Seminar: MA Gewaltenteilung (Seminar 2) - Details

Seminar: MA Gewaltenteilung (Seminar 2) - Details

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In this course, we will examine how the separation of powers is reshaped when governments invoke a state of exception in the form of emergency decrees and delegated rule-making that reorder constitutional relationships.

Our focus will be historical and comparative. We will track how colonial administrations made “exception” a routine technique of governance and how those legal forms persist in postcolonial states. Case studies will center India and Pakistan, with comparative attention to other formerly colonized countries. The present moment—where crises are frequently cited to justify extraordinary measures—provides context, but it will not be our focus.

We will study typologies of emergency powers (Ferejohn & Pasquino), engage debates around Schmitt’s norm/exception dichotomy and its critics, and read later elaborations (Agamben; Reynolds). Alongside these theoretical foundations, we will read historical scholarship (Mark Condos; Nasser Hussain) to understand how emergency was normalized in imperial settings and adapted after independence.

We will also consider how aspirations for security, development, and administrative efficiency in postcolonial states complicate questions of legality and accountability. These ambitions reveal both the agency of political actors crafting exceptional regimes and the tensions they create for legislatures, courts, and the rule of law.

Throughout the semester, we will treat the state of exception not as an anomaly but as a recurring problem of constitutional design and political judgment. By the end of the course, students will be able to assess how exceptions alter institutional balances, trace their colonial genealogies and postcolonial afterlives.

All readings and class discussion will be in English.

Admission settings

The course is part of admission "Beschränkte Teilnehmendenanzahl: MA Gewaltenteilung (Seminar 2)".
The following rules apply for the admission:
  • The enrolment is possible from 15.09.2025, 00:01 to 26.10.2025, 23:59.
  • A defined number of seats will be assigned to these courses.
    The seats will be assigned in order of enrolment.