Intensive Course: Human Rights and Human Dignity in East Asian Constitutional Law: Negotiating Liberal Modernity and Culture

Note: The add/drop date for this course is Monday, January 5 at 10:00 PM.

Course Location: Please see the "Intensive Course Schedule" under Schedules and Timetables (http://www.law.utoronto.ca/academic-programs/schedules).

Note: Attendance at intensive courses is mandatory for the duration of the course.  

The liberal East Asia, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, tells one of the most successful stories of the second and third wave of democratization. Their march toward liberal modernity and embrace of human rights have made the Asian Values debate obsolete. Universalism of human rights seems triumphant over particularism in this region. However, at a closer look, these countries show “iliberalness” on certain issues, despite variation among them. All retain the death penalty at varying degrees. Now only Taiwan has legalized the same sex marriage. How do we understand such apparent incoherence? Is cultural particularism irrelevant? Human dignity is a key concept in modern human rights discourse. It provides an excellent conceptual lens through which to observe the trajectory of fundamental rights protection in these societies. This course is both theoretical and jurisprudential. It will introduce theories of human dignity and human rights, as well as philosophical analysis of liberal modernity. Through these theories, we will study constitutional cases in these countries and how these cases engage the concept of human dignity. Through comparative study, this course will provide intellectual resources to observe the legal and cultural challenges in other parts of the world.