This course will focus thematically on the role of the courts and judiciary as a key component of governance reform in official development assistance. It poses the overarching question: is judicial reform failing and, if so, what can be done to improve it? It will critique the global and regional experiences of promoting the ‘rule of law’ in the ‘law and development’ discourse, otherwise variously called ‘judicial reform’ or ‘access to justice’ over the past fifty years. It will showcase and compare the regional experiences in Latin-America, the post-Soviet CIS countries, and Asia-Pacific.
The course will adopt a multi-disciplinary and political-economy perspective to interrogate the justifications for judicial reform against the available empirical evidence and the evidence of practice as case studied through the Asian Development Bank, AusAID and practitioners across Asia. Additionally, it will focus on the challenge of evaluating development generally and judicial reform specifically, and provide a meta-evaluation of development practice.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- critique the ‘theory’ and ‘practice’ of judicial reform;
- assess the global/regional experiences;
- evaluate the effectiveness of existing and alternative approaches;
- appraise the epistemological roles of empirical evidence and ideology in building development policy.
Indicative Assessment
- Class Participation (20) [LO null]
- 2 x Essays (4000 wds 40% each) (80) [LO null]
In response to COVID-19: Please note that Semester 2 Class Summary information (available under the classes tab) is as up to date as possible. Changes to Class Summaries not captured by this publication will be available to enrolled students via Wattle.
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Workload
Classes offered in non-standard sessions will be taught on an intensive base with compulsory contact hours (approximately 26 hours of face to face teaching). The course will also require advanced preparation through assigned readings. In total, it is anticipated that the hours required for completion of this course (class preparation, teaching and completion of assessment) will not exceed 120 hours.
Classes offered during semester periods are expected to have 3 contact hours per week.
Click here for the LLM Masters Program timetable.
Inherent Requirements
Not applicable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Armytage, L 2012, Reforming Justice: a Journey to Fairness in Asia, Cambridge University Press
Preliminary Reading
Students must rely on the approved Class Summary which will be posted to the Programs and Courses site approximately 2 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $4320 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2020 | $5760 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
