits of the State: Beyond Statist Approaches and Their Critics,” American Political Science Review 85, no. 1 (March 1991): 77-96.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
5	Week 5 (Aug 24–28): Institutions, Violence, and OrderIn this week we will examine the relationship between institutions and violence. We will debate two broad views of institutions: one that sees them as mechanisms for cooperation, coordination, and trust, and another that sees them as backed by coercion. The class will ask why law, contracts, markets, and organisations often depend on the state’s capacity to enforce rules, even when they appear voluntary or peaceful. It will also consider non-state mechanisms such as shame, reputation, and social sanction.Required Readings• Samuel P. Huntington, Political Order in Changing Societies (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1968). Read “Political Institutions: Community and Political Order” (a portion of Chapter 1), pp. 8-32.• Francis Fukuyama, Political Order and Political Decay: From the Industrial Revolution to the Globalization of Democracy (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2014). Read “What is Political Development?” (Chapter 1), pp. 23-39; “The Dimensions of Development” (Chapter 2), pp. 40-51; and “Bureaucracy” (Chapter 3), pp. 52-65.• Robert Cover, "Violence and the Word," Yale Law Journal 95, no. 8 (1986): 1601-1629.• Stathis N. Kalyvas, Ian Shapiro, and Tarek Masoud, “Introduction: Integrating the Study of Order, Conflict, and Violence,” in Kalyvas, Shapiro, and Masoud, eds., Order, Conflict, and Violence (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Read pp. 1-4.• Jha, Saumitra. “Trade, Institutions, and Ethnic Tolerance: Evidence from South Asia.” American Political Science Review 107, no. 4 (November 2013): 806–32.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
6	Week 6 (Aug 31–Sep 4): Colonial State FormationThis seminar examines colonialism as a form of state-building shaped by capitalism, imperial competition, race, and administrative design. We will examine and compare different colonial strategies: extraction, bureaucratic centralisation, decentralisation, indirect rule, and local elite empowerment. A major theme of our discussion will be sequencing: whether strong bureaucratic institutions need to come before democratic participation, and what happens when representative forms are introduced into weak administrative settings. We will also consider how colonial states generated durable legacies, including fiscal capacity, patronage, racial classification, and uneven forms of political and economic development.Required Readings• Crawford Young, The African Colonial State in Comparative Perspective (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994), Chapter 1 (pp. 1-12), Chapter 2 (pp. 43-76), and Chapter 8 (244-281).• Reo Matsuzaki, “State Building Amid Resistance: Administrative Intermediaries and the Making of Colonial Taiwan,” Polity 51, no. 2 (2019): 231-260.• Fasseur, C. “Cornerstone and Stumbling Block; Racial Classification and the Late Colonial State in Indonesia.” In The Late Colonial State in Indonesia: Political and Economic Foundations of the Netherlands Indies, 1880-1942, edited by Robert Cribb. Leiden: Cellar Book Shop, 1994. pages to be decided.• Paul D. Hutchcroft, “The Hazards of Jeffersonianism: Challenges of State Building in the U.S. and Its Empire,” in Alfred W. McCoy and Francisco Scarano, eds., Colonial Crucible: Empire in the Making of a Modern American State (Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2009), pp. 375-89.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
7	Week 7 (Sep 21–25): Postcolonial Power and Colonial LegaciesThis seminar focuses on the afterlives of colonial rule in postcolonial states. We will examine how power of the colonial state power became embedded in everyday life, public spectacle, patronage, bureaucratic practice, and political culture. The class will compare different colonial legacies, including cases where coercive colonial rule produced strong administrative institutions, and others where democratic forms were captured by local elites. A central question for consideration is the extent to which colonial legacies continue to shape who holds power, how states govern, and what counts as development, legitimacy, or political progress after formal independence.Required Readings• Prasenjit Duara, “Introduction: The Decolonization of Asia and Africa in the Twentieth Century,” in Prasenjit Duara, ed., Decolonization: Perspectives from Now and Then (London and New York: Routledge, 2004), pp. 1-18. Recommended: look through section entitled “In their Own Words,” pp. 19-74, available on-line through the ANU library.