Seminar in Comparative Politics: Comparative Judicial Politics

The performance of liberal democracies depends on large part on the judiciary, particulary Constitutional Courts. Courts can protect individual rights, define the powers of the legislative executive branches, and ensure the rule of law governs social and economic life. But courts typically enjoy neither the "purse nor the sword" and this often depend on other government agencies to enforce their decisions. In other words, the judicial independence necessary for courts to exert the salutary effects on democratic governance is often in question. This course examines these issues from a comparative perspective. In addition to the broad scholarly attention to these issues in the context of U.S. politics, a growing literature explores the interplay between courts, government, and society as a more general problem affecting democracies around the world. Based on this broad literature, we will discuss topics ranging from judicial legitimacy and compliance, judicial policy-making, the interaction between constitutional law and politics, separation of powers, and judicial norms and rules.
Course Attributes:

Seminar in Comparative Politics: Comparative Judicial Politics

POLITICAL SCIENCE 519

Section 01