KDEC 9300 - Constitutional challenges: Law and politics in contemporary Middle East

The Arab uprisings of 2011 and subsequent events have placed questions of governance at the center of regional and even global attention. The questions raised are ones that have come up in other waves of constitution making in modern history. In this course, students will critically analyze Arab cases, using concepts such as state of exception, constitutional identity, the semi-presidential system subtypes, gender issues, and sectarianism. They will explore the interplay between the rulers and ruled and the transformative mechanisms that facilitated survival or removal of regimes after the uprisings. By examining successful and troubled cases, the course will shed light on the political struggles involved, the rationale behind the choices made in crafting the documents by the involved parties, and the impact of these choices on the society of each selected case. At the end of the course, students will have gained a comprehensive understanding of the factors that influenced the constitutional design and their impact on the region’s stability.

Each session is divided into a 45-minute lecture followed by an interactive discussion. In some lectures, guest speakers with experience in the discussed cases, such as Egypt, Tunisia, Iraq, and Lebanon, will be invited. Students will have the opportunity to engage in a discussion with the guest speakers after the lecture. To fully participate and benefit from the lectures, students are required to prepare the assigned readings beforehand.

The assessment will therefore consist of two components:

• Class Participation and Engagement 30%

Students will be assessed on their preparation for class, critical engagement with the assigned readings, contributions to class discussions, and ability to analyse and respond to the constitutional and political problems examined throughout the course. Particular attention will be given to their ability to formulate informed questions, engage constructively with competing arguments, and connect constitutional theory and institutional design with comparative experience and the political realities of the Middle East.

To make this component more structured, I have dedicated one session after the break to an Interactive Constitutional Design Exercise.

students will receive one constitutional-design problem case presenting a complex constitutional and political dilemma and two alternative constitutional options for addressing it.

The class of 25 students will be divided into two teams of size . Students will be invited to choose which constitutional option they wish to defend and will join the corresponding team. If necessary, the numbers will be adjusted to maintain a reasonable balance between the two teams.

Each team will work collectively to develop and defend the strongest possible constitutional case for its chosen option. The exercise will be organised through several rounds so that responsibility is distributed among the members of each team and all students have an opportunity to participate substantively.

The two-hour session will be structured as follows:

• 25 minutes – Team One: Presentation and defence of Constitutional Option A
• 25 minutes – Team Two: Presentation and defence of Constitutional Option B
• 25 minutes – Second Round: Further development and critical examination of the two constitutional options, led by different members of each team
• 25 minutes – Third Round: Direct cross-team debate, challenge, and rebuttal
• 20 minutes – Final Round: Questions to both teams, requiring them to defend, clarify, or reconsider aspects of their constitutional choices

The different rounds are intended to allow students within each team to divide responsibilities. The students presenting the initial constitutional position will therefore not necessarily be the same students leading the subsequent discussion and debate. With 12–13 students in each team, this structure should provide each student with a meaningful role while requiring the team to maintain a coherent collective constitutional position throughout the exercise.

The Interactive Constitutional Design Exercise will be evaluated collectively on a team basis. The assessment will focus on the team’s understanding of the constitutional problem, the coherence and persuasiveness of its constitutional reasoning, its engagement with course materials and comparative experience, its understanding of institutional consequences and trade-offs, the quality of its defence and rebuttal, and the effectiveness of its collective organisation.

There will deliberately be no predetermined “correct” option. The teams will be assessed on the quality of their constitutional analysis and their ability to construct, substantiate, and defend a reasoned institutional position, rather than on which constitutional option they choose.

To ensure that the exercise is entirely clear to the students and that they have sufficient time to organise their teams and divide responsibilities, a separate student handout setting out the case, the structure of the exercise, the different rounds, the expectations for each team, and the assessment criteria will be circulated in mid-September.

• Final Research Paper 70%

Students will submit a 3,000–3,500-word research paper addressing one of three questions provided by mid-September. The paper will constitute the principal assessment for the course and is intended to demonstrate the student’s ability to undertake sustained and independent analysis of a major question in constitutional design and politics.

Students will be expected to develop a clear and persuasive argument rather than provide a descriptive account of a constitutional system or political development. The paper should engage critically with relevant scholarly literature and course materials, situate constitutional rules and institutions within their political and historical context, and examine the relationship between constitutional design and political practice. Comparative analysis should be incorporated where appropriate.

The paper will be assessed on the strength and originality of the argument, depth of constitutional and political analysis, critical engagement with the academic literature, effective use of evidence and comparative material, coherence of structure, and clarity and precision of academic writing.

The workload is reasonable. Preparation of the readings is required each week and the final paper can be

planned in advance.

The reading for each class will not exceed a chapter or two journal articles.