POL 4492 is also offered in Fall 2024
POL 4492 is also offered in Fall 2022
Fall 2018 | POL 4492 Section 001: Law and (In)Justice in Latin America (33552)
- Instructor(s)
- Class Component:
- Lecture
- Credits:
- 3 Credits
- Grading Basis:
- A-F or Audit
- Instructor Consent:
- No Special Consent Required
- Instruction Mode:
- In Person Term Based
- Times and Locations:
Regular Academic Session
Tue,
Thu 02:30PM - 03:45PM
UMTC, West Bank
Blegen Hall 225
- Enrollment Status:
Closed (32 of 30 seats filled)
- Also Offered:
- Course Catalog Description:
- How law and justice function in contemporary Latin America. Similarities/differences within/between countries and issue areas. Causes behind varied outcomes. Effectiveness of different reform efforts. Transitional justice, judicial review, judicial independence, access to justice, criminal justice (police, courts, and prisons), corruption, non-state alternatives. Issues of class, race/ethnicity, and gender.
- Class Notes:
- http://classinfo.umn.edu/?hilbink+POL4492+Fall2018
- Class Description:
- Although democracy is the dominant form of government in Latin America today, most Latin American countries still suffer from a weak rule of law. Across the region, free and fair elections are held on a regular basis and few formal barriers to participation exist, but most countries are still a long way from offering full citizenship rights for all. Even in some of the largest and most economically developed cases, governments are often ineffective at providing basic rights protection, and state officials can abuse their power with impunity. Legal and judicial institutions are often partisan, corrupt, and/or inaccessible, leaving average citizens with no real recourse when their rights are violated. This course will examine, from various angles, how law and justice function in contemporary Latin America, highlighting similarities and differences within and between countries and issue areas. Students will reflect on and debate the causes behind the varied outcomes, as well as the effectiveness, actual and potential, of the different reform efforts that have been underway in the region since the 1980s. Specific topics to be addressed are transitional justice, judicial review, judicial independence, access to justice, criminal justice (including police, courts, and prisons), corruption, and non-state alternatives. Special attention will be paid to issues of race/ethnicity, class, and gender, as well as to what general lessons, if any, can be drawn from analyses of Latin American cases.
- Grading:
- 20% Midterm Exam
20% Final Exam
35% Reports/Papers
10% In-class Presentations
15% Class Participation
- Class Format:
- 40% Lecture
15% Film/Video
20% Discussion
10% Small Group Activities
15% Student Presentations
- Workload:
- 100 Pages Reading Per Week
12 Pages Writing Per Term
2 Exam(s)
1 Paper(s)
- Textbooks:
- https://bookstores.umn.edu/course-lookup/33552/1189
- Instructor Supplied Information Last Updated:
- 22 October 2012
ClassInfo Links - Fall 2018 Political Science Classes