B.A. (Memorial), LL.B. (Dalhousie), LL.M. (Toronto), Ph.D. (Queen's University of Belfast) 
BANTING POST-DOCTORAL FELLOW

 

Research Interests

comparative constitutional law; consociationalism and federalism; legal theory/jurisprudence; national pluralism; political theory; sub-state constitutionalism

Brief Biography

Alex Schwartz is a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow with the Department of Political Studies. He holds a doctorate in law from Queen’s University of Belfast, where he also taught constitutional law and European law. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow with the Canada Research Chair in Quebec and Canadian Studies at L'Université du Québec à Montréal and a guest researcher with the Department of Legal Studies at the Central European University. Dr. Schwartz’s current research project is about the tensions between state constitutionalism and sub-state constitutionalism in circumstances of national pluralism. Amongst other things, the project hopes to chart the limits that state constitutionalism can legitimately impose on sub-state constitutionalism and the extent to which the claims of sub-state constitutionalism can (or should) ever "trump" the claims of the encompassing state. 

Selected Publications

Articles in Journals:

‘Symbolic Equality:  Law and National Symbols in Northern Ireland’, (2012)
International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Volume 19, No. 4, pp. 339-358

‘Patriotism or Integrity?: Constitutional Community in Divided Societies’, (2011) 
Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Volume 31, No. 3, pp. 503-526

‘How Unfair is Cross-community Consent?: Voting Power in the Northern Ireland Assembly’, (2011)
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Volume 61, No.  4, pp. 349-362

‘Designing a Bill of Rights for Northern Ireland’ (2009)
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Volume 60, No. 2, pp. 181-199 (with Colin Harvey)

‘The Rule of Unwritten Law: A Cautious Critique of Charkaoui v. Canada’, (2008)
Review of Constitutional Studies, Volume 13, No. 2, pp. 179-207

Books:  

Rights in Divided Societies (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2012) (co-edited with Colin Harvey)

Book Chapters:

Alex Schwartz and Colin Harvey ‘Judicial Empowerment in Divided Societies’,
in Rights in Divided Societies (Oxford: Hart Publishing, 2012)

Course Syllabi

POLS 400 Winter 2013

 

*PDF files can be viewed using Adobe Reader.