Cancelled Comparative Emergency Laws
Course content
Do exceptional times require exceptional measures? And if so,
how can we limit the inevitable damage to the ordinary legal and
political system?
hese old constitutional questions are often conflated with the
recent phenome-non of global terrorism, but they pertain to a much
broader set of threats to the integrity of state and society, from
natural disasters, war, economic col-lapse to, more
controversially, migration and related issues.
This course offers a broad historical and geographic overview of
the concept of emergency laws from the Roman republic to
contemporary times, and from liberal democracies to autocracies.
Perhaps counter-intuitively, explicitly and pre-emptively
formulated emergency laws are not the prerogative of (Western)
liberal constitutional democracies, but can be found and are taken
seriously by decision-makers in very different types of states.
Balancing rights, procedural safeguards and freedom with security
in order to better re-spond to existential threats turns out to be
a fairly universal functional chal-lenge of any effective
state.
This course will examine different theories of emergency powers,
using vari-ous international case studies of exceptional crises.
We will examine how dif-ferent responses to exceptional security
threats have challenged liberal concepts of democracy and the rule
of law and, in some cases, international human rights law.
This underlying balancing is contrasted with the similar but
distinct calculation occurring in non-liberal entities.
In order to better understand how the State can or should respond
to inter-national terrorism and other security threats, this course
will examine the major theoretical paradigms of emergency powers:
the “extra-legal” model, the “legislative” model, the “neo-Roman”
model, the “rule-of-law” model, and the “authoritarian” model.
In turn, these models will be considered in connection with
specific historical events, in order to assess their effective-ness
and drawbacks in simultaneously responding to emergencies and
pro-tecting the constitutional status quo, that is upholding the
rule of law and/or liberal democratic values.
To this end, the course will focus on theoretical readings about
emergency powers, together with statutes, court judgments, and
historical accounts of extraordinary events. Case studies will
include the United States, Germany, Japan, France, China, Iran,
East Timor, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Sweden,
Argentina, and others in passing.
Knowledge:
- Identify and analyse complex and concrete legal
problems surrounding different states of emergency, in their
historical contexts;
- Present the wider policy and legal arguments behind the
different theoretical models of emergency powers;
- Put the current controversies about responses to terrorism into
historical, national, and international perspective, in order to
test the relevance of different emergency powers theories.
Skills:
- Analyse the impact of different emergency powers upon the
concept of liberal democracy and the rule of law, consider their
links to illiberal or authoritarian regimes, and understand their
relationships to the nature of the state itself;
- Argue carefully and logically for and against specific legal
positions in factual context, present the theoretical foundations
for those arguments, and make reasoned choices in terms of public
policy.
Competencies:
- Formulate and communicate ideas and legal issues;
- Utilize international and foreign legal materials, and
historical accounts, in a coherent, competent, and professional
way.
We follow the Socratic method and will thus rely heavily on student participation and informed discussions, as opposed to lectures. This means that students will have to do some reading and come prepared.
https://ucloud.univie.ac.at/index.php/s/X14tgSG7DbSeikW
Further information about the syllabus will appear in Absalon
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The course is suitable to normal law students, not least Erasmus students, in good standing, as well as interested students from political science, sociology, and related disciplines. No formal requirements are imposed.
Knowledge of constitutional and international law, and a sufficient command of English.
- Students enrolled at Faculty of Law: Self Service at KUnet
- Students enrolled at other UCPH faculties or Danish universities, who holds a pre-approval from their Study Board: Credit student application form
- All other students or professionals: Single subject application form (tuition fee apply)
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Type of assessment
-
Home assignment
- Type of assessment details
- Individual written assignment
- Aid
-
Read about the descriptions of the individual exam forms, including formal requirements, scope and deadlines in the exam catalogue
Read about practical exam conditions at KUnet
- Marking scale
- 7-point grading scale
- Censorship form
- No external censorship
Single subject courses (day)
- Category
- Hours
- Preparation
- 356,5
- Seminar
- 56
- English
- 412,5
Kursusinformation
- Language
- English
- Course number
- JJUA55302U
- ECTS
- 15 ECTS
- Programme level
- Full Degree Master
Full Degree Master choice
- Duration
-
1 semester
- Placement
- Autumn
- Price
-
- Students enrolled at Faculty of Law or holding a pre-approval: No tuition fee
- Professionals: Please visit our website
- Schedulegroup
-
Please see timetable for teaching time
- Studyboard
- Law
Contracting department
- Law
Contracting faculty
- Faculty of Law
Course Coordinator
- Ebrahim Afsah (13-6a6777666d6e7233666b78666d456f7a7733707a336970)
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