 2015 - 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| 1031-3857-01 | Potential Conflicts Between Principles of Democracy& Rights | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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University credit hours: 2.0
Course description
The social unrest of the summer of 2011 in several western democracies, Israel included, has raised important questions for political scientists, such as the feasibility of social change, the ways to get there, and the institutions that should have the authority to bring it about. While democracy and rights seemingly fit in well with each other, there are certain ways in which the two principles may collide. Majority rule is one of democracy's basic elements, but how about the tyranny of the majority? Likewise, if the administration was voted in by the majority of citizens, then what is the legitimacy, not to mention feasibility, of social protest against an elected government? In this class we will analyze together the forces working in favor and against social change in democracies, especially with respect to how those questions are solved on the Supreme Court, when it deals with the basic principles of democracy and rights.