About the Department

Ofrit Liviatan is a lecturer at the Department of Government, and an associate of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Dr. Liviatan received her PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Her research focuses on law and politics, tensions between legal theory and practice, the role of legal systems in the accommodation of diversity, and religion and state.

In the '12-'13 academic year Dr. Liviatan will be teaching an Undergraduate Department Seminar (Gov 94) on Law and Politics in Multicultural Democracies and a Freshman Seminar on Comparative Law and Religion.  In addition, Dr. Liviatan will continue to co-chair Harvard Seminar on Religion and Politics.

Representative Publications:

"From Abortion to Islam: The Changing Function of Law in Europe's Cultural Debates" 36(1) Fordham Int'l L. J. 93 (2012-13).

"Comparing Law's Social Role in American and Western-European Constitutional Conflicts over Abortion," in Law, Constitution, Freedom of Religion, Equal Treatment, and the Law (Cole Durham et. al, (eds.) Forthcoming 2013.

"Faith in the Law: The Role of Legal Arrangements in Religion-Based Conflicts Involving Minorities" 34(1) B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 53 (2011) 

"The Impact of Alternative Constitutional Regimes on Religious Freedom in Canada and England" 32 (1) B.C. Int'l & Comp. L. Rev. 45 (2009)

"Judicial Activism and Religion-Based Tensions in India and Israel" 26(3) Ariz. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 583 (2009)