• Achille Mbembe, "The Banality of Power and the Aesthetics of Vulgarity in the Postcolony," Public Culture 4, no. 2 (1992): 1-30.• Jung-en [Meredith] Woo, Race to the Swift: State and Finance in Korean Industrialization (New York: Columbia University Press, 1991). Read portions of Chapter 2, “Soldiers, Bankers, and the Zaibatsu in Colonial Korea: Prologue to the Future,” pp. 19-21, 30-42.• Daniel C. Mattingly, “Colonial Legacies and State Institutions in China: Evidence from a Natural Experiment,” Comparative Political Studies 50, no. 4 (2017): 434–463.• Naseemullah, Adnan. 2022. Patchwork States: The Historical Roots of Subnational Conflict and Competition in South Asia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pages to be decided.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
8	Week 8 (Sep 28–Oct 2): Legibility, Mobility, and Indigenous PoliticsThis seminar asks what the state needs to know in order to govern. The class discussion will focus on legibility as a mechanism of domination and control. We will also examine what escapes the state's vision, especially mobile communities, indigenous political orders, and forms of knowledge not organised around fixed territory or private property. A major theme for debate is whether political order has to be sedentary, bounded, and state-centred, or whether mobility, kinship, ecological care, and plural authority offer alternative ways of organising collective life.Required Readings• James C. Scott, Seeing Like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 1-83, 183-91, 253-61, 342-57. Recommended: pp. 87-102, 193-222.• James C. Scott, The Art of Not Being Governed: An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009). Read first part of Preface (pp. ix-xiv) and a small chunk of Chapter 2 (pp. 13-22). Recommended: the rest of Chapter 1 (pp. 1-13, 22-39).• Andrew Walker, “From Legibility to Eligibility: Politics, Subsidy, and Productivity in Rural Asia,” TRaNS: Trans –Regional and –National Studies of Southeast Asia 3, no. 1 (2015): 45–71.• Tulia G. Falleti, “Invisible to Political Science: Indigenous Politics in a World in Flux,” Journal of Politics 83, no. 1 (2020). pages to be decided.• MacDonald, David B., and Sheryl Lightfoot. 2024. “Decoy Politics: How Settler States Deflect Indigenous Threats.” Political Geography 114. pages to be decided.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
9	Week 9 (Oct 5–9): Territory, Reach, and DevelopmentThis seminar examines the territorial unevenness of state power and how authority varies across regions, populations, and social groups. The class will focus on infrastructural power, centralisation, decentralisation, and the administrative capacity needed to implement policy. East Asian developmental states provide an important comparative focus, raising questions about why some states used bureaucracy, planning, and social penetration to promote rapid growth. We will also consider the costs of strong state capacity, including inequality, authoritarian overreach, and the danger that effective administration can intensify both successful reforms and disastrous policies.Required Readings• Hillel Soifer and Matthias vom Hau, “Unpacking the Strength of the State: The Utility of State Infrastructural Power,” Studies in Comparative International Development 43 (2008): 219-230. Read pp. 219-222.• Paul D. Hutchcroft, “Centralization and Decentralization in Administration and Politics: Assessing Territorial Dimensions of Authority and Power,” Governance 14, no. 1 (January 2001): 23-53.• Catherine Boone, Political Topographies of the African State: Territorial Authority and Institutional Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2003). Read Chapter 2, “Mapping Political Topography in Africa,” pp. 11-42.• Doner, Richard F., Bryan K. Ritchie, and Dan Slater. “Systemic Vulnerability and the Origins of Developmental States: Northeast and Southeast Asia in Comparative Perspective.” International Organization 59, no. 2 (April 2005): 327–61.• Ding, Iza. 2022. The Performative State: Public Scrutiny and Environmental Governance in China. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. pages to be decided.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
