This article highlights how attorneys are central to these strategies, revealing the political role of legal professionals in reinforcing corporate power under weakened democratic institutions.
This analysis revisits Alexis de Tocqueville’s reflections on the essential role lawyers play in sustaining liberal democracy, especially in guarding against the excesses of majoritarian rule.
This article investigates how the legacies of authoritarian legal systems influence the capacity of attorneys to drive judicial reform in emerging democracies, with case studies from Chile, Argentina, and Brazil.
This chapter explores the critical role attorneys play as defenders of the rule of law in backsliding democracies, using Hong Kong as a case study.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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. …
Rachel Ellett, Pathways to Judicial Power in Transitional States: Perspectives from African Courts (1st ed.). London: Routledge, 2013. Summary: This book examines the complex relationship that exists between the construction of judicial power, and the institutional characteristics of the courts and their regime setting. It examines the intriguing connection between the construction of judicial power …
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 …