This seminar is an introduction to the empirically-oriented study of the relationships between law and politics, and between politics and the design, behavior, and impact of legal institutions. Readings, which will include comparative as well as American studies, are organized in terms of topics such as (a) the political sources of the rule of law, judicial independence and constitutional courts; (b) typologies of legal systems and legal institutions; (c) the role of courts in politics and policymaking; (d) decision-making by judges and officials in other legal institutions, such as regulatory and administrative agencies; (e) the capacity of law and courts to affect policy and social change. In the course of addressing these topics, the seminar will familiarize students with prominent approaches to research and explanation in the “public law” subfield of political science.
Readings will be posted on B-Space, except for those from Robert A. Kagan, Adversarial Legalism, Harvard University Press, 2001, which enrolled students should purchase.