DDRO 25A42 - Comparative judicial politics : Governing with judges

This course will provide an overview of the major debates in comparative judicial politics and an introduction to the political science of law and courts, a branch of the discipline known as judicial politics. This is not a course on constitutional adjudication law, and the focus will not be on doctrinal analysis or close reading of cases (though cases will be discussed to illustrate and examine the topics of the course). Instead, constitutional courts will be evaluated as political institutions and judges as political actors. After theorizing judicial review by introducing students to concepts such as the government of judges, juristocracy, political constitutionalism, etc., specific cases will be studied. Topics include: judicial review models across time and space; constraints on judicial power; conflicts between constitutional courts and the other branches of government; decision making within the judicial hierarchy; judicial appointments. The focus of this course will be comparative with an emphasis on constitutional courts in advanced democracies; however, courts and legal systems in new democracies and authoritarian regimes will be discussed as well.
Nefeli LEFKOPOULOU
Séminaire
English
There are no required textbooks for this course. All course materials will be uploaded on the Sciences Po Moodle.
Spring 2023-2024
The module is run as a seminar. That means that everyone is expected to attend every class having completed the readings, ready to participate. - Class Participation: (worth 20 percent of the final grade) - 1 Individual or Group Oral Presentation (worth 40 percent of the final grade) - 1 Written Exam (worth 40 percent of the final grade)
Cappelletti M., Judicial Review in the Contemporary World, Indianapolis, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1971, xv+117 p.
Alec Stone Sweet (2000), Governing with Judges: Constitutional Politics in Europe. Oxford University Press.
Neal Tate C., Torbjorn Vallinder (1997), The Global Expansion of Judicial Power, New York University Press.
Ran Hirsch (2004), Towards Juristocracy. The Origins and Consequences of the New Constitutionalism, Harvard University Press.
Louis Favoreu (1989), Constitutional Review in Europe in Louis Henkin and Albert J Rosenthal, Constitutionalism and Rights, Columbia University Press.
Mark Tushnet (2000), Taking the Constitution Away From the Courts, Princeton University Press.
Georg Vanberg (2005), The Politics of Constitutional Review in Germany, Cambridge University Press.