Pro-democracy advocates consisted of both international organizations and local activists, including lawyers, journalists, and politicians, who worked to challenge authoritarian regimes and promote democratic values.
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Cameron (2002), “Democracy and the Separation of Powers: Threats, Dilemmas, and Opportunities in Latin America”
A proposal that advocates for a more activist and inclusive OAS by using past reform efforts as a blueprint to create a commission integrating civil society and political actors to strengthen democratic regional governance.
Cummings (2024), “Lawyers in Backsliding Democracy”
This article argues that lawyers can be key agents of democratic backsliding, using legal tools to erode institutions and legitimize autocracy, and calls for reforms to strengthen the profession’s role in defending democracy.
Scheppele (2018), “Autocratic Legalism”
In backsliding democracies where autocrats manipulate legal systems to entrench power, attorneys play a crucial dual role as defenders of constitutionalism and civic educators, documenting abuses, challenging authoritarian legal reforms, and empowering the public to recognize and resist the legalistic tools of autocracy.
Rosenzweig (2013), “Disappearing Justice: Public Opinion, Secret Arrest and Criminal Procedure Reform in China”
In February 2011, Chinese authorities detained numerous online activists and rights lawyers to suppress potential Arab Spring. This inspired unrest, using harsh interrogation and intimidation tactics, which later sparked public debate and legal critique over China’s criminal procedure laws.
Jakab (2020), “Informal Institutional Elements as Both Preconditions and Consequences of Effective Formal Legal Rules: The Failure of Constitutional Institution Building in Hungary”
An analysis of the role of Hungarian lawyers who are blind and to a certain extent, also defenseless against recent authoritarian tendencies.
Michalowski (1995), “Between Citizens and the Socialist State: The Negotiation of Legal Practice in Socialist Cuba”
An examination of both the relationship between the ideological and legal bases for the socialist practice of law in Cuba and the actual practice of law in one bufete colectivo.
Savelsberg (2000), “Contradictions, Law, and State Socialism”
An examination of the relationship of law to antagonisms and contradictions within state socialism, explored from a Weberian and a Marxian perspective.
Titaev and Shkliaruk (2016), “Investigators in Russia: Who Creates Practice in the Investigation of Criminal Cases”
Analyzes the role of investigators in the Russian criminal justice process.
Solomon, Jr. (1987), “The Case of the Vanishing Acquittal: Informal Norms and the Practice of Soviet Criminal Justice”
Explains the institutional reasons behind the decrease in acquittals following the death of Stalin due to the fears of judges and prosecutors of being held accountable for bringing unsustainable cases.