Terence C. Halliday, Lucien Karpik, and Malcolm Feeley, eds. Fighting for Political Freedom: Comparative Studies of the Legal Complex and Political Liberalism. Oxfordshire, U.K.: Hart Publishing, 2007.
This book explores the global role of lawyers and the broader “legal complex”—including judges and legally trained professionals—as central actors in the struggle for political liberalism. Drawing on 16 case studies from diverse regions including Asia, the Middle East, North and South America, and Europe, it tests the proposition that lawyers do more than serve markets: they often lead efforts to institutionalize liberal political regimes. The authors argue that across varying contexts—whether democratizing, backsliding, or long-established—lawyers and judges are critical to shaping political power, and that the legal arena has become a key battleground in the global defense and contestation of liberalism.