Trochev, A., & Ellett, R. (2014). Judges and their allies: rethinking judicial autonomy through the prism of off-bench resistance. Journal of Law and Courts, 2(1), 67-91. The social construction of judicial power is a complicated process, especially in hybrid political regimes. The authors argue that off-bench resistance against blatant interference supported by vibrant social networks is an …
Hilbink argues that positive judicial independence—which she defines as judges’ willingness to assert legal authority against powerful actors—cannot be explained solely by political fragmentation or formal institutional arrangements. Drawing on comparative evidence and detailed case studies of Spain and Chile, she shows that judges often behave contrary to what strategic models predict: some assert themselves …
This article examines the role of the Supreme Court in the development of the Mexican political system. The judiciary provided an important source of regime legitimation, as it allowed for the consolidation of a state of legality and a claim to constitutional rule of law, at least in discourse. However, the judiciary was in effect …
Gerzso, T. (2023). Judicial resistance during electoral disputes: Evidence from Kenya. Electoral Studies, 85, 102653. Over the last decade, African courts have played an important role in the conduct of free and fair elections. In Kenya, the Supreme Court nullified the presidential election of the incumbent. These rulings challenge the conventional wisdom that courts in hybrid regimes …
Kureshi, Yasser. To Reinforce or Replace: Courts and Democratic Backsliding (2025). Government & Opposition. doi:10.1017/gov.2025.10015. Courts are often seen as defenders of democracy, but this article shows that empowered judiciaries can also enable democratic backsliding. Kureshi develops a framework distinguishing courts that reinforce political representation from those that replace elected institutions when fighting corruption. Through …
Pavone, Tommaso. The Ghostwriters: Lawyers and the Politics behind the Judicial Construction of Europe. Cambridge Studies in Law and Society. Cambridge University Press, November 2022. Paperback. ISBN: 9781009074988. The Ghostwriters challenges the traditional, judge-centered narrative that portrays the European Union as a polity built primarily by judicial activism. Pavone uncovers the political work of practicing …
Gerzso, Thalia. Judicial resistance during electoral disputes: Evidence from Kenya (2023). Electoral Studies, 85, 102653. Over the last decade, African courts have become central actors in the conduct of elections, sometimes even resisting incumbents during electoral disputes. This article asks when and why courts in hybrid regimes take the risk of siding with the opposition …
Manzi, Lucia. Judicial Populism and Corruption Prosecutions in the Mani Pulite Operation. Law & Social Inquiry (2024). Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the American Bar Foundation. This article develops a new analytical framework for understanding the success of Italy’s Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) anti-corruption operation by showing how prosecutors relied on a …
Kosař, David & Šipulová, Katarína. The Strasbourg Court Meets Abusive Constitutionalism: Baka v. Hungary and the Rule of Law. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 10, 83–110 (2018). Published online November 2, 2017. DOI: 10.1007/s40803-017-0065-y. This article examines how the European Court of Human Rights responded to a textbook case of abusive constitutionalism: the …
Gárdos-Orosz, Fruzsina & Szente, Zoltán (eds.). Populist Challenges to Constitutional Interpretation in Europe and Beyond. Routledge, Taylor & Francis, 2021. DOI: 10.4324/9781003148944. Available at: https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/49404 This edited volume examines how populist governments and movements influence the theory and practice of constitutional interpretation. The book asks whether populist regimes generate new interpretive doctrines or simply instrumentalize …