The Judicialization of Politics in Latin America

The Judicialization of Politics in Latin America PDF

Author: Rachel Sieder

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-04-30

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1137108878

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During the last two decades the judiciary has come to play an increasingly important political role in Latin America. Constitutional courts and supreme courts are more active in counterbalancing executive and legislative power than ever before. At the same time, the lack of effective citizenship rights has prompted ordinary people to press their claims and secure their rights through the courts. This collection of essays analyzes the diverse manifestations of the judicialization of politics in contemporary Latin America, assessing their positive and negative consequences for state-society relations, the rule of law, and democratic governance in the region. With individual chapters exploring Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico, Peru and Venezuela, it advances a comparative framework for thinking about the nature of the judicialization of politics within contemporary Latin American democracies.

The Limits of Judicialization

The Limits of Judicialization PDF

Author: Sandra Botero

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2022-08-25

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1009103415

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Latin America was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of what has come to be known as the judicialization of politics - the use of law and legal institutions as tools of social contestation to curb the abuse of power in government, resolve policy disputes, and enforce and expand civil, political, and socio-economic rights. Almost forty years into this experiment, The Limits of Judicialization brings together a cross-disciplinary group of scholars to assess the role that law and courts play in Latin American politics. Featuring studies of hot-button topics including abortion, state violence, judicial corruption, and corruption prosecutions, this volume argues that the institutional and cultural changes that empowered courts, what the editors call the 'judicialization superstructure,' often fall short of the promise of greater accountability and rights protection. Illustrative and expansive, this volume offers a truly interdisciplinary analysis of the limits of judicialized politics.

Cultures of Legality

Cultures of Legality PDF

Author: Javier Couso

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2010-04-30

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 0521767237

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Ideas about law are undergoing dramatic change in Latin America. The consolidation of democracy as the predominant form of government and the proliferation of transnational legal instruments have ushered in an era of new legal conceptions and practices. Law has become a core focus of political movements and policy-making. This volume explores the changing legal ideas and practices that accompany, cause, and are a consequence of the judicialization of politics in Latin America. It is the product of a three-year international research effort, sponsored by the Law and Society Association, the Latin American Studies Association, and the Ford Foundation, that gathered leading and emerging scholars of Latin American courts from across disciplines and across continents.

Courts in Latin America

Courts in Latin America PDF

Author: Gretchen Helmke

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2011-01-17

Total Pages: 353

ISBN-13: 1139497162

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To what extent do courts in Latin America protect individual rights and limit governments? This volume answers these fundamental questions by bringing together today's leading scholars of judicial politics. Drawing on examples from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, Costa Rica and Bolivia, the authors demonstrate that there is widespread variation in the performance of Latin America's constitutional courts. In accounting for this variation, the contributors push forward ongoing debates about what motivates judges; whether institutions, partisan politics and public support shape inter-branch relations; and the importance of judicial attitudes and legal culture. The authors deploy a range of methods, including qualitative case studies, paired country comparisons, statistical analysis and game theory.

Transition To Democracy In Latin America

Transition To Democracy In Latin America PDF

Author: Irwin P Stotzky

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2019-06-04

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 1000009882

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The transition to democracy in Latin America encompasses adjustments in norms and institutions regarding the strictures of the rule of law. This book addresses the critical role of the judiciary in the transition. The contributors examine the significance of the independence of the judiciary, which ensures institutional integrity and freedom from p

Transformative Constitutionalism in Latin America

Transformative Constitutionalism in Latin America PDF

Author: Armin von Bogdandy

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2017-06-16

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0192515462

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This ground-breaking collection of essays outlines and explains the unique development of Latin American jurisprudence. It introduces the idea of the Ius Constitutionale Commune en América Latina (ICCAL), an original Latin American path of transformative constitutionalism, to an Anglophone audience for the first time. It charts the key developments that have transformed the region and assesses the success of the constitutional projects that followed a period of authoritarian regimes in Latin America. Coined by scholars who have been documenting, conceptualizing, and comparing the development of Latin American public law for more than a decade, the term ICCAL encompasses themes that cross national borders and legal fields, taking in constitutional law, administrative law, general public international law, regional integration law, human rights, and investment law. Not only does this volume map the legal landscape, it also suggests measures to improve society via due legal process and a rights-based, supranational and regionally rooted constitutionalism. The editors contend that with the strengthening of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights, common problems such as the exclusion of wide sectors of the population from having a say in government, as well as corruption, hyper-presidentialism, and the weak normativity of the law can be combatted more effectively in future.

The Rule of Law in Nascent Democracies

The Rule of Law in Nascent Democracies PDF

Author: Rebecca Bill Chavez

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780804748124

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This book explains how the rule of law emerges and how it survives in nascent democracies. The question of how nascent democracies construct and fortify the rule of law is fundamentally about power. By focusing on judicial autonomy, a key component of the rule of law, this book demonstrates that the fragmentation of political power is a necessary condition for the rule of law. In particular, it shows how party competition sets the stage for independent courts. Using case studies of Argentina at the national level and of two neighboring Argentine provinces, San Luis and Mendoza, this book also addresses patterns of power in the economic and societal realms. The distribution of economic resources among members of a divided elite fosters competitive politics and is therefore one path to the requisite political fragmentation. Where institutional power and economic power converge, a reform coalition of civil society actors can overcome monopolies in the political realm.

Shifting Legal Visions

Shifting Legal Visions PDF

Author: Ezequiel A. González-Ocantos

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-08-18

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1107145236

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An in-depth study of processes of judicial transformation that enabled the success of human rights trials in Latin America.