Mark Harding
Programs
Criminology & Criminal Justice Policy
About my research
Globally, high courts are being drawn into many of the most significant policy disputes. As bills of rights have become ubiquitous throughout the liberal democratic world, so too have scholarly debates over the proper judicial role. Many parliamentary states, borrowing from Canada, adopted a bill of rights in hopes of achieving an institutional balance between courts and legislatures over rights protection. My research explores how rights documents shape the relationship between the judiciary and other branches of government in comparative context.
How my research improves life
Once a policy is framed as a rights-issue, governments are constrained in a variety of ways in how they can address that problem. The discipline of political science and my research helps to understand the trade-offs associated with the "politics of rights."