法・政治(PEAK)

Session 1 will be a general introduction of the course. Part 1: Law　 The first half of the semester (sessions 2 through 7) will deal with various topics in the law and legal system, focusing on the significance of a legal system with Western origins operating in East Asian societies such as Japan. After reconstructing a history of how legal systems developed in these societies, the lectures will pick up certain themes with the aim of providing an overview of the field of law and jurisprudence. The following is a preliminary list of the planned topics. Specific topics subject to adjustment. Session 2: Law and Society: What is Law? Session 3: Japan, East Asia, and Law: Historical Overview Session 4: Why a Sovereign State? Civil and Criminal Law Session 5: The Realisation of Rights: Substantive and Procedural Law Session 6: The Control of State Power: Constitutional and Administrative Law Session 7: Global Society and the Law: International Law and Enforcement Part 2: Political Science The second half of the semester (sessions 8 through 13) is an introduction to political science. It aims at providing students with basic understanding of issues and theoretical concepts in political science. It also discusses features of Japanese politics from a comparative perspective. Session 8: Political regimes Topics: studying politics, democracy and autocracy, definition of democracy, populism Session 9: Political institutions Topics: functions of political institutions, parliamentary systems and presidential systems Session 10: Political parties Topics: role of political parties, policy positions of parties, coalition governments Session 11: Elections (1) Topics: voting behavior, rationality of voters Session 12: Elections (2) Topics: electoral systems, electoral engineering, electoral politics in Japan Session 13: Political participation and representation Topics: interest groups, logic of collective action, gender and politics

A mix of lecture and discussion. Some sessions will incorporate in-class group activities (such as small group discussions followed by reports back to the full class). In addition, each week we will post a Google Form for reactions to, comments on, or questions about the readings and/or class discussion. In accordance with PEAK policy, the first session will be conducted online, via Zoom. For all other sessions we plan to conduct the class in person. If circumstances necessitate, we may conduct either in hybrid format or online. In such a case, we plan to utilize synchronous Zoom meetings.

Written examination at the end of the semester. Class participation (including submission of comments via Google Forms) will also be taken into account.

Some of the topics we discuss can be sensitive and politically controversial. We ask you both to listen to others and to express yourself respectfully at all times. What happens in this class stays in this class.