Comparative Judicial Politics

This course will provide an overview of the major debates in comparative judicial politics. The primary goal is to familiarise students with principal questions and methodological approaches to the study of a major subfield in political science. This is not a course in constitutional law and we will not focus on the development of legal doctrines or the close reading of cases. Rather, the focus of this class will be on studying law and courts as a political institution and judges as political actors. The topics that may be covered will include: judicial behaviour, strategic decision-making, the global spread of judicial review, judicial independence, litigation and legal mobilisation, and judicial careers. The focus of this course will be comparative with an emphasis on advanced industrial democracies; however, we will discuss courts and legal systems in new democracies and authoritarian regimes as well.