Asian Constitutionalism and Development (LAWS90302)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5Not available in 2024
About this subject
Overview
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Early on in the 2000s, many commentators predicted that the 21st century would experience the ‘rise of Asia’. This assessment was based on several factors, including the growing dominance of Asian nations such as China and India in several spheres, including the growth of their domestic populations, their domestic economies, and their increasing power on the geo-political stage. Nearly a quarter century on, it is time to assess the strength of such claims.
This subject seeks to do so by providing an overview of the theory and practice of constitutionalism focusing on the experience of four Asian jurisdictions, drawn from South and Southeast Asia: India, Indonesia, Singapore and Sri Lanka. Two of these are among the largest, most pluralistic nations in the world, while the remaining two are small island states. All four nations experienced long periods of colonial rule, which continues to have a decisive impact on their post-colonial legal and constitutional orders. The experience of colonialism contrasts quite starkly from those nations which were settler colonies, and this is an important focus of the course. In each of these nations, discussions about constitutionalism have become enmeshed within larger societal debates about economic development, cultural values, and human rights.
Principal topics will may include:
- Overview of the field of comparative constitutionalism, and methodological approaches to the discipline.
- A broad introduction to the four jurisdictions, covering national histories, and their economic, social and political dimensions.
- The colonial experience in the four jurisdictions and the nature of the colonial economy, and its politics.
- The process of decolonisation and the constitutional politics that was engendered as a result.
- An examination of the post-colonial constitutions adopted in these countries, with an emphasis on rights provisions.
- Broad overview of post-colonial trajectories of the four jurisdictions, and their assessments by scholars.
- The policies of economic development that were followed and the impact on constitutional politics.
- Debates about culture, human rights and ‘Asian Values’.
- Analysing more recent trends towards populism and authoritarianism in all four nations.
Intended learning outcomes
On completion of this subject, students should be able to:
- Discuss methodological approaches and participate in debates in the field of comparative constitutional law and rights;
- Recognise and evaluate the complex factors that can impact the constitutional health of a polity;
- Compare and critically assess the competing pressures inherit in securing economic development and entrenching forms of liberal constitutionalism;
- Critically analyse the continuing influence of patterns of colonialism on the contemporary legal orders of former colonies, and distinguish between policies in settler and non-settler colonies;
- Examine and characterise recent constitutional politics involved in the move towards populism and authoritarianism in India, Singapore, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
Generic skills
- Be exposed to a range of factors that affect the development of constitutional orders, in ways that may be surprising to those trained in nations where the development of systems of social welfare preceded the creation of a nation state;
- Obtain a sense of the complexity of factors that are posed by the simultaneous study of constitutional law and political economy;
- Have the cognitive and technical skills to generate critical and creative ideas relating to comparative constitutional law and rights, and to critically evaluate existing legal theories, principles and concepts with creativity and autonomy;
- Develop an advanced level of understanding of constitutional politics to complement the knowledge of the students' own constitutional system.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Recommended background knowledge
This course subject focuses on public law (constitutional and administrative law) and it is an advantage for students to have taken an undergraduate course on constitutional law.
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The University of Melbourne is committed to providing students with reasonable adjustments to assessment and participation under the Disability Standards for Education (2005), and the Assessment and Results Policy (MPF1326). Students are expected to meet the core participation requirements for their course. These can be viewed under Entry and Participation Requirements for the course outlines in the Handbook.
Further details on how to seek academic adjustments can be found on the Student Equity and Disability Support website: http://services.unimelb.edu.au/student-equity/home
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
Class Participation | Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Reflective essays on the assigned readings.
| During the teaching period | 20% |
Take-home Exam
| 10-13 January 2025 | 70% |
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
Not available in 2024
What do these dates mean
Visit this webpage to find out about these key dates, including how they impact on:
- Your tuition fees, academic transcript and statements.
- And for Commonwealth Supported students, your:
- Student Learning Entitlement. This applies to all students enrolled in a Commonwealth Supported Place (CSP).
Subjects withdrawn after the census date (including up to the ‘last day to withdraw without fail’) count toward the Student Learning Entitlement.
Additional delivery details
Please refer to the Melbourne Law Masters enrolment webpage for further information about re-enrolment, subject quotas and waitlists.
Melbourne Law School may reserve places in a subject for incoming international cohorts or where a subject is core to a specialisation with limited alternate options.
Last updated: 4 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
- Links to additional information
- Available through the Community Access Program
About the Community Access Program (CAP)
This subject is available through the Community Access Program (also called Single Subject Studies) which allows you to enrol in single subjects offered by the University of Melbourne, without the commitment required to complete a whole degree.
Please note Single Subject Studies via Community Access Program is not available to student visa holders or applicants
Entry requirements including prerequisites may apply. Please refer to the CAP applications page for further information.
Additional information for this subject
If subject coordinator approval is required, or for further information about Community Access Program study, please contact us
- Available to Study Abroad and/or Study Exchange Students
Last updated: 4 March 2025