VCE Global politics units - Unites 3 & 4 - Global actors & challenges

Identifies resources and search strategies to access relevant items for the VCE Global politics - Global actors & challenges

Key terms

See the VCE Australian & global politics study design booklet (page 32) for a definition of countries included within Asia- Pacific and for details relating to the requirements for the analysis of a specified country regarding the use of power to serve their national interest and how those interests have been shaped.

For definitions of key terms see

Encyclopedia of modern political thought (2 volumes)
search for definitions in the Oxford English dictionary or the Macquarie dictionary
search across all the online encyclopedias in the Gale Virtual Reference Library
- sovereignty
- national interest
- power
- security
- idealism
- pragmatism
- nation-state and a second definition

Overview of resources

Whichever country and issue is chosen, there will be a range of material available in books, journal articles, newspapers and websites.

Countries

For a broad overview of any of the countries see:

official government websites.
- these are written by the ruling government and so will reflect a positive view of the government's activities, but these websites are also detailed and give in depth information on policies, administration and the structure of government.
- these sites will have .gov or .go in their address, for example
  - Japan https://www.japan.go.jp/ ; Australia https://www.australia.gov.au/
CIA World factbook
- provides brief overview on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military of countries across the world
politics & government
- search under this topic for any country to find general books
  - for example politics government China, limited to the ebooks search scope
  - choose 'Books etc' from Search scope to expand results to include print books

Issues

researching and analysing national responses to particular political issues can be a complex task
research will involve a range of searches using a variety of keywords
because political issues are widely written about use quite specific keywords and vary keywords across a number of searches

Search example

Issues around artificial islands in the South China Sea

when searching for books only use a few keywords as there will be fewer books on the topic and they will tend to be catalogued using quite broad terms
there will be a vast amount of articles so use a range of keywords and be reasonably specific
if using the 'article search' through our Library catalogue refine your search to 'peer reviewed journals' for the most scholarly

Examples of search results in this topic.

ebooks using broad search terms 'South China Sea'
- Hiebert, M., Nguyen, P., Poling, G., (editors) Perspectives on the South China Sea : diplomatic, legal, and security dimensions of the dispute (up to 60 pages can be saved and kept)
- Hayton, B. The South China Sea : the struggle for power in Asia (up to 100 pages can be saved and kept)
expand search scope to 'Books, etc.' to include print books as well

use the 'articles' scope to find full text journal articles
- searching using terms "South China Sea" "artificial islands" found some interesting articles
  - McCoy, A Circles of steel, castles of vanity: the geopolitics of military bases on the South China Sea. The Journal of Asian Studies 75(4) 2016, 975-1017.
  - Ningbo, W. China's rights and interests in the South China Sea: challenges and policy responses. Australian Journal of Maritime and Ocean Affairs, 8(4) 2016, 286-297.
- searching using terms "South China Sea" strategy policy found relevant articles
  - Fangyin, Z. Between assertiveness and self‐restraint: understanding China's South China Sea policy. International Affairs, 92(4) 2016, pp.869-890
  - Morton, K. China's ambition in the South China Sea: Is a legitimate maritime order possible? International Affairs, 92(4), 2016, 909-940.
  - Goldstein, L. Chinese Naval Strategy in the South China Sea: an abundance of noise and smoke, but little fire., Contemporary Southeast Asia, 33(3), 2011, 320-347.
  - Dinh, J. L. China's dilemma in the south china sea and the arbitration tribunal - implications on China's regional strategy in South-East Asia. International Journal of China Studies, 7(3), 2016 pp. 301-318.

Permanent Court of Arbitration The South China Sea Arbitration (The Republic of Philippines v. The People's Republic of China)
- Chinese response to the ruling. Inherently biased and unjust 'piece of paper'. China Daily July 13 2016.

Key online resources

Listed below are key online resources accessible through the Library.

Library catalogue

Use our catalogue to search for online articles across our databases. Advanced search is the best option

Use the 'Refine results by filters' to focus your search

Change scopes to locate different types of material. For example ebooks or print books

Online databases

ProQuest
Excellent current database. Strong content on international affairs and issues
General OneFile (Gale)
Browse international and Australian coverage of full-text news and journal articles on a wide range of topics across all subjects, plus encyclopaedias and reference ebooks.
Academic OneFile (Gale)
Access a comprehensive source of peer-reviewed full-text scholarly content across the academic disciplines.
ProQuest Australia & New Zealand Newsstream
Find full-text articles from Australian and New Zealand newspapers, including The Age (1996— ), Herald Sun (2001— ), The Australian (2001— ), The Sydney Morning Herald (1996— ) and ABC news program transcripts.
Coverage varies between titles. Text only, no pictures or ads.
ProQuest International Newspapers
Access a single search portal across the ProQuest Australia & New Zealand, Canadian, International, and US Newsstream databases featuring full-text editions of thousands of newspapers from across the globe.
Coverage varies between titles. Text only, no pictures or ads.
Informit Search
Search Australian magazines, journals and newspapers on all topics including public affairs, law, education, business, engineering, health, families and humanities. See our Informit Guide for further details.