This article critiques the ethical assumptions underlying liberal legal professionals’ engagement with authoritarian regimes, particularly through the lens of modernization theory, which once promised that economic development would naturally lead to democratization.
This article critically examines the role of public defenders in counseling clients within a carceral system, highlighting how the act of legal counseling can simultaneously reinforce systemic oppression and serve as a site for resistance and transformation.
This article examines how public interest lawyers engage with and support resistance movements that challenge the economic, political, and social consequences of globalization and neoliberalism.
This book explores the global role of lawyers and the broader “legal complex” as central actors in the struggle for political liberalism.
This foundational study examines the legal profession in the United States as part of a broader inquiry into the roles and responsibilities of established and emerging professions.
Abouharb, M. Rodwan, Laura P. Moyer, and Megan Schmidt, “De Facto Judicial Independence and Physical Integrity Rights.” Journal of Human Rights, vol. 12, no. 4 (2013): 367–96. Summary: Economists, political scientists, and legal scholars have argued that independent judiciaries have an important role to play in promoting economic development and protecting property rights. Abouharb, Moyer, and …
Sergio Verdugo, “How Judges Can Challenge Dictators and Get Away with It: Advancing Democracy while Preserving Judicial Independence.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 59, no. 3 (2021): 554-607 Summary: The literature on constitutional courts in authoritarian and hybrid regimes typically suggests that judges who challenge such regimes in high-stakes cases risk substantial political backlash. Accordingly, …
Alexei Trochev and Rachel Ellett, “Judges and Their Allies: Rethinking Judicial Autonomy through the Prism of Off-Bench Resistance.” Journal of Law and Courts, vol. 2, no. 1 (2014): 67–91. Summary: The social construction of judicial power is a complicated process, especially in hybrid political regimes. Trochev and Ellett argue that off-bench resistance against blatant interference supported …
Peter H Solomon, “Courts and Judges in Authoritarian Regimes.” World Politics, vol. 60, no. 1 (2007): 122–45. Summary: Typically, authoritarian leaders treat law and courts in an instrumental fashion and try to keep judges dependent and responsive to their desires. Various works reveal the sophisticated ways that this is achieved, including the development of judicial bureaucracies …
Steven D Schaff, “Contentious Politics in the Courthouse: Law as a Tool for Resisting Authoritarian States in the Middle East.” Law & Society Review, vol. 55, no. 1 (2021): 139-176 Summary: Under what conditions will individuals mobilize law to resist states that operate above the law? In authoritarian countries, particularly in the Middle East, law is …