Undergraduate Module Descriptor

LAW2153: Law, Democracy and Populism: The Rise and Fall of Constitutional Democracy

This module descriptor refers to the 2021/2 academic year.

Module Aims

The main aims of this module are twofold. The first is to provide you with the opportunity to identify, understand and assess, from a legal and interdisciplinary perspective, the key components of constitutional democracy. The second, interrelated aim is to give you the tools to critically understand and analyse the defining features of contemporary populism and their implications on constitutional democracy. As such, the module will enable you to explore the relationship between constitutional democracy, populism and legal instruments and institutions, taken broadly, including constitutions and courts. In the same vein, the module will encourage you to reflect on the role of – and consequences of – populism on the exercise of public power in contemporary society. Focusing on the development of independent student research, a final aim of the module is to inculcate analytical, research and presentational skills.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

This module's assessment will evaluate your achievement of the ILOs listed here – you will see reference to these ILO numbers in the details of the assessment for this module.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to:
Module-Specific Skills1. Identify, explain and critically comprehend and assess the key components of constitutional democracy.
2. Demonstrate a critical understanding of contemporary populism as a legal phenomenon; and critically identify, comprehend and assess the main constitutional and legal implications of contemporary populism.
Discipline-Specific Skills3. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the role(s) of constitutions, courts and other legal instruments and institutions in a constitutional democracy.
4. Demonstrate a critical understanding of the relationship between populism and legal institutions through a legal and interdisciplinary lens.
Personal and Key Skills5. Research doctrine and (if applicable) case law; and select, integrate and present coherently, reflectively and succinctly, in writing, relevant concepts and arguments.
6. Prepare analytically compelling work that relies on diverse primary and secondary sources, employs appropriate interpretative techniques and presents a nuanced line of argument.
7. Engage in debate effectively and develop complex arguments and opinions with some guidance.

Indicative Reading List

This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.

  • Francis Fukuyama, “The End of History?” (1989) 16 The National Interest (Summer 1989) 3-18
  • Aziz Huq and Tom Ginsburg, “How to Lose a Constitutional Democracy” (2018) 65 UCLA Law Review 78-169
  • Samuel Issacharoff, “The Corruption of Popular Sovereignty” (2020) New York University School of Law Public Law & Legal Theory Research Paper Series Working Paper No 20-2 (forthcoming in International Journal of Constitutional Law)
  • Cas Mudde, “The Populist Zeitgeist” (2004) 39(4) Government and Opposition 541-563
  • Jan-Werner Müller, “’The People Must be Extracted from Within the People’: Reflections on Populism” (2014) 21(4) Constellations 483-493
  • Margaret Canovan, “Trust the People! Populism and the Two Faces of Democracy” (1999) 47(1) Political Studies 2-16
  • Nadia Urbinati, “Political Theory of Populism” 22 (2019) Annual Review of Political Science 111-127
  • Luigi Corrias, “Populism in a Constitutional Key: Constituent Power, Popular Sovereignty and Constitutional Identity” (2016) 12(1) European Constitutional Law Review 6-26
  • Gábor Halmai, “Populism, Authoritarianism and Constitutionalism” (2019) 20(3) German Law Journal 296-313
  • Kim Lane Scheppele, “The Opportunism of Populists and the Defense of Constitutional Liberalism” (2019) 20(3) German Law Journal 314-331
  • Paul Blokker, “Populism as a Constitutional Project” (2019) 17(2) International Journal of Constitutional Law 536-553
  • Bojan Bugaric, “Could Populism Be Good for Constitutional Democracy?” (2019) 15 Annual Review of Law and Social Science 41-58
  • Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism” (2002) 13(2) Journal of Democracy 51-65
  • Nancy Bermeo, “On Democratic Backsliding” (2016) 27(1) Journal of Democracy 5-19
  • Ming-Sung Kuo, “Against instantaneous democracy” (2019) 17(2) International Journal of Constitutional Law 554
  • Martin Loughlin, “The Contemporary Crisis of Constitutional Democracy” (2019) 39(2) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 435-454
  • Tarunabh Khaitan, “Executive Aggrandizement in Established Democracies: A Crisis of Liberal Democratic Constitutionalism” (2019) 17(1) International Journal of Constitutional Law 342-356