2020/21
807 - Masters Centre of the Department of Law
8071 - Advanced Master in Legal Sciences
32063 - Global Law, Justice and Democracy
Jose Luis Martí Màrmol, Jahel Queralt Lange
Contents
The course is structured into 22 class periods of two hours each along 11 weeks, grouped into 4 parts. Every week there will be a general theme, a topic for discussion, and a list of required readings.
PART I: INTRODUCTION TO A NEW SCENARIO
Period 1: Introduction: Law, Justice and Legitimacy
No readings assigned
Period 2: A New Global Scenario for Law and Politics
Reading Assignments:
• Held, David and Anthony McGrew, “The Great Globalization Debate: An Introduction”, in Held, David and Anthony McGrew (eds), The Global Transformations Reader, London: Polity Press, 2003, pp. 1-14 and 32-42.
Further Optional Reading:
• Nye, Joseph. S., The Paradox of American Power: Why the World’s Only Superpower Can’t Go It Alone, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002: chapters 2 and 3.
Topic for discussion: How is globalization affecting/changing our nation states?
Period 3: The Digital Revolution
Reading Assignments:
• Benkler, Yochai, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, New Have: Yale University Press, 2006: ch. 1, pp. 1-28.
Further Optional Reading:
• Rheingold, Howard, Net Smart. How to Thrive Online, Cambridge (Mass.): MIT Press, 2012: introduction and chapters 4 and 5.
Topic for discussion: Will the new technologies change dramatically our political and legal institutions?
PART II: INTRODUCTION TO LAW
Period 4: The Law, Its Functions, and the Rule of Law
Reading assignments:
• Partington, M., “Law and society: the purposes and functions of law”, in Introduction to the English Legal System. 6th ed, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010: p.12-26.
Period 5: Legal Traditions, Sources of Law and Branches of the Law
Reading assignments:
• Wacks, Raymond, Law. A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008: pp. 1-28 and 36-66.
Topic for discussion: Should the rule of law be respected at any rate, even when the legal provisions to be enforced are unjust?
Period 6: Constitutionalism and Fundamental Rights
Reading assignments:
• Barendt, Eric, Introduction to Constitutional Law, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998: chap.1, pp. 1-25.
Further Optional Reading:
• Waluchow, Will, “Constitutionalism”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/constitutionalism/
Period 7: Legal Interpretation and Legal Indeterminacy
Reading assignments:
• Bobbitt, Philip, “Constitutional Law and Interpretation”, in Dennis M. Patterson (ed.), A Companion to Philosophy of Law and Legal Theory, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers, 1996.
Topic for discussion: Does the American constitution prohibit death penalty? Isn’t it a cruel and unusual punishment?
Period 8: Constitutional Rigidity, Judicial Review and the Democratic Objection
Class formal debate: Is it legitimate that high courts may strike down democratic legislation passed by our parliaments?
Reading assignments to be distributed among the participants in the debate:
• Dworkin, Ronald, Is Democracy Possible Here?, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006: chap. 5: pp. 127-159.
• Waldron, Jeremy, “The Core of the Case Against Judicial Review”, The Yale Law Journal, 115, 2006.
• Hirschl, Ran, “The Judicialization of Mega-Politics and the Rise of Political Courts”, Annual Review of Political Science, 11, 2008, pp. 93-118.
• Ferreres, Victor, “A Defense of Constitutional Rigidity”, Analisi e Diritto, 2000: pp. 45-68.
Further Optional Reading:
•Martí, José Luis, “Is Constitutional Rigidity the Problem? Democratic Legitimacy and the Last Word”, Ratio Juris, 2014, pp. 550-558.
• Sinnott Armstrong, Walter, “Weak and Strong Judicial Review”, Law and Philosophy, 22, 2003: 381-392.
Period 9: Criminal Law and Theories of Punishment
Reading assignments:
• Tebitt, Mark. “Responsibility and guilt”, in Philosophy of Law: an Introduction, London: Routledge, 2005: pp. 157-177.
Further Optional Reading:
• Duff, Antony, “Theories of Criminal Law”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/criminal-law/
• Husak, Douglas, Overcriminalization, Oxford University Press, 2008: pp. 3-33.
Topics for discussion: Are we criminalizing too much? Are we punishing too much?
Period 10: Paternalism, Perfectionism, and the Limits to State Intervention
Reading assignments:
• Dworkin, Gerald, “Paternalism”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paternalism/
Further Optional Reading:
• Husak, Douglas, “Four Points About Drug Legalization”, Criminal Justice Ethics, Winter/Spring 2003: pp. 21-29.
Topic for discussion: Should we decriminalize drugs?
PART III: THEORIES OF JUSTICE
Period 11: Theories of justice 1: Utilitarianism
Reading assignments:
• Sandel, Michael, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do?, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giraux, 2009: chaps. 1 and 2, pp. 3-57.
• Sandel on Torture: http://vimeo.com/52821463
Topic for discussion: Could torture be justifiable in some circumstances?
Period 12: Theories of justice 2: Liberal Egalitarianism
Reading assignments:
• Sandel, Michael, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do?, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giraux, 2009: chaps. 5 and 6, pp. 103-166.
Topic for discussion: Should natural lottery and tough luck be neutralized?
