Daniel M Brinks
Professor — Ph.D., J.D., University of Notre Dame, University of Michigan
Professor and Department Chair

Contact
- E-mail: danbrinks@austin.utexas.edu
- Phone: 512-232-7252
- Office: BAT 2.116G
- Office Hours: Fall 21: Wednesdays, 3:30-5:00; Thursdays, 10:00-11:30 (virtual)
- Campus Mail Code: A1800
Biography
Research interests: Daniel Brinks is Professor of Government and of Law. He is the Chair of the Government Department, and is active in the fields of Comparative Politics and Public Law. He is a Senior Researcher & Global Scholar of the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, a joint project of the University of Bergen and Christian Michelsen Institute, in Bergen, Norway.
Dan's research focuses on the role of the law and courts in supporting or extending human rights and many of the basic rights associated with democracy, with a primary regional interest in Latin America. His recent book, written with Abby Blass, The DNA of Constitutional Justice in Latin America: Politics, Governance and Judicial Design, examines constitutional change in Latin America since 1975, focusing especially on judicial institutions and constitutional review. The book was awarded the C. Herman Pritchett Award for Best Book on Law and Courts in 2018, by the Law and Courts Section of the APSA.
Other recent books, in collaboration with Steve Levitsky and Vicky Murillo, seek to understand what we mean by, and the political origins of, weak institutions in Latin America. Understanding Institutional Weakness: Power and Design in Latin American Institutions, and The Politics of Institutional Weakness in Latin America, both with Cambridge University Press, come out of that project. A Ford Foundation-funded project on human rights and socio-economic inequality, in collaboration with Karen Engle, Julia Dehm, and Kate Taylor, led to an edited collection entitled Power, Participation and Private Regulatory Initiatives: Human Rights under Supply Chain Capitalism, from University of Pennsylvania Press.
He is also working on an NSF-funded project to build convergent research communities around crucial questions in the global study of legal institutions, in collaboration with Jeff Staton and Rachel Cichowski. And he collaborates with researchers affiliated with the Centre on Law and Social Transformation, at the Christian Michelsen Institute in Norway, on a series of projects related to the realization of rights.
His major projects over the years have addressed the use of courts and law to enforce social and economic rights in the developing world, the development of the rule of law in Latin America, the judicial response to police violence in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, judicial independence, and the role of informal norms in the legal order. He is also interested in the study of democracy more generally, and has written on the classification of regimes in Latin America, and on the global diffusion of democracy.
Prof. Brinks was born and raised in Argentina and practiced law in the United States for nearly ten years before turning to academia.
Courses taught: He teaches courses in Comparative Politics, Comparative Judicial Politics, Comparative Law, Democracy and Democratization, and Latin American Politics.
Courses
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
39185 • Fall 2021
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM BAT 1.104
GOV 365S • Comparative Legal Systems
37575 • Fall 2020
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WCP 1.402
Hybrid/Blended
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
38275 • Spring 2020
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM BAT 1.104
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
38387 • Spring 2019
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM RLP 1.106
GOV 384N • Human Rights/Inequality
38739 • Fall 2018
Meets M 4:00PM-6:00PM TNH 3.127
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
38380 • Spring 2018
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM MEZ B0.306
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
38920 • Fall 2017
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM BAT 1.104
(also listed as LAW 397S)
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy Latin Amer
38645 • Spring 2017
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM GAR 2.128
GC
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
38575 • Fall 2016
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ B0.306
GOV 384N • Smnr: Ntrl Rsrc Gov/Hmn Rgt
38678 • Fall 2016
Meets M 3:45PM-5:45PM JON 5.206
(also listed as LAW 397S)
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
38155 • Spring 2016
Meets T 9:30AM-12:30PM BAT 5.102
(also listed as LAW 397S)
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy Latin Amer
37920 • Spring 2015
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 308
GC
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
38935 • Fall 2014
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM WAG 214
GOV 384N • Law In Latin Amer: Comp View
39075 • Fall 2014
Meets W 3:30PM-6:30PM JON 5.206
(also listed as LAW 379M)
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy Latin Amer
39145 • Spring 2014
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 204
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
39270 • Fall 2013
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM MEZ B0.306
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
39385 • Fall 2013
Meets T 3:30PM-6:30PM BAT 5.102
(also listed as LAW 379M)
GOV 312L • Issues & Policies In Amer Gov
38705 • Spring 2013
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM MEZ 1.306
GO
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
38800 • Fall 2012
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ B0.306
GOV 384N • Human Rights, Law & Democracy
38923 • Fall 2012
Meets T 3:45PM-6:45PM TNH 3.129
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy In Latin Amer
38705 • Fall 2011
Meets TTH 2:00PM-3:30PM PAR 203
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 384N • Law In Latin Amer: Comp View
38930 • Fall 2011
Meets TH 4:00PM-7:00PM TNH 3.125
(also listed as LAS 381, LAW 379M)
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
39008 • Spring 2011
Meets TTH 3:30PM-5:00PM PAR 301
GOV 312L • Issues & Policies In Amer Gov
38460 • Fall 2010
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM WEL 1.316
GO
GOV 312L • Iss And Policies In Amer Gov
38175 • Spring 2009
Meets TTH 8:00AM-9:30AM MEZ 1.306
GO
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
39520 • Fall 2008
Meets TTH 11:00AM-12:30PM NOA 1.102
GOV 384N • Comparative Law And Politics
39665 • Fall 2008
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM BAT 5.102
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems
39400 • Spring 2008
Meets TTH 9:30AM-11:00AM PAR 203
GOV 384N • Courts & Politics Around World
39535 • Spring 2008
Meets T 12:30PM-3:30PM BAT 5.102
GOV 312L • Iss And Policies In Amer Gov
39875 • Fall 2007
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM CAL 100
GO
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy In Latin Amer
40020 • Fall 2007
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM PAR 201
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 312L • Iss And Policies In Amer Gov
37645 • Spring 2006
Meets MWF 9:00AM-10:00AM MEZ 1.306
GO
GOV 365N • Comparative Legal Systems-W
37925 • Spring 2006
Meets MWF 10:00AM-11:00AM BUR 224
C2
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy In Latin Amer
37670 • Fall 2005
Meets TTH 12:30PM-2:00PM MEZ B0.306
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 384N • Comparative Judicial Politics
37930 • Fall 2005
Meets TH 3:30PM-6:30PM PAR 305
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy In Latin Amer
36335 • Spring 2005
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM PAR 1
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 365N • Judicial Polit At Home/Abroad
36455 • Spring 2005
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM BUR 136
GOV 337M • Law & Democracy In Latin Amer
37315 • Fall 2004
Meets MWF 2:00PM-3:00PM BUR 136
(also listed as LAS 337M)
GOV 365N • Judicial Polit At Home/Abroad
37415 • Fall 2004
Meets MWF 11:00AM-12:00PM NOA 1.126
Replication Data
Here is the replication data for Brinks, Daniel, and Abby Blass, “Rethinking Judicial Empowerment: The New Foundations of Constitutional Justice.” 2017. International Journal of Constitutional Law, vol.15 (2): 296-331.
The database is in Stata format.