Bachelor of Social Science – Security and Counter Terrorism

About this unit

This unit will introduce fundamentals of communication and learning in an online environment. Students will gain increased capability in a range of skills such as online written communication, collaboration in individual and group work, and critiquing and analysing a variety of information sources. Students will be encouraged to draw on their own understanding and experience while contributing and sharing ideas with peers.

Content

• Social media and communication technologies
• Models of online communication
• Current and evolving learning theories
• Identifying and evaluating sources of knowledge
• Critical analysis skills
• Referencing and attributing sources
• Creating and publishing in the online environment
• Strategies for reflecting on your own and others work

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About this unit

This unit aims to provide students with an introduction to the foundations of the discipline of sociology. Successful completion of this unit will prepare students to undertake study in the discipline at more advanced levels through their understanding of the sociological imagination and central sociological theories as applied to a range of current events and issues. Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Apply a sociological perspective to the social world around them
• Identify and differentiate between the major theoretical perspectives employed by sociologists
• Define and use a range of key sociological concepts to appraise the ways in which social processes and social structures shape individuals and groups in contemporary society
• Discuss and critique published work and communicate this through informed written argument
• Undertake successful library-based research
• Identify and utilise the referencing style required by this discipline.

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About this unit

This unit aims to provide students with an understanding of different research designs and research methods for psychology and health sciences. Students will gain familiarity with the scientific method, ethical issues in research, measurement, research design, and research methods. Students will be given the opportunity to develop professionally relevant knowledge in the selection and evaluation of research designs and methods and how to collect data that will address specific research questions.

Content

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Describe the scientific method and scientific thinking principles
• Demonstrate knowledge of the ethical issues in research
• Describe the main concepts of measurement and various sampling methods
• Explain the general concept of an experiment and a quasi-experiment and outline uses of these designs in research
• Describe a range of research methods and be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each method
• Select appropriate research designs and research methods to address hypothetical and real world problems.

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About this course

This unit examines contemporary culture as a construct through initiating the education of students in Indigenous issues. With particular focus on the world’s oldest living, continuing culture, students learn concepts of imperialism and colonialism, the diversity of Indigenous Australian people and culture, and a basic understanding of issues that define our experiences as Australian citizens in a postcolonial society. Fundamental Indigenous concepts are introduced, including respect and relationships, connection to country spirituality, and kinship. Students will learn to challenge existing knowledge of Indigenous cultures and encouraged to form their own connections to help underpin their knowledge of contemporary culture.

Content

• The roles of colonialism and imperialism in Australian society
• Culture as a construct; the role of race and racial identity
• Diversity within Indigenous cultures
• Connections to country and local Wurundjeri culture
• Sovereignty of Indigenous cultures and knowledges
• The roles of narrative and storytelling in cultural identity
• Concepts central to Indigenous culture including The Dreaming, kinship structures, non-linear time and gendered knowledges
• Indigenous cultures in contemporary society

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About this unit

This unit of study aims to provide a critical and analytical introduction to the Australian political system in an international context and the challenges it faces from globalisation, oppositional social movements and growing discontent among voters.

Content

Students will acquire a body of knowledge about the system of government in Australia in an international context. This will include the basic organising principles of the system, the institutions that express those principles and the processes by which voters elect representatives to transfer the people's will into responsible government. As students move through the unit, it will be apparent that the organising principles of the system do not always deliver their intended outcomes. By examining some contemporary political issues such as citizenship and republicanism, industrial relations, the role of political parties in expressing voters' aspirations and the electoral system's ability to deliver workable parliamentary representation, the unit will test the effectiveness of those principles and assess in general terms how the system is working. It also explores the reasons many citizens have turned away from institutional politics and engaged in political activism through social movements and other organisations in civil society. The unit will offer a broad, long-term perspective against which students can analyse and interpret not just current policy issues, but the effectiveness of the whole system. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

Explore the emergence of violent extremism and undertake critical analysis of recent examples of home-grown terrorism to develop counter extremism policies. This important work will help you to develop skills that could make a real difference to people’s lives. This unit introduces students to the concept of violent extremism and to policies designed to counter it. It traces the emergence of the concept of violent extremism in policy discourse and academia, and situates it within terrorism studies more broadly. The unit encourages students to engage in critical analysis of the concept of violent extremism and policies designed to counter it. It uses recent examples of incidents of home-grown extremism and the development of counter extremism policy to help students to analyse the issues in their real-world context.

