Undergraduate Program Status
Elective | 4th year | Politics | |
Elective | 4th year | Politics |
This course explores the meaning of constitutionalism, its basic features, and its relationship to democracy. It is assumed that the central categories of constitutionalism – the constitution, basic rights, the rule of law, separation of powers, limited government, constitutional judiciary – are relevant for political science and political theory. While the course is organized largely around fundamental categories rather than country-specific case studies, the readings and lectures will raise topics that students are encouraged to apply to the analysis of their own or other countries, both in seminar discussions and in written work.
By the end of the course students will acquire an understanding of the key categories of constitutional democracy. These categories include concepts (constitutionalism, democracy, the rule of law), institutions (basic rights, governmental forms, constitutional judiciary), and processes (constitution- making, rights protection, constitutional culture). The concepts, institutions, and processes will be studied at state and supra-national levels. The intention is to help students of politics to master theoretical concepts, institutional arrangements and practices of constitutional democracy, in a manner that would enable them to make use of this knowledge in pursuing their more specific academic interests.