Globalization is both a material and conceptual process that acts on and through the law. This seminar critically positions questions of the ‘global’ in conversation with the idea of law, legality and legal thought. Taking a historical approach, we will investigate how legal institutions and concepts evolved, travelled, and were transplanted across the globe in response to specific economic and political events and pressures. Students will critically engage with the process of ‘globalization’ and the concept of “global law” to explore how power is distributed through law across both hegemonic and oppressed legal jurisdictions. With an eye towards social and liberation movements, we will explore the extent to which global, local and ‘glocal’ law can be relied on to advance—and restrict—emancipatory projects. We will contextualize the course’s historical approach to understanding global interconnectedness and ideas of justice with an examination of the most pressing challenges to the stability of the ‘rules-based international order’ today, including the turn to populism and nationalism across the world and the recent intensification of political and genocidal violence in the Middle East, Ukraine/Russia and elsewhere.
Method of Evaluation:
(1) Attendance and participation in seminar: 25%
(2) Case study assignment: 75% divided across written components and an in-class oral component. Closely guided by the instructor, students will work iteratively over the course of the term to study and design an interactive case study module which they will then deliver in seminar. Assessment will be comprised by short written elements, including a research guide, critical policy analysis, and reflection, as well as in-class delivery of the module. As such, there will be no final evaluation.