• Exposure to cutting-edge debates in post-/decolonial legal studies.
• Engagement with leading scholars in the field, including Professor Philipp Dann and prominent Latin American academics.
• Access to an intensive, discussion-oriented format that enhances analytical and critical thinking skills.
• Opportunities for networking with peers and international, comparative, and constitutional law experts.

• Critical analysis of legal texts and historical sources from a decolonial perspective
• Comparative legal reasoning in the context of colonial and postcolonial legal structures.
• Ability to engage in scholarly debates on the transformation of public law.
• Research skills applicable to doctoral projects and postdoctoral studies in law and political science

This course is designed for:

• PhD students in law, political science, history, or related disciplines.
• Postdoctoral researchers focusing on public law, constitutionalism, and international law.
• Advanced master’s students interested in colonial legacies and legal history.

The course is structured into four thematic sessions, each consisting of:

• Introductory Lecture – Delivered by Professor Philipp Dann, providing theoretical and historical framing.
• Group Discussions – Participants engage in small-group discussions based on assigned readings and guiding questions.
• Plenary Debate – Open discussions with the instructor and peers to deepen understanding.
• Regional Focus Sessions – Facilitated by Latin American scholars, examining colonial legacies in the regional context.

Actividades de evaluación:

• Participants must attend at least 80% of all sessions to receive a Certificate of Attendance.
• Active engagement in discussions and group activities is encouraged to maximize learning outcomes..

Participants must have a fair level of English to engage with lectures, discussions, and readings fully. While fluency is not required, a good understanding of academic English is necessary to enjoy and benefit from the course.

Comparative Constitutional Law, the Southern Turn and Reflexive Globalization – argument and framing . On the first day, the general theme of the class will be introduced and a framework of analysis established. This includes a basic engagement with colonial history and postcolonial thought as well as a reflection on the attention of public law scholarship to these dimensions so far. The class will discuss the overarching argument that a ‘Southern Turn’ and an understanding of colonial legacies provide a foundation to rethink the conceptual vocabulary of public law in the 21st century. Comparative constitutional law is a paramount area for such reflexive rethinking of public law theory.

International law and the concept of development The second day and session II will turn to international law, the scholarship of which was the first to engage with colonial legacies. The class will situate and discuss Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL). It will then engage in particular with the concept of development as the central paradigm to structure South-North relations in the 20th century and study its implications for international institutional, economic and human rights law in shaping international law up until today.

Constitutional thought in reflexive globalization: examples of temporality and democracy In session three, the class will return to the initial argument that basic notions and the conceptual vocabulary of public law are in (and need) a process of reflexive rethinking in order to grasp and structure the realities of public authority in the multipolar world of the 21st century. The class will turn to two examples that will demonstrate this process and the possible outcomes of such reflexive rethinking. One is the perspective of time and temporality that allows us to highlight distinct elements of public law; the other example is democracy, a universally used notion, which still rests on conceptual considerations arising from 19th and early 20th century Europe even though it has travelled long ago.

Colonial legacies in Latin American constitutionalism The final session will turn to the legacies of colonialism in Latin America and especially in the constitutional law and thought there. Against the background of the previous sessions, it will discuss the distinct constellations and legacies of colonialism especially in the region and the way these legacies have been studied and responded to over the decades. The discussions of the previous days will allow us to understand these developments in their own right but also in comparison to similar experiences, for example, in South Africa or in South Asian constitutionalism.