Law, Democracy and Citizenship (LY0013)

? Credit Points : 40 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LAW-3-LY0013

The aim of this course is to encourage students to think critically about the ways in which law relates to the formation and legitimation of the political communities in which we live. In particular, it asks how law contributes both to the 'who' and the 'how' of political community. In what ways is the construction of legal and constitutional order at different sites important to the various different levels of political community formation in the contemporary world - the state, the sub-state nation or region, the supranational (e.g. EU) and even the international or global? How, more generally, does law help to generate, or impede, understandings and practices of citizenship, or 'membership', and how does it encourage, or impede, democratic decision-making, more generally? Behind these questions lie even more general and deeper questions about the contemporary role of law and its relationship to politics. One the one hand, is law better able to reflect and convey some models of political community (e.g. liberal models) and the ideas of citizenship and democracy associated with these, than it can others (e.g. socialist or other communitarian models)? On the other hand, does the increasing dispersal of law to sites other than the traditional state site place a new and perhaps unmanageable burden upon law in general in the formation and legitimation of political community?
There are a number of possible affinities and synergies between this course and other Honours options - including Constitutional Law and Justice, Ethics and the Law

Entry Requirements

none

Subject Areas

Home subject area

Law, (School of Law, Schedule F)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 3rd year

? Delivery Period : Full Year (Blocks 1-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 19 weeks

First Class Information

Date	Start	End	Room	Area	Additional Information
24/09/2008	11:10	13:00	Seminar Room L03, Old College	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

The Course is concerned with the relation of law to political community. With how law contributes to the viability and legitimacy of the political communities within which we live. It has these learning objectives:

1) To develop knowledge and understanding of how law contributes to the
formation and practice of citizenship and to the development of democracy;

2) To enable students critically to discuss and evaluate for themselves
value positions with regard to the relationship between law and politics.