This course introduces students to the legal systems South Asia, and considers the relationship between law, governance and development in the region. 

 The course will cover key academic and policy debates about law and development in South Asia, including:

•  the general features of law and legal systems in countries of South Asia, including the influence of legal transplants, state-building and Rule of Law initiatives, revolutionary change, religious law, custom and tradition;

•  the multiple meanings of ‘law’ in the social, political, judicial and legislative contexts of the South Asia;

•  introduction to and critical consideration of theoretical frameworks employed to make sense of a diversity of social, economic and political conditions in the region, such as liberal-democratic theory, rights discourse, Rule of Law theory, Orientalism, postcolonial legal theory, and law and development discourses;

•  key issues relating to constitutionalism and state-building, including representative democracy, political movements and emerging civil society networks;

•  international territorial disputes, domestic challenges of regionalism, ethnic and/or sectarian strife;

•  law and human rights, including debates about the status and recognition of religious law, particularly those of gender discrimination and minority rights, and formal and informal justice mechanisms; and

•  the role of law in bringing socio-economic change, tackling wealth and power disparities, equitable use of natural resources and foreign aid, undermining elite control of the political economy.

At the end of the course, students will:

• have a broad comprehension of the general patterns in law and legal systems in South Asian countries, the influence of religion, custom and tradition, the colonial period, and contemporary state-building initiatives;

• be able to evaluate contemporary academic and policy debates about the status and recognition of religious law, customary law, international law, and domestic legislation, particularly as it relates to governance and state building, natural resource management, and human rights; 

• be able to access and analyse South Asian legal materials, and to employ a variety of tools and methodological approaches useful for legal research and practice in South Asian countries.

The proposed scheme of assessment will be:

• a reflective reading journal, due during and immediately after the teaching period.  Students will be required to make a number of short journal entries reflecting on the readings.  They will be required to discuss how what they read makes sense (or otherwise) and how it relates to what they are learning in lectures, in the wider media, and in other contexts (such as their workplace); and
• a large research assignment, due within two months after the teaching period.  This is designed to test the understanding and application of analytical frameworks developed through the course. The assignment topics will be based on the reading materials, which will be the subject of semi-structured discussions in the classroom.  Students may also determine their own assignment topic after consultation and approval by the course convenor.

Intensive (4 days) in-class delivery plus private study time.

none

Basic knowledge of law.  A basic understanding of the socio-political environment in South Asia would be advantageous but is not required.

The Course Convenor will prepare reading materials for the course. This is anticipated to be a number of volumes of reading materials of approximately 80 pages each:

 Book 1:           Introductory materials on South Asian history and legal systems

 Book 2:           Theoretical frameworks – especially liberal democratic constitutionalism, rights and Rule of Law, Orientalism, Post-colonial theory, and socio-legal approaches to law

 Book 3:           Constitutionalism and state-building (including representative democracy; rule of law; judicial structures; dispute resolution, conflict and peace-building)

 Book 4:           International law and human rights (gender, minority protection, crime and punishment, law and order)

 Book 5:           Law and development (socio-economic disparities, natural resource management, foreign aid, civil society and non-governmental sector)

students will require access to internet