LEARNING OUTCOMES

The lectures deal with structures, values and organization principles of the different political regimes and systems of government developed during the centuries in Europe and North America, as well as their following spread in different cultural environments. Moreover, the lectures deal with the basic elements of the constitutional theory.

AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

AIMS

The lectures aim to:

Introduce the knowledge of the constitutional theory, as well as the political regimes and systems of government, also in the light of the recent changes caused by both the devolution processes and the integration ones, especially at the European level; introduce to the concept of multi-level government;

Deepen the knowledge of both juridical principles and fundamental institutions of liberal-democracies, through their historical development, their different implementations and the problems they face in their implementation in countries without European cultural traditions;

Approach to the knowledge of both the political and party systems conditioning the working of a political regime, especially in the relations between Legislative and Executive power;

Understand the mechanisms of guarantee of the Constitution and their working, especially the role played by the bodies in charge of the constitutional review;

Deepen the rules and principles about rights and duties present in the constitutional texts and their practical consequences.

LEARNING OUTCOMES (in more detail):

After the lectures, the student should be able to:

Know and use accurately legal and constitutional language;

Develop skills of complementing each other the juridical, politicological and historical approach in the study of the items in question, in order to develop a good ability of critical and multidimensional analysis;

Understand and retrace socio-political and cultural reasons which made possible birth and development of the different political regimes, paying specific attention to the liberal-democracies;

Discern the different political regimes and systems of government and describe their working, also employing, where needed, extra-juridical scientific concepts (politicological, philosophical, etc.);

Apply accurately comparative methodology in both the analysis and the critical evaluation of juridical institutions and political structures in the countries that are subject of the lectures;

Retrace, explain and evaluate critically the real working of a constitutional system, through critical analysis of constitutional (or constitutionally relevant) texts, documents and customs, as well as of every other historical and factual significant element (political and party systems, political culture, etc.); 

Express thoroughly knowledge, opinions, problems and proposals, related to the discipline, to both expert speakers and not;

Possibly express reasoned and justified proposals of institutional reforms, in the light of both the knowledge and the comparative methodology he/she acquired.

PREREQUISITES

To deal effectively with the contents of the discipline, it's necessary to know the basic foundations of constitutional and public law, political thought, contemporary political and institutional history, political science (paying specific attention to the concepts of political system and party system); as well as the basic foundations of political and economical geography the student should have received in his/her previous study curriculum.

It could be so useful (although there isn't any legal obligation in that sense) to have already passed or to study simultaneously for the exams of "Principles of Public Law/Istituzioni di Diritto Pubblico".

TEACHING METHODS

The course is 60 hours long and gives 10 CFUs. The professor will mainly give lectures, but teaching activities can also consist of the analysis of legislative, administrative and jurisprudence texts. Lectures will be given in Italian and can possibly be complemented by slides. External lectures, speeches and congresses related to the discipline could be considered as part of the course. In this case, the professor will inform the students about them, during the lectures and through AulaWeb.

The attendance of the teaching activities isn't compulsory, but students attending the course will be provided with a specific programme, that will be communicated in class. 

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

The first part of the lectures will deal with the characters of the different constitutional systems, paying special attention to the democratic regime.

In relation to this model, the second part of the lectures will develop the topics of the systems of government,through an analysis of both structure and dynamics of some among the most important constitutional experiences.

The lectures will also deal with the European Union’s governance and the crisis of the Eurozone.

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

All students are required to further analyze the constitutional principles debated during the course by reading: 

For all categories of students, the study of the following texts is mandatory:

1) L. Cuocolo, Costituzioni, Egea, 2021.

2) T.E. Frosini (a cura di), Diritto pubblico comparato. Le democrazie stabilizzate, il Mulino, 2022 (all chapters). 

Students non attending the class will have to study also the following book: 

G.F. Ferrari, Le libertà – profili comparatistici, Giappichelli, Torino, 2011, chapters: IV, VI, VII, X, XIII, XVI, XXI, XXII.