POL574 Constitutionalism

Faculty of Social Studies
Spring 2017
Extent and Intensity
2/0/0. 7 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. et Mgr. Jiří Baroš, Ph.D. (lecturer)
JUDr. Mgr. Ivo Pospíšil, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
prof. PhDr. Stanislav Balík, Ph.D.
Division of Politology – Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Contact Person: Mgr. Lucie Pospíšilová
Supplier department: Department of Political Science – Faculty of Social Studies
Timetable
Wed 17:00–18:30 U41
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 30 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/30, only registered: 0/30, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/30
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives (in Czech)
Through this course, students will be able to understand the whole process of emergence of modern constitutionalism. They will be able to analyze crucial theoretical concepts (sovereignty, separation of powers, rule of law) connected with its history. Moreover, students will be able to critically evaluate disagreements in political philosophy and constitutional theory concerning such hot issues as legitimacy of constitutional review and constitutionalism at European level. At the end of this course, students shall be able to characterize the most important developments of modern constitutionalism within thorough, and philosophically non-naïve perspective.
Syllabus (in Czech)
  • 1. Introduction 2. Why Constitutionalism? Why Constitutional Democracy? 3. Ancient and Modern Constitutionalism. Sovereignty (JB) 4. American Constitutionalism 5. Rechstaat; German Constitutionalism 6. Holidays 7. Legitimacy of Constitutional Review – first discussion session 8. Czech Constitutionalism 9. European Constitutionalism 10. Nightfall of Constitutionalism? Unified Europe as a new model for constitutionalism 11. National Constitutional Courts or European Court of Justice? – Second discussion session 12. Limits of Constitutional Democracies: emergencies; demagoguery 13. Constitutionalism in V4 countries
Teaching methods (in Czech)
The course is taught in the form of lectures and seminars. Students are encouraged to participate actively in the seminars by posing questions of clarification and bringing up topics for discussion. Students are expected to read the required reading(s) for each seminar. Discussion sessions serve to improve the ability of students to summarize an issue and to evaluate it critically in a debate with their colleagues. Final papers serve to improve the ability of students to analyze a topic relevant to the course.
Assessment methods (in Czech)
Students will receive a final grading for the semester based on the following components: (1) Participation in two discussion sessions. (2) Final paper (3) Final written exam
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Spring 2013, Spring 2014, Spring 2015, Spring 2016, Spring 2018.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Spring 2017, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/fss/spring2017/POL574