POLS279

Social Science (SS)

This course examines the meaning, evolution, and practice of the ideas of due process and habeas corpus, tracing their development from antiquity through the United States Constitution to their modern applications in the United States and around the world. The course requires no previous training in politics, law, or history. We examine foundational documents and scholarly analyses to assess how social, political, and legal systems have understood a state’s obligation to provide fair procedure in cases having potential to deprive individuals of life, liberty, or property. These documents may include selections from Aristotle’s Politics and Rhetoric, the Athenian Constitution, the Justinian Code, the Magna Carta, the United States Constitution, opinions of the United States Supreme Court and other judicial bodies, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Convention. We also read narrative literature, which may include Dickens’s Tale of Two Cities, Kafka’s The Trial, or Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, to lend immediacy to our analysis. The course connects these traditions to contemporary debates, including national security detention, immigration enforcement and deportation, police practices, acts of war, and the role of courts in emergencies.