Aylin Aydin, “Judicial Independence across Democratic Regimes: Understanding the Varying Impact of Political Competition.” Law & Society Review, vol. 47, no. 1 (2013): 105–34. Summary: One of the most prominent explanations of the creation and maintenance of independent judiciary is the “insurance theory” that proposes a positive relationship between political competition and judicial independence. But, does …
Owen M. Fiss, “The Limits of Judicial Independence.” The University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Fall, 1993): pp. 57-76 Summary: Two assumptions frequently underlie discussions concerning the transitions from dictatorship to democracy that occurred in Latin America in the 1980s. The first is that the judiciary will have an important role to …
Alexandra Huneeus, “Judging from a Guilty Conscience: The Chilean Judiciary’s Human Rights Turn.” Law & Social Inquiry, vol. 35, no. 1 (2010): 99–135. Summary: Since the detention of General Pinochet in London in 1998 on charges of crimes against humanity, Chile’s judges have sentenced more former officials of the military regime for human rights viohtions …
Juan Guzmán, “The Chilean Dictatorship and the Judiciary.” California Western International Law Journal, Vol. 44, No. 2 (2014): 207-216 Summary: The Chilean judiciary was considered to be traditionally independent up until 1970, when Salvador Allende was elected President of the country. But during Allende’s government the judiciary started to lose its objectivity and independence. During the …
Lisa Hilbink, “Constitutional Rewrite in Chile: Moving toward a Social and Democratic Rule of Law?” Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, vol. 13, no. 2 (2021): 223-234. Summary: Chile has often drawn the global spotlight, serving as a laboratory for some of the most dramatic political experiments of the past fifty-plus years. Popular discontent with …
Lisa Hilbink and Matthew C. Ingram, “Courts and Rule of Law in Developing Countries.” Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (23 May 2019). Summary: Under what conditions can courts be effective and the rule of law be meaningful in developing countries? The great variation within and between the vast category of developing countries greatly complicates the …
Agnieszka Kubal, “Judicial Relational Legal Consciousness: Authoritarian Backsliding As A Catalyst Of Change.” Journal of Law and Society, vol. 51, (2024): 45-65. Summary: In the context of Poland’s authoritarian backsliding between 2015 and 2023, this article examines how legal professionals—particularly judges—respond to democratic erosion by reinterpreting and invoking human rights law. Some judges have taken …
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 …
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 …
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 …