Instructors: Dr. Annette Schmitt
Event type:
Seminar
Displayed in timetable as:
Sem Constitutionalis
Language of instruction:
Englisch
Min. | Max. participants:
- | 30
Priority scheme: Senatsrichtlinie
Requirements / organisational issues:
The course is a compulsory elective in the following degree programs at the Department of Political Science:
- MA Politische Ökonomie und Internationale Beziehungen (module 2: Politische Institutionen und Prozesse, module 3: Normative und positive politische Theorie)
- MA Empirische Demokratieforschung (module 2: Pol. Institutionen und Prozesse, module 3: Normative und positive politische Theorie)
- MEd Sozialkunde (modulel 12: fachwissenschaftliche Vertiefung)
- in case of vacancies: Civic Studies, state examination
Contents:
In democracies, it is the demos who reigns. Although it is not all that clear who “the demos” is – the (majority of the) citizens or the (majority of the) elected members of parliament for instance –, nobody would seriously claim that the demos is constituted by the judges of the Constitutional Court.
Nonetheless, as few as five judges may have the legal authority to declare decisions made by the (absolute) majority of the members of (both houses of) parliament unconstitutional and, as such, null and void. Constitutional democracies are thus, under certain circumstances, “governed” by an unelected few.
In the course of this seminar, we will take a closer look at the concept and various conceptions of constitutional democracy. We will see what kind of provisions are protected by constitutions to what degree. And then we will learn what liberal philosophers have to say about the justifiability and justification of establishing a constitution as binding basic law and a constitutional court as its safeguard.
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