Course List

This new course explores the relationship between democracy and the rule of law. Where the rule of law functions properly, elected officials and citizens alike are subject to the limits imposed by the constitution. In contexts where the rule of law fails, however, two different types of problems emerge. On the one hand, innocent politicians and citizens may be punished —think “show trials” and “witch hunts” under classic authoritarianism, or today’s so-called “weaponized” courts under democracy. On the other hand, failures of the rule of law may also result in protecting guilty politicians and powerful elites from accountability—think of the rampant impunity for corruption that plagues much of the developing world. This course draws on multiple literatures in law, economics, history, and political science to understand both the successes and failures of the rule of law within democracies around the world.