University of Wisconsin–Madison

Category: Judges as Targets of Democratic Decline

Dias (2025), “Rule by Law in Democratic Regimes: How Legal Actors Undermined Democracy in Brazil.”

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Vitor Martins Dias, “Rule by Law in Democratic Regimes: How Legal Actors Undermined Democracy in Brazil.” March 19, 2025. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5185132 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5185132 Summary: This article analyzes how prosecutors, judges, and police officers coordinated efforts that undermined the rule of law in Brazil, the world’s fourth-largest democracy. Such practices are often institutionalized in non-democratic …

Edmore (2025): “Self Inflicted Wounds: Financial Crime and Judicial System in a Semi-Authoritarian Zimbabwe.”

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Munjeyi Edmore, “Self Inflicted Wounds: Financial Crime and Judicial System in a Semi-Authoritarian Zimbabwe.” Journal of Economic Criminology, Vol. 9, no. 1 (2025): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeconc.2025.100173 Summary: There is a wealth of literature that describes and theorizes about the practices of economic and financial crime in the Global North and South, but little research has been done …

Crouch (2023), “Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar.”

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Melissa Crouch, “Judicial Loyalty to the Military in Authoritarian Regimes: How the Courts Are Militarized in Myanmar.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 48, no. 2 (2023): 632–59.  Summary: While scholars have considered the role of courts in authoritarian regimes generally, less attention has been paid to judicial-military relations. In this article Crouch considers how courts …

Landau, Dixon (2020), “Abusive Judicial Review: Courts Against Democracy.”

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David Landau and Rosalind Dixon, “Abusive Judicial Review: Courts Against Democracy.” UC Davis Law Review, vol. 53, no. 3 (2020): 1313-1387. Summary: Both in the United States and around the world, courts are generally conceptualized as the last line of defense for the liberal democratic constitutional order. But this Article shows that it is not …

Liu, Su, Su, Wang (2024), “The Law or the Career? Autocratic Judiciaries, Strategic Sentencing, and Political Repression.”

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Howard Liu., Su, Ching-Hsuan Su., & Yi-Ting Wang, “The Law or the Career? Autocratic Judiciaries, Strategic Sentencing, and Political Repression.” Comparative Political Studies, https://doi.org/10.1177/00104140241290212, (2024) Summary: Why do judges sometimes act against autocrats’ will, even without judicial independence and tenure security? Contrary to the theory of strategic defection under weak governments, this behavior can also …

Graver (2018), “Judicial Independence Under Authoritarian Rule: An Institutional Approach to the Legal Tradition of the West.”

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Hans Petter Graver, “Judicial Independence Under Authoritarian Rule: An Institutional Approach to the Legal Tradition of the West.” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, vol. 10, no. 2 (2018): 317-339.  Summary: The autonomy of legal institutions is put on the most severe test when they are under attack by other organs of the state. …

Fombad (2024), “The Judiciaries of Africa at a Crossroads: Can they Counter the Wave of Authoritarian Resurgence?”

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Charles Fombad. “The Judiciaries of Africa at a Crossroads: Can they Counter the Wave of Authoritarian Resurgence?”, In Judicial Independence in Transitional Democracies. Edited by Nauman Reayat, Rhona K. M. Smith, Moohyung Cho, pp. 12-37. London: Routledge, 2024. Summary:Much progress was made during the post-1990 constitutional reforms in Africa to make courts more independent and …

Massoud (2020), “The Rule of Law in Fragile States: Dictatorship, Collapse, and the Politics of Religion in Post-Colonial Somalia.”

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Mark Fathi Massoud, “The Rule of Law in Fragile States: Dictatorship, Collapse, and the Politics of Religion in Post-Colonial Somalia.” Journal of Law and Society, vol. 47, no. 1 (2020): 111-125.  Summary: The fate of the rule of law in fragile states rests in religious politics. Three defining periods of Somali politics illustrate this argument. …

Shen-Bayh (2018), “Strategies of Repression: Judicial and Extrajudicial Methods of Autocratic Survival.”

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Fiona Shen-Bayh, “Strategies of Repression: Judicial and Extrajudicial Methods of Autocratic Survival.” World Politics, vol. 70, no. 3 (2018): 321–57.  Summary: Strategies of repression vary widely between extrajudicial and judicial extremes, from unrestrained acts of violence to highly routinized legal procedures. While the former have received a great deal of scholarly attention, judicial methods remain relatively …

Driesen (2021), “The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power.”

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David M. Driesen, The Specter of Dictatorship: Judicial Enabling of Presidential Power. Redwood City: Stanford University Press, 2021. Summary: In The Specter of Dictatorship, David Driesen analyzes the chief executive’s role in the democratic decline of Hungary, Poland, and Turkey and argues that an insufficiently constrained presidency is one of the most important systemic threats to …