POL378H1S L0101

Topics in Comparative Politics II

Courts and Politics

Themes

Courts have increasingly come under the spotlight for settling political disputes. This course will introduce students to major developments in comparative judicial politics. Public law and judicial politics are growing subfields within the discipline of political science. The emphasis in this course would be on studying courts as political actors and institutions. We will study the multiple roles that courts play and the kind of disputes they resolve. Topics covered will include: courts as rights advocates; courts as arbiters of political disputes; courts as definers of identity; courts as shapers of public policy; courts as enforcers of international law and norms; and courts as umpires between different levels of government, to name a few. The course will survey a wide range of countries and societies, judgments from several apex courts, and political and legal analyses from a comparative perspective.

Texts

TBA

Format and Requirements

TBA

Prerequisites

1.0 credit in POL/ JPA/ JPF/ JPI/ JPR/ JPS/ JRA courses