University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: Evidence of Judges Resisting Democratic Decline

Hanelt, Vincze (2025), “Managing Courts in Competitive Authoritarian Regimes: Co-Optation, Repression and Resistance in Hungary.”

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Etienne Hanelt and Attila Vincze,“Managing Courts In Competitive Authoritarian Regimes: Co-Optation, Repression And Resistance In Hungary.” Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Politikwissenschaft (2025): 1-20. Summary: This chapter investigates how attorneys, particularly judges, navigate judicial backsliding in Hungary’s competitive authoritarian regime. Despite formal guarantees of judicial independence, the government has implemented strategic reforms to control the judiciary while maintaining …

Kurban (2024), “Authoritarian Resitance and Judicial Complicity: Turkey and the European Court of Human Rights.”

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Dilek Kurban, “Authoritarian Resistance and Judicial Complicity: Turkey and the European Court of Human Rights.” European Journal of International Law, Vol. 35, No. 2 (2024): 355–387 Summary: International courts face growing contestations to their authority. Scholars have conceptualized the forms and grounds of such resistance as well as the response of international courts. Yet, in focusing …

Requa (2012), “A Human Rights Triumph? Dictatorship-era Crimes and the Chilean Supreme Court.”

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Marny A. Requa, “A Human Rights Triumph? Dictatorship-era Crimes and the Chilean Supreme Court.” Human Rights Law Review, Vol. 12, No. 1 (2012): 79–106 Summary: This article assesses the dramatic shift in Chilean Supreme Court jurisprudence toward accountability for crimes committed during the dictatorship and sets it within the context of judicial reform and political …

Dichio (2024), “Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline.”

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Michael A. Dichio, “Stewards, defenders, progenitors, and collaborators: Courts in the age of democratic decline.” Law and Policy, vol. 47, no. 1 (2025): e12251. Summary: In this introductory essay to the special issue of Law & Policy, “Global Perspectives on Judicial Politics and Democratic Backsliding,” Dichio critically examines the paradoxical role of courts during episodes …

Botero, Garcia-Holgado (2024), “Judges under stress: The Argentine Supreme Court (2003-2023) and the Colombian Constitutional Court (2002-2023) amid polarization.”

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Sandra Botero, Benjamin Garcia-Holgado, “Judges under stress: The Argentine Supreme Court (2003-2023) and the Colombian Constitutional Court (2002-2023) amid polarization.” International Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 22, no.5 (December 2024): 1424-1448 Summary: In this article, the authors study how the Supreme Court of Argentina (2003-2023) and the Constitutional Court of Colombia (2002-2023) responded to periods …

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

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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.”

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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 …

Wang (2020), “The More Authoritarian, the More Judicial Independence? The Paradox of Court Reforms in China and Russia.”

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Yueduan Wang, “The More Authoritarian, the More Judicial Independence? The Paradox of Court Reforms in China and Russia.” University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, Vol. 22, no. 2 (2020): 529-560. Summary: Drawing conclusions largely from democracies, existing theories often positively associate judicial independence with political competition. This Article argues that a negative relationship exists …

Smith (2022), “Judges and Democratization: Judicial Independence in New Democracies”

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B.C. Smith, Judges and Democratization: Judicial Independence in New Democracies (2nd ed.). Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2022.  Summary: This second edition examines judicial independence as an aspect of democratization based on the premise that democracy cannot be consolidated without the rule of law of which judicial independence is an indispensable part. It pays particular attention to the …

Moustafa (2014), “Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes.”

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Tamir Moustafa, “Law and Courts in Authoritarian Regimes.” Annual Review of Law and Social Science, vol. 10, no.1 (2014): 281–299. Summary: This article surveys emerging research on the role of courts in authoritarian regimes, challenging earlier assumptions that they function solely as instruments of repression. It highlights how courts can serve as tools of governance, …