Insegnamento a.a. 2020-2021

Introduction:

• What are the obstacles to be overcome when studying the legal system of one country in the language of another? 
• What are the methods of classification used in comparative constitutional law?
• What are the constitutive elements of the State? How can we classify constitutions?
• What are constitutional statutes, ordinary statutes, law decrees, legislative decrees and delegated legislation?

Constitutional Amendment Processes:

• Should a constitution be easy or hard to amend?
• Are frequent amendments to a constitution a sign of strength or weakness in terms of constitutional development? Can constitutional amendments be ... unconstitutional?

Constitutional Development and Democratisation:

• What do we mean by ‘democratic transition and consolidation’ from a legal and political standpoint? What is the difference between a ‘formal’ and ‘substantive’ transition?
• What do the experiences across the globe tell us about how to draft and frame a constitution?
• What are the differences from a constitutional standpoint between democratic transitions today and those of Germany, Italy and Japan after WWII and Greece, Portugal and Spain in the 1970s?

Forms of State and Forms of Government:

• What do we mean in the context of comparative constitutional law with the expressions ‘form of state’ and ‘form of government’? Is there a preferred model of government and what are the advantages and drawbacks of ‘institutional transplanting’?
• What is preferable: a parliamentary, presidential or semi-presidential executive?

Electoral systems and Electoral Management Bodies:

• Should we give more emphasis to stability or to representation?
• What is preferable: First-Past-The-Post (FPTP), Two-Round Voting Systems (TRV), the Alternative Vote (AV) or systems of Proportional Representation (PR)?
• Who controls elections?

Federalism, Regionalism and Devolution:

• What are the distinguishing features between federalism, regionalism and devolution?
• After Brexit what is the future of the United Kingdom?

Constitutional and Supreme Courts: composition, role and functions:

• Who should be the guardian of the Constitution?
• Is it preferable to adopt a centralised or decentralised system of constitutional review? What role do constitutional courts play in transitions to democracy?
• Should constitutional courts be allowed to declare political parties unconstitutional?

Political, Economic and Civil Rights:

• Should rights and freedoms be enumerated?
• How does one balance different rights and freedoms? What do we mean by multi-level protection of rights.

• Know the structures of government also in a comparative perspective, Identify the main elements characterizing constitutional assets throughout Europe and North America.
• Explain the approach of different legal systems to individual rights and constitutional justice.
• Discuss the impact of major historical and philosophical events, such as the French Revolution, on the development of the constitutional structure of States.

• Provide advice and suggestions on essential elements of constitutional and political reform.
• Explain the aims of combining a diachronic and synchronic approach to legal knowledge.
• Apply basic comparative methods to their understanding of public law.
• Develop skills in legal reasoning.

• Face-to-face lectures
• Guest speaker's talks (in class or in distance)
• Case studies /Incidents (traditional, online)
• Individual assignments
• Group assignments

• We often have distinguished public law scholars hosed at Bocconi and therefore we take this opportunity for them to give talks to our class on specific topics.
• Students are required to orally present a case study (as part of a team) and furthermore, students have the option of writing a short take-home paper which must be handed in by the end of the semester break (length of up to 1500 words). 
• All classes are a combination of lectures and discussion.

Teaching materials

ATTENDING AND NOT ATTENDING STUDENTS