Politics Units 3 and 4
Overview
Studying VCE Politics will give you a grounding in contemporary international relations, including global cooperation, conflict, crises, and use of power over the last 10 years.
In Unit 3 you will study global challenges such as weapons of mass destruction, climate change, global economic instability, and development. You will investigate how actors have responded to these challenges and the extent to which they’ve been effective. You will also examine a contemporary crisis such as human rights, mass people movement, or armed conflict. You will analyse the causes of the crisis, and how its consequences have created stability or change.
In Unit 4 Politics, you will learn how power is used in the Indo-Pacific region. You will examine a major actor such as China or the US’ and how its pursuit of its national interests have consequences for other powers in the region. You will also learn about Australia’s national interests in the Indo-Pacific, and how Canberra navigates its international relationships to maximise Australia’s strategic interests.
Who is it for?
VCE Politics is for students who enjoy keeping up with current events in the news, or have an interest in international problems including conflict, disinformation, challenges to democracy, and how power is used. If you’re considering tertiary study in an area like politics, economics, journalism, law, or education, you should consider studying VCE Politics.
What do you do?
You’ll spend a lot of time discussing and reading about current events, analysing news and analysis in video, podcast, infographic, and news article forms. You will work together with your peers to give briefings to the class on particular topics. You will write short answer responses and extended answers to questions about the material being covered.
What skills do you need?
High level reading comprehension and analytical writing skills will help students studying VCE Politics.
What skills do you develop?
VCE Politics develops your critical thinking and reasoning skills. Politics students become experts at sorting fact-based perspectives from those based on misinformation. You will learn how to use high quality evidence to support a perspective, and put those views into writing.
Things you can do now
Students interested in studying VCE Politics can start watching and reading quality news analysis now. Below are a list of recommended sources for high quality coverage of world events, including a range of perspectives;
www.abc.net.au (ABC News Australia)
www.bbc.com (BBC World News)
www.aljazeera.com (Al Jazeera News)
www.voanews.com (Voice of America News)
www.amnesty.org.au (Amnesty International Australia)