This seminar will deal comparatively with issues that first arose in a significant way in countries such as the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe after 1989, later with the most recent wave of democratization and redemocratization throughout the world (e.g., South Africa, Indonesia, Fiji, Northern Ireland, Iraq). It will consider the various configurations of political institutions in democratizing or redemocratizing countries, especially those divided by ethnic or religious affiliations. It will begin by exploring theories of constitutional and legal change and of the efficacy of constitutions as instruments of conflict management. Specific issues will include electoral systems; federalism and regional devolution; the presidential-parliamentary debate; costs and benefits of judicial review; the special issue of Islam and the state. There will be extensive discussion of the overarching question of adoptability and emphasis on the relations between processes of constitutional change and the content of the institutions adopted.

Cross-listed with Political Science.

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