Content

Students who successfully complete this unit will be able to:

• Respond critically to the concepts of violent extremism and countering violent extremism
• Situate violent extremism within the broader history of terrorism
• Analyse real-world policy problems concerning violent extremism.

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About this unit

After completing this unit of study, students will have developed an understanding of the major institutions, events and issues in international politics; how political scientists analyse and explain international politics, and the major concepts and theories used in the study of international politics.

Content

The unit of study provides students with an overview of the development of world politics. It introduces analytical approaches to the subject and explores a broad range of contemporary issues. It deals with the politics of nation states, and the traditional diplomacy and security issues based on them. The unit of study also deals with the emerging structures of the global political economy and international organisations, and their impact on nation-states. While global in scope, the unit of study highlights many issues relevant to the conduct of Australian foreign affairs and trade policy.

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About this unit

This unit introduces students to Australia’s foreign policy with a particular emphasis on developments after WWII. It examines changing power dynamics in the Asia-Pacific region, explores post-colonial legacies and their relationship to the Anglo-American alliance, and highlights emerging ambiguities in this alliance. In addition, the unit draws on these legacies to analyse Australian bilateral/multilateral relations in its responses to 911, the Bali bombing, and the emerging resource challenges in the region.

Content

• Foreign Policy: legacies and continuing challenges
• The turn to America: the Pacific War to Vietnam
• Decolonisation in the Pacific and the challenge of Indonesia
• Australian foreign policy after 9/11.

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About this unit

This unit is an introduction to the comparative study of politics. It provides an overview of the world’s political systems. It develops a conceptual framework for the analysis of political systems, and introduces students to the use of case studies to test hypotheses.

Content

This unit of study provides an introduction to the comparative study of politics. It provides an overview of the world's political systems and a conceptual framework which enables systematic analysis and comparison. The emphasis in the delivery of the unit of study is on concepts and theory, but it relates these to real-world situations through a variety of case studies. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit introduces students to the United Nations and the problems associated with global governance. It enables students to apply their knowledge developed in 'Sources of Conflict and its Resolution' to understand the legal framework of the United Nations as well as its potential and limitations. Throughout the subject, students will examine the power, passions and disappointments of diplomacy in the world order.

Content

In tracing the formation of the United Nations and the uneasy compromises it embodies this unit will examine the legal framework of the World body. It examines the role of the Security Council and the difficulties of gaining consensus through diplomacy for united action. Key issues examined include:

• A New World Order: The Soviet/USA stalemate
• Decolonisation and the third world challenge
• Peacekeeping and foreign intervention
• The coalition of the willing and the war against terror and its implications for the United Nations.

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About this unit

This unit provides students with an understanding of how apparent points of conflict can be associated with underlying issues. It also explores the avenues that might be available to resolve these matters either before or after they have developed into overt conflict.

Content

• The nature of conflict
• The occasions for conflict: overt e.g. religion, culture, history; and underlying e.g. land, water, strategic resources
• How conflict develops, trajectories and outcomes
• Approaches to the resolution of conflict

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About this unit

This unit provide students with an understanding of why security and intelligence systems are established, how they are organised, what they do and how their work is used and supervised. It also explores the ethical and political debates about intelligence and security systems in open, democratic communities.

Content

• Problems in defining and conceptualising terrorism
• How knowledge of terrorism informs counter‐terrorism policy and practices
• Terrorism in its many forms and questions of security and political violence
• National, sub‐national and global implications of terrorism
• Case studies
• Political and ethical dilemmas, with particular emphasis on the growth of terrorism as an 'industry'

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About this unit

This unit provides students with an in-depth, critical understanding of cyber-crime and security. Students will learn about the history and development of contemporary crime and security problems facilitated by digital technology, including hacking, malware, darknet offences and cyber terrorism. Students will also critically evaluate and develop online policing and security strategies intended to counter cyber-crime and security problems.