10	Week 10 (Oct 12–16): Nationalism, Ideology, and State PowerIn this class we will examine nationalism as a central force in modern state formation. We will review how states promote shared identities to produce citizens, demand loyalty, mobilise sacrifice, and justify authority. We will consider how national ideas are built through education, language, military service, public ritual, and claims about security and development. The class will also examine the ambivalent relationship between nationalism and coercion. Nationalism can support civilian institutions and collective belonging, but it can also legitimise exclusion, repression, and military claims to embody or defend the nation. We will ask how ideas of nation, unity, and threat shape the exercise of state power.Required Readings• Barry R. Posen, “Nationalism, the Mass Army, and Military Power.” International Security 18, no. 2 (1993): 80–124.• Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (London: Verso, 1991 [1983]). Read small chunk of Chapter 1, “Concepts and Definitions,” pp. 5-7, as well as pp. 94-99 (on Japan).• Kuipers, Nicholas. States against Nations: Meritocracy, Patronage, and the Challenges of Bureaucratic Selection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2025. pages to be decided.• Paglayan, Agustina S. Raised to Obey: The Rise and Spread of Mass Education. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2024. pages to be decided.• Weber, Eugen. Peasants into Frenchmen: The Modernization of Rural France, 1870–1914. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1976. pages to be decided.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
11	Week 11 (Oct 19–23): State Power and Social ForcesThis seminar revisits the relationship between state and society. Our discussion will focus on how state power is fragmented, negotiated, and reshaped through interaction with social forces such as business groups, local elites, religious organisations, bureaucracies, police, and communities. We will ask why some states are able to coordinate development through productive ties with society, while others are captured by powerful interests or operate unevenly across sectors. A key issue we will debate is how and when social embeddedness strengthens or undermines state power.Required Readings• Joel S. Migdal, Atul Kohli, and Vivienne Shue, “Introduction: Developing a State-in-Society Perspective,” in Migdal, Kohli, and Shue, eds., State Power and Social Forces: Domination and Transformation in the Third World (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp. 1-4.• Peter Evans, Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation, pp. 3-6, 10-14, 28-32, 43-47.• Paul D. Hutchcroft, Booty Capitalism: The Politics of Banking in the Philippines (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998), pp. 16-23.• Haberkorn, Tyrell. 2018. In Plain Sight: Impunity and Human Rights in Thailand. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. pages to be decided.• Jaffrey, Sana. “Mechanics of Impunity: Vigilantism and State-Building in Indonesia.” Comparative Politics 55, no. 2 (January 1, 2023): 287–311.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'
12	Week 12 (Oct 26–30): Civil War, Insurgency, and Political OrderThe final seminar examines civil war and insurgency as challenges to state authority and as alternative forms of political order. Discussion moves beyond broad explanations based only on ethnicity, ideology, greed, or grievance, and asks how violence works on the ground. The class considers state weakness, rural insurgency, rebel taxation, civilian collaboration, territorial control, and the shifting motives of armed groups. It also examines how civilians adapt to war and how conflict can generate new forms of rule. The larger issue is how civil wars expose the limits of the state’s claim to govern territory and people.Required Readings• Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. “Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War.” The American Political Science Review 97, no. 1 (February 1, 2003): 75–90.• Stathis N. Kalyvas, The Logic of Violence in Civil War (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Read first chunk of introductory chapter (pp. 1-11) plus portions of the conceptual chapter (pp. 16-19, 28-31). Skim the remainder of the two chapters.• Ana Arjona, Rebelocracy: Social Order in the Columbian Civil War (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016). Read Chapter 2, “Wartime Social Order: What is It and How does it Vary,” pp. 21-40, and the first chunk of Chapter 3, “A Theory of Social Order in Civil War,” pp. 41-43.• Elisabeth Jean Wood, Forging Democracy from Below: Insurgent Transitions in South Africa and El Salvador (Cambridge University Press, 2000). Read Chapter 1, “From Civil War to Democracy,” pp. 1-24.• Edward Aspinall, Islam and Nation: Separatist Rebellion in Aceh, Indonesia (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2009). Read Chapter 6 (“Violence, Money, Insurgency”), pp. 151-192. Recommended: Chapter 1 (“Nation, Islam, War, and Peace”), pp. 1-6.	class participation and written 'discussion contributions'

