History, Politics and Human Rights
24 hours Face to Face + Blended + Swinburne Online
One Semester or equivalent
Hawthorn, Online
Available to incoming Study Abroad and Exchange students
Overview
This unit introduces students to the international framework for human rights. Beginning with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the unit examines responses to genocide, inequality and campaigns for civil rights and self-determination. Through an historical analysis of case studies the unit reflects on the limitations in human rights law and the “human condition†more generally.
Requisites
Prerequisites
50 credit points
Teaching periods
Location
Start and end dates
Last self-enrolment date
Census date
Last withdraw without fail date
Results released date
Teaching Period 3
Location
Online
Start and end dates
04-November-2024
09-February-2025
09-February-2025
Last self-enrolment date
17-November-2024
Census date
29-November-2024
Last withdraw without fail date
27-December-2024
Results released date
04-March-2025
Semester 1
Location
Hawthorn
Start and end dates
03-March-2025
01-June-2025
01-June-2025
Last self-enrolment date
16-March-2025
Census date
31-March-2025
Last withdraw without fail date
24-April-2025
Results released date
08-July-2025
Learning outcomes
Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:
- Analyse and explain the framework for the development of human rights including the various covenants, conventions and declarations formulated through the United Nations
- Examine key struggles for human rights in the twentieth century
- Locate, interrogate, and integrate primary and secondary source documents in the development of an argument
- Critically analyse key historiographical debates in human rights literature and examine the limitations of human rights declarations
Teaching methods
Hawthorn
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Online Lecture | 1.00 | 12 weeks | 12 |
| On-campus Class | 2.00 | 12 weeks | 24 |
| Specified Activities Various | 5.83 | 12 weeks | 70 |
| Unspecified Activities Independent Learning | 4.00 | 11 weeks | 44 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Swinburne Online
| Type | Hours per week | Number of weeks | Total (number of hours) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live Online Class | 1.00 | 4 weeks | 4 |
| Online Directed Online Learning and Independent Learning | 18.25 | 8 weeks | 146 |
| TOTAL | 150 |
Assessment
| Type | Task | Weighting | ULO's |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | Individual | 40% | 1,2,3,4 |
| Quiz | Individual | 20% | 1,2,4 |
| Report | Individual | 40% | 1,2,3,4 |
Content
- Rights versus Justice
- The Trials at Nuremburg and Tokyo
- International Law versus the Sovereign State: The Declaration
- Displaced Persons and Rights of Refugees
- ‘The dove flies east’: Human Rights as ideology
- Human Rights as Self Determination
- The rights of man and woman
- Humanitarian Intervention to R2P
- Prisons and Punishment: a case study in human rights
- The Just War
- Transitional and Restorative Justice
- Rights versus Justice Revisited
Study resources
Reading materials
A list of reading materials and/or required textbooks will be available in the Unit Outline on Canvas.