SMNR: Cities, Law and Politics

• Semester: Spring 2023
• Course ID: 397S
• Credit Hours: 3
• Unique: 29674

Description

This is a Government course, cross-listed with the Law School.

The 21st century has been hailed the “century of the city”. The figures behind this label are mind boggling, considering that the world’s urban population has increased nearly thirtyfold since the early 1900s. This shift marks an unprecedented transformation of the organization of society, both spatially and geopolitically. This seminar offers an opportunity for students to engage with recent legal and social science scholarship concerning this global trend. Among the issues covered are the constitutional law and politics of city status in unitary and federal countries in the so-called “Global North” and “Global South”; the “right to the city” and its interpretations; self-empowerment attempts by cities (e.g. human rights cities, sanctuary cities, urban citizenship, participatory democracy); cities, city-networks and the transnational order; and the law and politics of the urban-rural divide. Evaluation will be based on participation, two short comment papers, and a final seminar paper.