Period 13: Theories of justice 3: Libertarianism
Reading assignments:
• Sandel, Michael, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do?, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giraux, 2009: chapter 3, pp. 58-74.
• Sandel on markets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbBv2ZGC2VI
Further Optional Reading:
• Sandel, Michael, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do?, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giraux, 2009: chapter 4, pp. 75-102.
• Cohen, Gerald, “The Camping Trip”, in Why Not Socialism?, Princeton University Press, 2009, pp. 1-11.
Topic for discussion: Are there any limits to markets?
Period 14: Theories of Justice 4: Communitarianism, Nationalism, and Multiculturalism
Reading assignments:
• Sandel, Michael, Justice. What’s the Right Thing to Do?, New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giraux, 2009: chapter 9 and 10, pp. 208-271.
Topic for discussion: Should we protect the culture, language and practices of our communities?
Period 15: Theories of Justice 5: Republicanism
Reading assignments:
• Pettit, Philip, “Civic Republican Theory”, in José Luis Martí and Philip Pettit, A Political Philosophy in Public Life, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009: chap. 2, pp. 31-68.
Further Optional Reading:
• Pettit, Philip, “The Theory in Practice. Spain 2004-2008”, in José Luis Martí and Philip Pettit, A Political Philosophy in Public Life, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009: chap. 1.
Topic for discussion: How can we change a culture of domination?
Period 16: Theories of Justice 6: Feminism
Reading assignments:
• McAfee, Noëlle, “Feminist Political Philosophy”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminism-political/
Further Optional Reading:
• MacKinnon, Catherine, “Difference and Dominance: on Sex Discrimination”, in Feminism Unmodified. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987: pp.32-45.
Topic for discussion: Should we have female quotas in parliaments, courts, and corporations?
Period 17: The promise of Basic Income
Formal debate: Should we implement a system of basic income in order to bring justice to our societies, especially considering the technological and economic changes that we expect to happen in the next decades?
Reading assignments to be distributed among the participants in the debate:
•Van Parijs, Philippe, “Basic Income: A Simple and Powerful Idea for the 21st Century”, Politics & Society 32(1), 2004: pp. 8-39.
•Van Parijs, Philippe, “The Euro-dividend”, manuscript, and read also this interview http://www.euractiv.com/section/social-europe-jobs/interview/van-parijs-an-unconditional-basic-income-in-europe-will-help-end-the-crisis/
•Henderson, David, “A Philosophical Economist’s Case against a Government-Guaranteed Basic Income”, The Independent Review, 19(4), 2015: 489-502.
Further Optional Reading:
•Van Parijs, Philippe: Lecture on Universal Basic Income: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7nY0UWrSIA
PART IV: DEMOCRATIC LEGITIMACY AND THE GLOBAL ORDER
Period 18: Political Authority and Democratic Legitimacy
Reading assignments:
• Christiano, Thomas, “Democracy”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/democracy/
Further Optional Reading:
• Christiano, Thomas, “Authority”, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/authority/
Topic for discussion: Can technocratic institutions be legitimate?
Period 19: Policy Paper Presentations
No readings assigned
Period 20: Global Justice: World Poverty and Global Inequalities
Reading assignments:
• Risse, Mathias, Global Political Philosophy, Basignstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012: ch. 4, pp. 88-118.
Further Optional Reading:
• Singer, Peter, The Life You Can Save, Random House, 2009, chaps. 1, 2 and 3, pp. 3-42.
• Blake, Michael, “International distributive justice”, Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, accessible at: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/international-justice/
Topic for discussion: Have we duties of justice towards citizens of other countries?
Period 21: The Defense of National Sovereignty and National Democracies
Reading assignments:
• Miller, David, “Cosmopolitanism”, in Brown, Garrett Wallace and David Held (eds), The Cosmopolitanism Reader, London: Polity Press, 2010, pp. 377-392.
Further Optional Reading:
• Alvarez, José E., “State Sovereignty is Not Withering Away: A Few Lessons For the Future”, in Antonio Cassese (ed.), Realizing Utopia, OUP, 2012, pp. 26-37.
Period 22: Models of Global Governance
Formal debate: How the global order should be designed to be legitimate? Should we try to create a global democracy?
Reading assignments to be distributed among the participants in the debate:
• Dahl, Robert, “Can International Organizations be Democratic? A Skeptic’s View”, in Brown, Garrett Wallace and David Held (eds), The Cosmopolitanism Reader, London: Polity Press, 2010, pp. 423-434.
• Christiano, Thomas, “Is democratic legitimacy possible for international institutions?”, in Daniele Archibugi, Matthias Koenig-Archibugi and Raffaele Marchetti (eds), Global Democracy. Normative and Empirical Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011, pp. 69-95.
• Archibugi, Daniele, “Critical Debate on Cosmopolitan Democracy”, in The Global Commonwealth of Citizens, Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008, pp. 123-149.
• Falk, Richard and Andrew Strauss, “Toward Global Parliament”, Foreign Affairs, January/February 2001, pp. 212-220.
Further Optional Reading:
• Barber, Benjamin, “Why Mayors Should Rule the World?”, TEDTalk, 2013: http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_barber_why_mayors_should_rule_the_world