Archive

Garcia-Holgado (2025), “Overruling the Executive: Judicial Strategies to Resist Democratic Erosion.”

Posted on July 11, 2025

Benjamin Garcia-Holgado, “Overruling the Executive: Judicial Strategies to Resist Democratic Erosion.” Journal of Laws and Courts, vol. 13, no.1 (April 2025): 274-303. Summary: How can autonomous apex courts with specific attitudes and role conceptions counter executive aggrandizement? This article theorizes two causal mechanisms through which justices can resist democratic erosion. The first mechanism involves apex courts …

Khosla (2025), “The Authoritarian Argument.”

Posted on July 11, 2025

Madhav Khosla, “The Authoritarian Argument.” Journal of Democracy, vol. 36, no. 3 (2025): 47-62. Summary: The article rethinks the role of courts and judge in the autocratization process based on the case of Pakistan. It argues that attention should be shifted away from autocratization through law to law justifying autocratization. Rather than limiting the role …

Trump Imposes Tariffs on Brazil Amid Bolsonaro Prosecution

Posted on July 11, 2025

In a dramatic escalation, former U.S. President Donald Trump announced a 50% tariff on all Brazilian imports, set to begin August 1, 2025. The move comes after lobbying efforts by Eduardo Bolsonaro, son of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who claims the Supreme Court in Brazil is unfairly targeting his father for political reasons. Trump …

Wang (2025), “The Legality Trap: Legal Cooptation Under Authoritarianism”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This study explores how legal advocacy in authoritarian China shapes environmental social movements by channeling their efforts into less radical, more state-aligned paths.

Cui (2016), “Does Judicial Independence Matter: A Study of the Determinants of Administrative Litigation in an Authoritarian Regime”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This article examines administrative litigation against the government in authoritarian regimes, using over twenty years of data from China’s tax collection cases.

Moustafa (2007), “The Politics of Domination: Law and Resistance in Authoritarian States”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This article argues that entrenched authoritarian regimes strengthen judicial institutions to consolidate power by attracting investment, enforcing bureaucratic discipline, maintaining elite coalitions, and legitimizing controversial reforms.

Pangaribuan (2024), “Navigating an Authoritarian Landscape: Criminal procedure and Defence Lawyers in Indonesia”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This article examines the challenges faced by defense lawyers operating within Indonesia’s authoritarian legal system.

Lai (2025), Legal Resistance Under Authoritarianism: The Struggle for the Rule of Law in Hong Kong

Posted on July 9, 2025

This book examines the erosion of Hong Kong’s rule of law amid growing authoritarian control by China.

Collins (2022), “Legitimation Narratives, Resistance, and Legal Cultures in Authoritarian and Post-authoritarian Chile: Lawyers and Judges in the (Post)-Transition”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This chapter explores the role of law, lawyers, and legal activism in authoritarian and transitional contexts, using Chile’s experience as a case study.

Kroncke (2025), “Legal Complicity in an Age of Resurgent Authoritarianism”

Posted on July 9, 2025

This article critically examines the ethical and political assumptions that have shaped how liberal legal professionals, particularly in the United States, engage with authoritarian regimes.