This course focuses on understanding various systems of constitutionalism across the globe. We will read and discuss contemporary scholarship shaping the field of modern constitutional law. This course will contemplate the leading theories of constitutionalism, critical responses to them, constitution-making and how it has worked in various regions of the world in recent decades (Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, South Africa, Latin America), comparison of newer constitutional systems with more long-standing ones (US, Western Europe, India).  

The course will not focus on constitutional rights, but on the patterns of institutional design that makes them possible. Students in this course can expect more than to be reading the constitutions of various countries and comparing theoretical models. Instead, students will analyze choices of constitutional design, how they sustained themselves over time and the practical results they brought about.  

The core of the course is the purpose of a constitution and its role in a democratic society. The course will encourage students to explore new ways of thinking about constitutions and the role of constitutions in facilitating sustainable development and establishing the rule of law. The course will introduce the role of constitutional adjudication and how judicial review has shaped constitutional development in different contexts. We will discuss contemporary threats to constitutional democracy such as populism and authoritarian backsliding, how constitutionalism operates in transitional societies, and models of supranational constitutionalism.  

Throughout studying the constitutional development of various countries, we will consider the development of the Ukrainian constitution and the challenges that it has faced since 1996.  

The course presupposes knowledge of Ukrainian constitutional law. It is highly recommended that students recap the constitutional law of Ukraine before classes begin.  

The Rule of Law is the core element of contemporary legal ideology, oriented towards values of human rights, principles of legal certainty, limitation and accountability of public authorities, ideals of constitutionalism and democracy. Promotion of the Rule of Law in the modern world is one of the key missions of legal education. Studying the Rule of Law allows to understand the principles which guide the functioning of political and legal systems. This also enables students to better understand the tendencies of legal development and peculiarities of interaction between legal systems and their social environment.

The key feature of this course is that it reaches out to, and integrates, various fields of knowledge about legal and political philosophy, constitutionalism, and international law. The goal of this course is to offer a systemic picture of the Rule of Law in a broad context of contemporary political and legal systems, and not just as an isolated theoretical phenomenon.

In particular, the course aims at the following learning outcomes:

• To examine the political and legal development through the prism of criteria of the Rule of Law;
  
• To appraise political and legal value of the Rule of Law as an element of democratic societies;
  
• To debate about different versions of the Rule of Law, in particular to defend its “thin” and “thick” variations;
  
• To evaluate the law-making and the law-enforcement by applying the Rule of Law standards;
  
• To discuss different images and contents of the Rule of Law germane to domestic and international law;
  
• To form conceptual links between the Rule of Law, human rights, and constitutionalism.