Maciej Kisilowski, “The Middlemen: The Legal Profession, the Rule of Law, and Authoritarian Regimes.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 40, no. 3 (2015): 700–722. Summary: Scholars are increasingly interested in exploring ways to strengthen the rule of law in authoritarian states—especially when deeper political reforms are not attainable. The article contributes to this discussion by …
Ling Li, “The ‘Production’ of Corruption in China’s Courts: Judicial Politics and Decision Making in a One-Party State.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 37, no. 4 (2012): 848–77. Summary: Despite its rampant presence, judicial corruption in China has often been regarded as the idiosyncratically deviant behavior of a few black sheep eluding prescribed judicial conduct. This …
Jothie Rajah. “Punishing Bodies, Securing the Nation: How Rule of Law Can Legitimate the Urbane Authoritarian State.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 36, no. 4 (2011): 945–70. Summary: Although authoritarian rule of law may seem an oxymoron, strategic reconfigurations of the “rule of law” can produce acceptance of law that observes procedure while erasing rights. …
Shoaib A Ghias, “Miscarriage of Chief Justice: Judicial Power and the Legal Complex in Pakistan under Musharraf.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 4 (2010): 985–1022. Summary: This article explores the struggle for judicial power in Pakistan under Pervez Musharraf focusing on two questions. First, how did pro‐Musharraf regime judges expand judicial power, leading …
Babakhani, A. (2023). Agents of Change or Agents of the Status Quo: Iranian Lawyers’ Approaches to Women Seeking Divorce in the Context of Discriminatory Divorce Law (Doctoral dissertation, University of Delaware). Summary: Since the 1979 revolution in Iran, the state has relegated women to a subordinate position, treating them as second-class citizens. Existing literature on …
Tamir Moustafa, The Rule of Law in Egypt: Prospects and Challenges. Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law, Rule of Law Quick Scan Series, April 2012. Summary: In the wake of Hosni Mubarak’s fall in 2011, Egypt stood at a critical juncture with the chance to rebuild its political and legal institutions. Moustafa situates the …
Tamir Moustafa, “Law versus the State: The Judicialization of Politics in Egypt.” Law & Social Inquiry 28, no. 4 (2003): 883–930. Summary: Why would an authoritarian regime empower a constitutional court? Moustafa explains Egypt’s paradox by arguing that the regime created an independent Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC) chiefly to make credible commitments to protect property …
Nora Webb Williams, Margaret Hanson, “Captured Courts and Legitimized Autocrats: Transforming Kazakhstan’s Constitutional Court.” Law & Social Inquiry vol. 47, no. 4 (2022): 1201–33. Summary: Contemporary dictators routinely co-opt institutions crucial for democratic governance. Although an extensive literature examines why and how aspiring autocrats bring elections and parties under their control, constitutions—and the judicial or quasi-judicial …
Natalie Wenzell Letsa, Yonatan L Morse, “Autocratic Legalism, Partisanship, and Popular Legitimation in Authoritarian Cameroon.” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 87, No. 4 (2023): Pages 935–955 Summary: Authoritarian regimes regularly turn to the law to justify repression. This article examines whether invoking legal institutions has a persuasive effect on public perceptions of repression, and whether that effect …
Rachel E Bowen. The Achilles Heel of Democracy: Judicial Autonomy and the Rule of Law in Central America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2017. Summary: Featuring the first in-depth comparison of the judicial politics of five under-studied Central American countries, The Achilles Heel of Democracy offers a novel typology of ‘judicial regime types’ based on the political …