GOVT 399 – Citizens, Judges, Juries: Who Decides in Democracy?

The tensions between rule by the people, rule by elites, and rule of law are at the core of democratic theory. What is the proper balance among the three? Under what circumstances is one group of decision makers better than another? What happens when they come into conflict? This is an upper-level course in political theory designed for students who have taken GOVT159, The Moral Basis of Politics or an equivalent course in philosophy and related disciplines. We will focus on the following topics: the role of voting in liberal democracies, the Athenian jury system, deliberative democracy, referendum and initiatives, civil disobedience, and the role of juries in the U.S. criminal justice system.