Extralegal Governance and the Problem of Social Order

This class studies cases of extra-legal governance to understand how people who cannot, or who choose not to, rely on strong, effective states facilitate social and economic order. The class does not cover or engage with normative and philosophical arguments. The entire focus is on a positive, social scientific question and the requisite engagement with empirical facts that this entails. The class will examine and test claims about whether it is possible for extra-legal governance to produce human flourishing.