STV4222 ¨C International and Comparative Judicial Politics

Course content

Courts are important institutions in both international and comparative politics. The judicialization of politics means that international and domestic courts are ruling on important political issues and checking the power of legislatures and governments. For instance, in 2022, the Supreme Court of the United States removed the federal protection of the right to abortion in the United States by overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. In 2020, six Portuguese youth challenged 33 European states before the European Court of Human Rights for failing to adopt the urgent measures needed in response to limit climate change. The rulings of the European Court of Justice have for decades been important in advancing European integration.?

Yet, judicial power is often limited by courts¡¯ reliance on other actors to implement their decisions and by their vulnerability to political attacks. Currently, efforts to undermine the independence of domestic courts is at the core of democratic backsliding in countries such as Poland and several international courts are threatened by backlash and resistance from important member states.In this course, we will examine core political science questions concerning judicial decision making and judicial power: What explains the judicialization of politics? To what extent do ideological and strategic considerations influence how judges decide cases? Under what conditions are courts able to constrain other political actors? What is the policy impact of judicial decisions and what can judges do to increase their impact? The course does not focus on any particular set of courts or legal systems, but instead centres on these common sets of questions that animate the judicial politics literature concerned with international and domestic courts.Through a set of five home assignments that will also serve as a portfolio exam, students will get hands-on experience linking theoretical constructs to empirical measures, identifying research questions from existing theoretical debates, and applying empirical methods to existing datasets.

Learning outcome

Knowledge

After having completed the course, students will have knowledge about core questions, theories, and concepts in the study of judicial politics.

• Political science theories about how judges decide cases
• Limits and opportunities for judicial independence, judicial power, and judicial impact
• What explains public support for courts and what can courts do to increase their support?
• Data types and research methods frequently used to test predictions from theories of judicial politics

Skills

After having completed the course, students will be able to:

• Apply theoretical concepts to empirical cases
• Apply empirical methods to address theoretically relevant political science questions
• Identify research questions linked to larger theoretical debates

General Competence

After having completed the course, students have experience:

• Receiving and providing feedback
• Critically evaluating theoretical and empirical claims encountered in journal articles

Teaching

10 Lectures/Plenary Sessions:

• Explain and elaborate key insights from assigned readings
• Connect insights from readings to real-world examples
• In-class discussions

Compulsory activities

• Attend first lecture

• Attend six of the following nine lectures

Home assignments:

• Four written home assignments (1000-1500 words each) and one poster presentation in the last session of the course
• Focus on applying concepts to real-world cases, doing simple analyses, and identifying research questions
• Peer feedback on home assignments

?

Absence from compulsory activities:For many courses, UiO requires participation in the form of compulsory activities. These must be approved before you can sit for the examination.If you are ill or have another valid reason for being absent from compulsory activities, your absence may be approved or the compulsory activity may be postponed.Report absence from or the need for a postponed deadline on a compulsory activity?Absence from compulsory activities - University of Oslo (uio.no)

Examination

Revised home assignments have to be submitted as a portfolio exam at the end of the course. The poster presentation is also evaluated as part of the portfolio exam.

Language of examination

You submit your response in English.

Grading scale

Grading scale

Grades are awarded on a scale from A to F, where A is the best grade and F?is a fail. Read more about?the grading system.

Resit an examination

Resit an examination

• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Resitting an examination

More about examinations at UiO

• Use of sources and citations
• Special exam arrangements due to individual needs
• Withdrawal from an exam
• Illness at exams / postponed exams
• Explanation of grades and appeals
• Resitting an exam
• Cheating/attempted cheating

You will find further guides and resources at the web page on examinations at UiO.