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Judicial Populism in Comparative Perspective (LAW-DS-JUDCOM-25)

LAW-DS-JUDCOM-25

Description

What are the necessary boundaries of judicial power? Should judges claim to speak for ‘the people’ when clashing with the political branches? Should they take into account public opinion in their decision-making and, if so, how? At what point does a deferential court abdicate its constitutional responsibilities? At what point does an activist one overstep them? Under conditions of rising populism worldwide, is the prospect of judicial overreach or underreach more worrisome? These are some of the questions we will tackle in this short course.

The course will critically assess the notion of judicial populism through applied case studies. Broadly understood as operating at the intersection of courts and populist practices, judicial populism’s conceptual boundaries remain muddled and identifying it in practice difficult. Opinions differ on whether it is just another name for judicial activism, on whether it is a binary or gradational concept, and on whether there can ever be a positive case made for judicial populism. The five highly participatory seminars will engage with state-of-the-art scholarship in this area and investigate comparative examples drawn from Europe, Asia, and North and South America. The course thus aims to encourage critical reflection on the distinctiveness of judicial populism as a category of analysis and on its explanatory power in the face of continued pressures on courts.

Course credits will be assigned on the basis of class attendance. 

Course reading list: https://readinglist.eui.eu/leganto/public/39EUI_INST/lists/2950248540008406?auth=SAML&idpCode=SAML_LEGANTO

First, Second & Third Term: registration from 22 to 26 September 2025

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