Brief Descriptions of Prepared Courses

Constitutional Theory

The U.S. Constitution has generated more scholarship, political controversies, case law, fierce loyalty and philosophical disputes than most other founding documents. This class seeks to understand why and traces the outlines of these conflicts. We will read champions, pragmatic defenders, and critics of the Constitution to understand why it emerged as such a flashpoint in U.S. American political thought and discourse. Towards the end of the course, we will look at the U.S. Constitution from an international and comparative vantage point.

Rights Mobilizations and their Critics

The objective of this course is to grapple with the ambiguity at the core of rights-demands by those excluded from prevailing national and international political orders. Rights-claims are always made in existing legal vernaculars while seeking to challenge the regimes whose infrastructure, language, and norms of fairness they are adopting. In this class, students will consider rights as an enduring legal form and as a specific, contextual political demand.

Law, Democracy, and Social Change

In an era that seems defined by both accelerated departures from standard democratic and legal procedures and by political gridlock, the question whether the legal system should serve as a bulwark of stability or a facilitator of changes already underway is the subject of intense debate. Is the law a useful tool for changing or stopping a society seemingly going into another direction? This course will cover theories of legal change in democratic societies and beyond and the complex relationship between economic factors, socio-cultural variables, and the legal system.