Constitutional Design and Democracy (LAWS90304)
Graduate courseworkPoints: 12.5On Campus (Parkville)
About this subject
Contact information
April
Teaching staff:
Tomás Daly (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
Overview
| Availability(Quotas apply) | April |
|---|---|
| Fees | Look up fees |
If constitutional law can be used to erode a democratic system, can it also be used to make it more resilient?
This subject deals with the relationship between constitutional design and the decay and strengthening of democracy, from an international perspective. For years, democratic decay — the ‘slow death’ of liberal democracy — has been a central preoccupation in comparative constitutional law, affecting states across the Global North and Global South as diverse as the USA, Poland, Brazil, India and Indonesia, while democratic disruption has affected states such as Australia, Germany and the UK.
We will focus on how constitutional law and constitutional thought has been central to understanding these dynamics. Further, we concentrate on how constitutional law is central to understanding the rapidly developing global discourse on how to restore, renew, and strengthen democracy through legal and institutional reform and re-design. We will address questions about the processes of constitutional amendment, the place of legislatures in constitutional decay and renewal, the roles of independent courts and state bodies as democracy-protectors, channels for public participation, and the potential and limitations of constitutional design to ‘build in’ resilience.
Indicative list of principal topics:
- The scope of the field;
- Comparative international context;
- How democratic decay and backsliding are defined;
- The role of constitutional law and reform in anti-democratic governments’ undermining of democratic systems;
- The challenge of repairing ‘constitutional damage’ and whether extreme measures can be justified;
- The capacity and potential of constitutional design to more broadly strengthen and renew democratic systems through institutional transformation;
- How redesigning core state institutions (e.g. courts) relates to democratic innovations to enhance citizen participation and public deliberation;
- Case studies.
Intended learning outcomes
A student who has successfully completed this subject should be able to:
- Analyse the dynamics of democratic regression, globally and in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.
- Critically engage with the rapidly expanding scholarship on the role of law, especially constitutional law, in these dynamics.
- Evaluate the relationship between constitutional law and democratic governance, including different dimensions of representative, participatory, and deliberative democracy.
- Assess and critique the history and development of what have become 'standard' democratic institutions and how the practice of constitutional design has developed, especially since the 1990s.
- Discuss and engage in critical emerging debates on the role and limitations of constitutional design in repairing, and enhancing the resilience of, contemporary democratic systems.
- Analyse and communicate effectively these developments and the academic commentary on them from a comparative perspective.
Generic skills
- A capacity to identify, understand and evaluate major new developments in public law.
- The ability to think conceptually and analytically about the relationship between institutions, and between institutions and citizens, in public law.
- An appreciation of how principle and practice change over time and the ability to analyse how and why.
- Advanced research skills in understanding and explaining institutional and socio-legal arrangements in sufficient detail to be reliable for the purposes of sustaining an argument.
- An ability to think creatively about problems and solutions that lie at the interface between public law and different research fields and disciplines.
- Skills in the application of comparative method.
Last updated: 28 March 2025
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
Corequisites
Non-allowed subjects
Recommended background knowledge
Applicants without legal qualifications should note that subjects are taught at an advanced graduate level and requires a thorough background in common law. While efforts are made to meet the needs of students trained in other fields, teaching and assessment activities are designed to give an advanced and integrated understanding of the discipline of law for legal practitioners, learners and researchers.
A common law background is not required to study this subject.
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: 28 March 2025
Assessment
| Description | Timing | Percentage |
|---|---|---|
A group role-play activity focused on constitutional design.
| During the teaching period | 20% |
OPTION 1: Take-home Exam
| 23 - 26 May 2025 | 80% |
OPTION 2 - Research Paper
| 4 June 2025 | 80% |
| Hurdle requirement: A minimum of 75% attendance is required. | N/A |
Additional details
Note: Students must choose assessment from the options listed above. If an option contains parts, all parts must be completed if that option is chosen.
Last updated: 28 March 2025
Quotas apply to this subject
Dates & times
- April
Principal coordinator Tom Daly Mode of delivery On Campus (Parkville) Contact hours 34 Total time commitment 150 hours Pre teaching start date 12 March 2025 Pre teaching requirements Please refer to Canvas LMS to check on the pre-class readings and preparatory learning activities before the teaching period commences. Teaching period 9 April 2025 to 15 April 2025 Last self-enrol date 17 March 2025 Census date 11 April 2025 Last date to withdraw without fail 23 May 2025 Assessment period ends 27 June 2025 April contact information
Teaching staff:
Tomás Daly (Subject Coordinator)
For current student enquiries, contact the Law School Academic Support Office
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: 28 March 2025
Further information
- Texts
- Related Handbook entries
This subject contributes to the following:
Type Name Course Graduate Diploma in Government Law Course Master of Laws Course Graduate Diploma in Laws Course Master of Public and International Law Course Juris Doctor - 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: 28 March 2025