judging black and white presentation

The Institute of Government and Politics invites the WMU and greater Kalamazoo communities to this year's Samuel I. Clark lecture. Dr. Stacia Haynie, chair of the political science department at LSU and scholar of comparative judicial politics will speak on "Judging in Black and White: Decision Making in the South African Appellate Division, 1950-2010" on Wednesday, March 27 at 7pm in the Fetzer Center, room 2020. Synopsis of the talk: Despite increasing recognition of judges as political actors, few studies have explored the role and function of judges and judging in countries transitioning from repressive to democratic regimes. Using the unique circumstances of the South African evolution from apartheid to
constitutional democracy, Dr. Haynie creates a portrait of the individuals who staffed the bench during the rise and fall of apartheid by exploring the dilemma of judging in a system that juxtaposes the formal law with the repressive law. Regardless of adherence to the legal rules, judging cannot be fully separated from the larger moral questions embedded in these systems. Most challenging, how do “impartial” judges who serve during an authoritarian regime transition to a new democratic order?