USC Law professors discuss hybrid democracy and interdisciplinary scholarship

by Kristen Natividad

Professor Elizabeth Garrett delivered a talk on “Hybrid Democracy” and Professor Edward McCaffery spoke on “Interdisciplinary Scholarship: Law and X” at the USC Gould School of Law on Oct. 7 as part of the university’s 125th anniversary celebration.

A hybrid democracy, which combines candidate election and initiative voting, helps voters make more informed decisions at the polls, Garrett said. The hybrid democracy eliminates the use of crypto-initiatives, she explained, which often take advantage of voters who do not have enough information to vote responsibly.

“The more candidates are involved with initiative voting, the more we are able to cast our vote competently,” she said, adding that this type of voting also benefits the candidate, who in turn can be identified by voters based on more than just political party affiliation.

According to Garrett, one approach to strengthening the existing initiative process is to improve the checks and balances system.

“I advocate reducing problems by allowing more legislative involvement and by sun-setting initiatives after 10 to 12 years, and reenact them if people want to retain the policies,” she said.

Meanwhile, in his discussion, McCaffery addressed the importance of studying other disciplines in addition to law. He commended USC Law for its leadership in hiring faculty with Ph.D.s in various disciplines, including economics, history, religion, social science, political theory, psychology and philosophy. McCaffery himself, who received his J.D. from Harvard Law, earned undergraduate degrees in Latin and philosophy from Yale University and a master’s in economics from USC.

“USC’s scholarship has been very influential, across American law schools as well as internationally,” he said. “Law is not an autonomic discipline. Life is about laws, and laws affect life; you want to know how it affects all these disciplines.”