Content

Topics to be discussed may include:

• The history of cyber crime and security
• Hacking
• Piracy and intellectual property crimes
• Cyber fraud
• Malware
• Darknet offences
• Cyber terrorism
• Cyber security policy
• Online policing.

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About this unit

This unit provides an overview of the discipline of Criminology through a presentation of the major theoretical models as well as the application of these models to a variety of criminal justice settings. Students learn the breadth of the field of criminology as well as the importance of theoretical models when developing research and programming within the criminal justice system.

Content

• What is crime?
• What is criminology?
• The Australian criminal justice system
• Measuring and reporting crime
• Classic theories of crime (classicism; biological positivism; the Chicago School)
• Crime and Society: Anomie and Strain
• Social and self control
• Victimology
• Young people and crime
• Feminist Criminology
• Crimes of the powerful & White Collar Crime
• Green Criminology
• Critical Criminology

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About this unit

This unit introduces students to the structure and function of the brain and how it interacts with the external world to generate thoughts, emotions and behaviour. Applications in health and mental illness are also introduced as well as ethical practice in psychological research.

Content

• Sensation and perception
• Biological aspects of psychology
• Consciousness
• Motivation and emotion
• Neuropsychology
• Health and abnormal psychology.

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About this unit

This unit of study aims to provide students with a broad introduction to the main theories of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and social psychology. This unit also provides students with training in psychological research methods.

Content

This unit concentrates on intelligence, motivation and emotion. Other topics covered include personality, sexuality, stress and coping and psychopathology. Students are also introduced to social and developmental psychology. View further information on this unit.

About this unit

This unit aims to:

• Acquaint students with a range of sociological approaches to ‘deviance’
• Equip students in how to use these approaches and to familiarise them with a number of contemporary social problems and controversies over social control
• Develop students’ understanding of the ways in which individuals and their actions are defined as socially unacceptable
• Analyse major forms of social control – in particular the legal system and social responses to crime and punishment – in addition to analysing the forces that construct notions of social conformity
• Familiarise and respond to differential power structures and the relativity of crime and criminal behaviour
• Demonstrate the ways in which sociological insights can inform policy formulation and social engagement in these area.

Content

• Traditional sociological explanations of deviance
• Sociological evolution of deviance
• Rules and the normative dimension: 'kinds of people'; 'kinds of rules', notions of difference
• The modern context: the death of deviance
• Surveillance: Foucault and the postmodern world of post-deviance
• Feminism and deviance
• Law and deviance
• Crime, punishment and deviance
• Bodies and deviance
• Sex, sexuality, gender and deviance
• Minds and deviance
• Institutions: the church and the state and deviance

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Elective units are what turn a degree into your degree. They tailor your course to suit your strengths, interests and career goals. Here are the elective units we offer online.

Why do you need to study electives?

Through elective units you can explore subjects of interest that may not be included in the core structure of your degree. The electives you choose will enrich your understanding of your field of study and shape the way you think about the core units in your degree. Electives can be an opportunity to further specialise in a particular area or diversify your knowledge base.

When should you choose your electives?

It’s a good idea to plan your electives at the start of your degree – this way you get a clear idea of what you’ll have completed at the end of your studies. However, if you’re unsure what to choose, or need more time, you do have the option to select them as you go.

How do electives work?

As a student who’s majoring in Security and Counter Terrorism, you can choose twelve elective units. You can approach this in two ways:

• You might like to pick electives from a complimentary field of study. For example, you could choose subjects from another social science major. E.g., if you’re interested in human behaviour, you might like to enrol in units from Behavioural Studies major. However, you’ll need to double check the prerequisites to see if you’re eligible. You can do this here.
• OR you could take subjects that are unrelated to social science and give yourself a broad range of knowledge. For example, you could take units from the media and communications faculty, design, education, business, law and technology. To check what is available and whether you are eligible, check the list of units here.