Tutorial Registration

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.

Assessment Summary

Assessment task	Value	Due Date	Return of assessment	Learning Outcomes
Critical seminar discussion	10 %	22/10/2026	05/11/2026	1,2,3,5
Weekly Canvas Forum Discussion Contributions (10 x 1% = 10%)	10 %	22/07/2026	*	1,2,3
Seminar presentation	10 %	22/10/2026	05/11/2026	1,2,3,5
Mid-term Essay	25 %	25/09/2026	09/10/2026	1,2,3,5
Take Home Exam: Final Essay	45 %	07/11/2026	*	1,2,3,4,5

* If the Due Date and Return of Assessment date are blank, see the Assessment Tab for specific Assessment Task details

Policies

ANU has educational policies, procedures and guidelines , which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University’s academic standards, and implement them. Students are expected to have read the Academic Integrity Rule before the commencement of their course. Other key policies and guidelines include:

• Academic Integrity Policy and Procedure
• Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure
• Extenuating Circumstances Application
• Student Surveys and Evaluations
• Deferred Examinations
• Student Complaint Resolution Policy and Procedure
• Code of practice for teaching and learning

Assessment Requirements

The ANU is using 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. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the Academic Skills website. In rare cases where online submission using Turnitin software is not technically possible; or where not using Turnitin software has been justified by the Course Convener and approved by the Associate Dean (Education) on the basis of the teaching model being employed; students shall submit assessment online via ‘Canvas’ outside of Turnitin, or failing that in hard copy, or through a combination of submission methods as approved by the Associate Dean (Education). The submission method is detailed below.

Moderation of Assessment

Marks that are allocated during Semester are to be considered provisional until formalised by the College examiners meeting at the end of each Semester. If appropriate, some moderation of marks might be applied prior to final results being released.

Participation

See above. If a student expects to be absent due to illness or emergency, they should provide supporting documentation to avoid losing participation points.

Assessment Task 1

Critical seminar discussion

10% of total grade. This course follows a seminar format, with limited lecturing and a primary emphasis on discussion and debate. Students are expected to attend all seminar sessions, complete the required readings, and participate actively in class discussion. Strong participation means making consistent, thoughtful contributions grounded in the relevant literature and, where appropriate, knowledge of particular countries or regions. These contributions should help deepen collective understanding of the issues and topics covered in the course.

Participation in each class will be marked on a checkmark system: students will receive either 0 or 1 for each session. Students who are absent because of illness or emergency should provide supporting documentation to avoid losing participation points.

Marking for this task covering the first four weeks will be made available prior to the census date.

Assessment Task 2

Weekly Canvas Forum Discussion Contributions (10 x 1% = 10%)

10% of total grade. Students will be required to submit brief comments on readings for ten of the twelve weeks of the semester. They should be roughly 200 words in length, and will be marked on a 0-1 scale.

 

The discussion contributions are to be turned in by 9:00 am on the day prior to the seminar, and late submissions will be recorded with potential impact on the final assessment score for this portion of the course grade. They should be submitted via Canvas, and thus be available for all participants to read.

 

Your contributions will examine the assigned readings for the week, and there are a range of directions in which your contributions can go. You can pose questions for discussion, highlight salient quotes, draw parallels with readings in other weeks, note particular strengths/weaknesses of an argument, etc. This should be viewed as a “rapid response” exercise rather than as a polished piece of work, providing some quick reflections in advance of the weekly seminar.

Marking for this task covering the first four weeks will be made available prior to the census date.

Assessment Task 3

Seminar presentation

10% of total grade. Each student is expected to make a presentation in any one week of the semester. At the beginning of the semester, the convenor will pose a debate statement derived from the readings for each week. Each student who has signed up to present in a given week will make a 10 minute opening presentation for or against the topic. These presentations should examine major issues and arguments found in the readings, and raise important questions for discussion—focusing more on the forest than the trees. In preparing presentations, students are expected to concentrate primarily on the assigned readings, but are of course welcome to supplement their analysis with the recommended readings and other relevant works. The students presenting in a given week will then engage in a debate on the topic for 15 min. Students will be judged on their individual presentations and arguments during the debate.

Assessment Task 4

Mid-term Essay

1750 words, 25% of total grade. The questions for the first essay will be distributed in Week 6 and will be due in Week 7. It will cover the readings and discussion in the first six weeks of the semester.

Assessment Task 5

Take Home Exam: Final Essay

3000 words, 45% of total grade. The questions for the final essay will be distributed on a date tbd during the final exam period; students will be given 7 days to complete the essay. It will cover the readings and discussion across the entire semester.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is a core part of the ANU culture as a community of scholars. The University’s students are an integral part of that community. The academic integrity principle commits all students to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support, academic integrity, and to uphold this commitment by behaving honestly, responsibly and ethically, and with respect and fairness, in scholarly practice.

