Law, Social Movements, and Public Policy: Comparative and International Experience
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this course on how law, courts, and organized movements shape public policy at both domestic and global levels. Case studies examine mobilization around gender, race, labor, trade, environment, and human rights, asking why some campaigns succeed in changing law and others fail. The syllabus introduces theoretical frameworks from public policy studies, social movement theory, law and society scholarship, and transnational studies, giving students tools to compare legal strategies across different countries and issue areas. Materials include the course syllabus, readings, and assignments as published through MIT OpenCourseWare, free to access with no enrollment or certificate fee. The course suits students interested in comparative law, activism, and policy change, and it treats legal mobilization as a subject of analysis rather than advocacy for any particular movement's cause.