81806 - Global Constitutional Law

Learning outcomes

Globalization has led to a broad transfer of policy making authority from the domestic to the global sphere. This power shift has facilitated review by global authorities of domestic decisions, but has also shielded many global policy making processes from domestic monitoring and reviewing mechanisms.

The Course will examine the roles of domestic courts and institutions, global tribunals and arbitration panels, global monitoring bodies and other global organizations, private organizations and NGOs in responding to the accountability gaps and opportunities created by globalization.

The Course will provide students both with a critical view of GCL and with the instruments to comprehend the constitutional repercussions of GCL.

The Course will provide a critical view of GCL and it intends to provide students with the necessary instruments to comprehend the constitutional repercussions of GCL. Upon successful completion of the Course, students will be able to discuss and make arguments on central concepts, such as global constitutionalism and constituzionalization. Students will also have gained insight into key ideas and themes, such as post-democracy, and they will have developed a critical understanding of the polycentric and multi-level dimension of constitutional law.

In accordance with the degree program’s formative objectives, this Course will expand students’ legal culture, encouraging them to look beyond national boundaries by widening their reach to public law’s transnational dimension. This has become an essential skill for any legal profession. In particular, through this Course students will come to understand law as a social and cultural phenomenon, which is not necessarily confined to the national dimension.

Course contents

• Presentation and discussion of the different theories on the opposite trends described as internationalization of Constitutional law and constitutionalization of International Law.
• Presentation and discussion of four national Constitutional law categories which have changed due to the globalization on political and judicial decisions: popular sovereignty; rule of law; the role of the Parliaments; the role of the Constitutional courts.

The syllabus and course contents will be further illustrated at the beginning of the term.

Readings/Bibliography

Students are not expected to purchase a textbook.

Each week students will focus on a set of readings, made available by the Course convenor, Prof. Diletta Tega, via www.virtuale.unibo.it.

At the beginning of the course students will receive a syllabus (uploaded on www.virtuale.unibo.it) which will include a set of compulsory and optional readings.

Teaching methods

Classes will take place during the first semester, according to the schedule that will be published subsequently. Course units of the DSG programs taken place in the first semester will be organized as described at: https://www.unibo.it/en/university/covid-19-The-measures-adopted-by-the-University-of-Bologna/covid-misure-universita-di-bologna.

Lectures and discussions will be entirely in English.

The Course is discussion-based and topics will be introduced and coordinated by the course convenor, Professor Tega. Through a combination of seminal papers and domestic, as well as supranational case-law, students will discover the debate and controversies that make up Global Constitutional Law.

Students will be asked to actively participate in class discussions.

Students will occasionally have the possibility to engage in debates with experts and external guests.

Assessment methods

Course assessment

Student’s understanding and comprehension will be reviewed before the end of first term. The final assessment consists in a 'take home' essay, students will have few days to answer, in English, to two open-ended questions (out of six proposed) concerning topics addressed in class. Students will be able to use the material collected and analyzed in class. The essay will be then discussed by the student with Professor Tega.

• Students will have to use the material provided in class, via https://virtuale.unibo.it/.

• Professor Tega will assess the student’s capability to use the concepts discovered throughout the Course, as well as his/her capability to engage in a critical and well-structured discussion of the themes dealt with.

The overall grade will be based on the 'take-home' (the minimum vote to pass the written part is 18; the maximum is 30) and on an oral discussion, in English, of the essay.

• Grade range criteria:

  • 18-19: the student needs the professor’s support to prepare, develop and analyze the topics that are necessary for the written assessment. The student’s use of language is overall correct;
  • 20-24: the student can prepare, develop, and analyze issues autonomously, but only on a descriptive level. The student’s use of language is correct;
  • 25-29: the student can prepare, develop, and analyze the written assessment’s topics, as well as the ones examined throughout the Course. The student also shows an independent ability to critically assess and evaluate issues, and shows an appropriate use of specific terminology;
  • 30-30L: the student can prepare, develop, and analyze the written assessment’s topics, as well as the ones examined throughout the Course. The student also shows an independent ability to critically assess, evaluate, and connect issues. He/she fully masters specific terminology, has good reasoning skills, and is able to support an autonomous scientific position that is founded upon the themes examined in class.

If requested, further assesment methods will be put in place for students with different abilities, who will be accommodated as much as possible.

Students are highly recommended to attend lectures regularly.

Students who will not attend lectures will be assessed through an oral exam during the ordinary exam session.

Final Thesis

The thesis topic is established together with Professor Tega. Drafting arrangements will be laid out in accordance with the Professor. The final thesis will have to be submitted to the Professor at least one month prior to the delivery to the administration office.

Note for Socrates/Erasmus students

Outcoming students – Students who intend to participate in the Socrates/Erasmus program will have to arrange beforehand a program with the Professor. The latter will be evaluated once the study abroad period will have come to an end.

Incoming students – No other program is foreseen other than the one indicated above.

Teaching tools

Professor Tega will use slides in class.

If requested, further learning support will be given to students with disabilities, who will be accommodated as much as possible (for example, personalized exam provisions may be put in place).

Office hours

See the website of Diletta Tega