David M. Driesen, The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2021. Summary: In The Specter of Dictatorship, David Driesen analyzes the chief executive’s role in the democratic decline of Hungary, Poland, and Turkey and argues that an insufficiently constrained presidency is one of the most important systemic threats to …
Hugh Corder and Cora Hoexter, “‘Lawfare’ in South Africa and Its Effects on the Judiciary.” African Journal of Legal Studies, vol. 10, no. 2-3 (2017): 105-126 Summary: This article identifies three senses of the term ‘lawfare’ in the South African context. In the first and most standard sense of the term, law was abused by the …
Mariana Llanos, Cordula Tibi Weber, Charlotte Heyl, and Alexander Stroh, “Informal Interference in the Judiciary in New Democracies: A Comparison of Six African and Latin American Cases.” Democratization, vol. 23, no. 7 (2016): 1236–53. Summary: This article focuses on the efforts of power holders – at the executive or the legislative level – to influence …
Peter Vondoepp, “The Problem of Judicial Control in Africa’s Neopatrimonial Democracies: Malawi and Zambia.” Political Science Quarterly, vol 120, no. 2 (2005): 275–301. Summary: Judges’ actions underscore a key feature of political life in Malawi and Zambia since the onset of their respective periods of democratic rule. In both countries, judiciaries have displayed a striking tendency …
Charles Manga Fombad. “The Struggle to Defend the Independence of the Judiciary in Africa”. In Challenged Justice: In Pursuit of Judicial Independence. Edited by Shimon Shetreet, Hiram Chodosh, and Helland Eric, pp. 223-248. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill | Nijhoff, 2021 Summary: By design or default, Africa’s post-independence constitutions perpetuated a system of harsh authoritarian governance in …
Aylin Aydin, “Judicial Independence across Democratic Regimes: Understanding the Varying Impact of Political Competition.” Law & Society Review, vol. 47, no. 1 (2013): 105–34. Summary: One of the most prominent explanations of the creation and maintenance of independent judiciary is the “insurance theory” that proposes a positive relationship between political competition and judicial independence. But, does …
Owen M. Fiss, “The Limits of Judicial Independence.” The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Fall, 1993): pp. 57-76 Summary: Two assumptions frequently underlie discussions concerning the transitions from dictatorship to democracy that occurred in Latin America in the 1980s. The first is that the judiciary will have an important role to …
Alexandra Huneeus, “Judging from a Guilty Conscience: The Chilean Judiciary’s Human Rights Turn.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 1 (2010): 99–135. Summary: Since the detention of General Pinochet in London in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity, Chile’s judges have sentenced more former officials of the military regime for human rights viohtions …
Juan Guzmán, “The Chilean Dictatorship and the Judiciary.” California Western International Law Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2014): 207-216 Summary: The Chilean judiciary was considered to be traditionally independent up until 1970, when Salvador Allende was elected President of the country. But during Allende’s government the judiciary started to lose its objectivity and independence. During the …
In New Jersey on July 22, a panel of federal judges refused to extend the interim tenure of Alina Habba – a former lawyer for President Donald Trump – as U.S. Attorney. They instead appointed career prosecutor Desiree Grace to replace Habba, whose 120-day term was expiring. Hours later, Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi removed …