The University of Miami School of Law recently welcomed Professor Martha Minow, the 300th Anniversary University Professor and former dean of Harvard Law School, as a featured guest. Addressing students, faculty, and legal professionals, Minow delivered a lecture titled “Not Born a Democracy: Preconditions for Constitutional Self-Government,” exploring the law’s dual role as both a stabilizer of society and a catalyst for profound transformation.
Professor Kunal Parker, associate dean for Intellectual Life, introduced Minow, noting her storied career as a champion for human rights and her influential scholarship on restorative justice and constitutional law. Her presence marked a milestone in the School of Law’s year-long centennial celebration, which honors a century of legal excellence while looking toward the next 100 years.
The fragility of self-governance
Minow’s lecture centered on the premise that no nation is born a democracy; instead, it is a system that requires deliberate work and continual investment in institutions and human capabilities to survive. She argued that while public attention often focuses on immediate "constitutional crises," the more profound threat is the hollowing out of the "essential predicates" for self-governance. These necessary preconditions include universal education that prepares all generations for engagement, reliable sources of news and information, and day-to-day security against violence for both the public and the officials who serve them.
“The roadblocks, in part, come from judges who interpret the Constitution,” said Minow. “Courts have repeatedly rebuffed arguments for a federal constitutional right to education, even as individual schools fail to provide even minimally effective instruction. . . Judicial understandings chill responses to the perfect storm of legal, technological and financial disruption that is rapidly shrinking vibrant newspapers and magazines generating misinformation and disinformation and threatening even the sense of a shared reality.”
Qualities of effective self-government
Throughout her talk, Minow emphasized that effective self-government depends on participants who are informed, committed, and secure enough to engage. Central to this is the cultivation of "norms of reciprocity" — a shared value of cooperation and a grounded belief that fair opportunities exist for all. She warned that when these essential predicates are "missing in action" or hollowed out, the practices and institutions that provide a chance for accountability and a sense of "shared fates" are lost, placing the entire constitutional framework in jeopardy.
“Successive generations need to develop skills and attitudes for self-governance, and those skills and dispositions include appreciating responsibilities of citizenship and participation in communities,” said Minow. “Freedom of speech and the press matter to individuals but also matter to a self-governing people in terms of learning how to understand the needs and interests of other people.”
The lecture also addressed the urgent need to adapt legal and civic education to a shifting landscape. Minow highlighted a "perfect storm" created by the rise of AI, digital disruption, and the erosion of reliable news, all of which threaten the "shared reality" necessary for democracy. To counter these challenges, she argued that law schools must go beyond traditional instruction to cultivate essential human capabilities, including analytical skills, the ability to manage emotions during disagreement, and a commitment to "reciprocity" — the willingness to collaborate and take an interest in the welfare of others.
Minow’s visit underscores the School of Law's commitment to bringing the world's most influential legal minds to Coral Gables, ensuring that its students are at the forefront of the national legal conversation.
See more School of Law centennial events.
