Corsi di Studio del Dipartimento di Culture, Politica e Società

The course will provide students with a foundation in law and society in Asia, as one of the most instrumental and dynamic areas of today's world. Our objective is to facilitate a critical understanding of how law operates in Asian societies, and to prepare students for future engagement with the legal systems of Asian countries in various professional contexts. The first part of the course will focus on South Asia, and particularly on India, considering the main aspects of the legal system and the protection of fundamental rights.The second part will focus on Central Asian states and the connections between political and legal development, the role of the constitutional court, the patterns of rule of law and the protection of civil and social rights.

- Have acquired a sound knowledge of the legal systems of India and Central Asia in their various components.

- Be able to evaluate the role of legal, political and cultural spaces as means of achieving social change and social justice.

- Be able to illustrate how law is embedded in social life and to identify the nexus between law and culture, identity, religion, economy, and politics.

- Have acquired a deeper knowledge of various social science approaches to research into Asian laws.

- Getting acquainted with the key issues of legal and political development affecting law and society relationship in the Asian context.

 

The course includes two parts and will deal with the following topics.

 

Part I - India (prof. Francavilla)

- Methodological perspectives: legal pluralism and the interaction of different kinds of laws; the co-existence of formal and informal legal traditions; understanding Asian laws and the issue of Orientalism

- The Indian legal tradition: main concepts and historical evolution from the origins to the colonial period

- Contemporary Indian legal system: the Constitution and the protection of fundamental rights

- Hindu and Islamic personal laws in family matters: current challenges and the debate on the Uniform Civil Code

- The Adivasi communities in India: indigenous issues and development

 

Part II - Central Asia (prof. Collina)

- Historical and political background

- Legal and constitutional development after the fall of Soviet Union

- The evolution of constitutionalism and the role of constitutional courts

- Central Asian patterns of rule of law and the condition of social and civil rights

 

Lectures with the support of powerpoint presentations and, on some topics, of short videos. Class discussion of cases.

The slides of the lectures and other materials will be uploaded on the Moodle platform. Students are therefore invited to sign up on the Moodle platform as any communication will be circulated via Moodle.

 

EXAM

Attending students:

The final mark for attending students will be composed as follows:

- 1/3 class participation (group presentation or other activities indicated at the beginning of the course)

- 2/3 final written OR oral exam

Attending students can choose between a written exam (two open questions) to be taken soon after the end of the course or the oral exam during the regular exam sessions.

In both cases, students will be tested on the materials indicated on Moodle for attending students.

 

Non-attending students:


Oral exam only, non-attending students’ materials on Moodle

Please, refer to the Moodle page for texts and documents (attending and non-attending students)