COMPARATIVE JUDICIAL POLITICS

Catalog description

Courts have increasingly come under the spotlight for settling political disputes. From temporarily restraining Donald Trump's travel ban in the US to outlawing the practice of triple talaq (three instant divorces) in India, to dismissing elected premiers in Pakistan and Thailand, to propping up dictators in Latin America, courts have come to play a preeminent role in politics. 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: judicial review, judicial independence, courts as rights advocates, courts as arbiters of political disputes, 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 analysis from a comparative perspective. Students will develop analytical thinking skills through evaluating concepts and literature in political science. Students will also gain skills in research and debate.