The University expects all staff and students to be familiar with the academic integrity principle, the Academic Integrity Rule 2021, the Policy: Student Academic Integrity and Procedure: Student Academic Integrity, and to uphold high standards of academic integrity to ensure the quality and value of our qualifications.

The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 is a legal document that the University uses to promote academic integrity, and manage breaches of the academic integrity principle. The Policy and Procedure support the Rule by outlining overarching principles, responsibilities and processes. The Academic Integrity Rule 2021 commences on 1 December 2021 and applies to courses commencing on or after that date, as well as to research conduct occurring on or after that date. Prior to this, the Academic Misconduct Rule 2015 applies.

 

The University commits to assisting all students to understand how to engage in academic work in ways that are consistent with, and actively support academic integrity. All coursework students must complete the online Academic Integrity Module (Epigeum), and Higher Degree Research (HDR) students are required to complete research integrity training. The Academic Integrity website provides information about services available to assist students with their assignments, examinations and other learning activities, as well as understanding and upholding academic integrity.

Online Submission

You will be required to electronically sign a declaration as part of the submission of your assignment. Please keep a copy of the assignment for your records. Unless an exemption has been approved by the Associate Dean (Education) submission must be through Turnitin.

Hardcopy Submission

For some forms of assessment (hand written assignments, art works, laboratory notes, etc.) hard copy submission is appropriate when approved by the Associate Dean (Education). Hard copy submissions must utilise the Assignment Cover Sheet. Please keep a copy of tasks completed for your records.

Late Submission

Late submission of assessment tasks without an extension are penalised at the rate of 5% of the possible marks available per working day or part thereof. Late submission of assessment tasks is not accepted after 10 working days after the due date, or on or after the date specified in the course outline for the return of the assessment item. Late submission is not accepted for take-home examinations.

Referencing Requirements

The Academic Skills website has information to assist you with your writing and assessments. The website includes information about Academic Integrity including referencing requirements for different disciplines. There is also information on Plagiarism and different ways to use source material. Any use of artificial intelligence must be properly referenced. Failure to properly cite use of Generative AI will be considered a breach of academic integrity.

Extensions and Penalties

Extensions and late submission of assessment pieces are covered by the Student Assessment (Coursework) Policy and Procedure. Extensions may be granted for assessment pieces that are not examinations or take-home examinations. If you need an extension, you must request an extension in writing on or before the due date. If you have documented and appropriate medical evidence that demonstrates you were not able to request an extension on or before the due date, you may be able to request it after the due date.

Privacy Notice

The ANU has made a number of third party, online, databases available for students to use. Use of each online database is conditional on student end users first agreeing to the database licensor’s terms of service and/or privacy policy. Students should read these carefully. In some cases student end users will be required to register an account with the database licensor and submit personal information, including their: first name; last name; ANU email address; and other information.
In cases where student end users are asked to submit ‘content’ to a database, such as an assignment or short answers, the database licensor may only use the student’s ‘content’ in accordance with the terms of service – including any (copyright) licence the student grants to the database licensor. Any personal information or content a student submits may be stored by the licensor, potentially offshore, and will be used to process the database service in accordance with the licensors terms of service and/or privacy policy.
If any student chooses not to agree to the database licensor’s terms of service or privacy policy, the student will not be able to access and use the database. In these circumstances students should contact their lecturer to enquire about alternative arrangements that are available.

Distribution of grades policy

Academic Quality Assurance Committee monitors the performance of students, including attrition, further study and employment rates and grade distribution, and College reports on quality assurance processes for assessment activities, including alignment with national and international disciplinary and interdisciplinary standards, as well as qualification type learning outcomes.

Since first semester 1994, ANU uses a grading scale for all courses. This grading scale is used by all academic areas of the University.

Support for students

The University offers students support through several different services. You may contact the services listed below directly or seek advice from your Course Convener, Student Administrators, or your College and Course representatives (if applicable).

• ANU Health, safety & wellbeing for medical services, counselling, mental health and spiritual support
• ANU Accessibility for students with a disability or ongoing or chronic illness
• ANU Dean of Students for confidential, impartial advice and help to resolve problems between students and the academic or administrative areas of the University
• ANU Academic Skills supports you make your own decisions about how you learn and manage your workload.
• ANU Counselling promotes, supports and enhances mental health and wellbeing within the University student community.
• ANUSA supports and represents all ANU students