POL S 367 A: Comparative Law and Courts

Are you interested in why law and courts matter for politics and policy? This course will introduce you to comparative judicial politics: how law, courts, and politics interact in countries throughout the world. The class is a core course in the Law, Societies and Justice program.

We begin by critically examining the (ideal) functions of courts: to provide for “order,” resolve disputes, and to enforce legal norms. We then turn to constitutional politics in democracies, asking whether and how constitutional courts have changed national policies and empowered individuals with new rights. Next, we study the development of constitutional courts in countries that are undergoing transitions to democracy, transitioning to some as yet undefined system, as well as those in non-democracies. The final section of the course is devoted to law and courts in supranational and international contexts. In particular, students will explore an increasingly powerful supranational court, the European Court of Justice, which we will compare with the European Court of Human Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The course concludes with an examination of the International Criminal Court.

Required Reading: All required readings will be posted for free on Canvas. There are no required textbooks. There will be about 30 pages of reading per class session, and I will always provide reading questions to help guide you through the readings. These questions are not required for credit but should be considered a useful resource.