Björn Ahl, “Retaining Judicial Professionalism: The New Guiding Cases Mechanism of the Supreme People’s Court.” The China Quarterly, vol. 217 (2014): 121–39. Summary: In 2011 and 2012, the Supreme People’s Court (SPC) published its first “guiding cases.” Guiding cases serve as decision-making models that must be taken into account by lower courts when deciding similar …
Bjorn Ahl, “Judicialization in authoritarian regimes: The expansion of powers of the Chinese Supreme People’s Court.” International Journal of Constitutional Law, Volume 17, Issue 1 (January 2019): Pages 252–277 Summary: Over the past two decades courts in China have undergone tremendous changes as they developed into more professional and efficient institutions for solving legal disputes. …
Sergio Verdugo, “How Judges Can Challenge Dictators and Get Away with It: Advancing Democracy while Preserving Judicial Independence.” Columbia Journal of Transnational Law, vol. 59, no. 3 (2021): 554-607 Summary: The literature on constitutional courts in authoritarian and hybrid regimes typically suggests that judges who challenge such regimes in high-stakes cases risk substantial political backlash. Accordingly, …
Alexei Trochev and Rachel Ellett, “Judges and Their Allies: Rethinking Judicial Autonomy through the Prism of Off-Bench Resistance.” Journal of Law and Courts, vol. 2, no. 1 (2014): 67–91. Summary: The social construction of judicial power is a complicated process, especially in hybrid political regimes. Trochev and Ellett argue that off-bench resistance against blatant interference supported …
Peter H Solomon, “Courts and Judges in Authoritarian Regimes.” World Politics, vol. 60, no. 1 (2007): 122–45. Summary: Typically, authoritarian leaders treat law and courts in an instrumental fashion and try to keep judges dependent and responsive to their desires. Various works reveal the sophisticated ways that this is achieved, including the development of judicial bureaucracies …
Zdeněk Kühn, “SPECIAL ISSUE: JUDGES UNDER STRESS: The Judiciary in Illiberal States.” German Law Journal, vol. 22, no. 7 (2021): 1231-1246 Summary: This work deals with the actual functioning of the judicial power and the limits of its independence facing an illiberal or authoritarian state. The work offers a skeptical analysis of the past and especially …
Petra Gyöngyi, “The Role of Judicial Associations in Resisting Rule of Law Backsliding: Hidden Pathways of Protecting Judicial Independence Amidst Rule of Law Decay.” International Journal of the Law in Context (UK), vol. 20, no. 2 (2024): pp.166-183. Summary: Hungary and Poland have been in the spotlight regarding their democratic backsliding, with Executives exerting control …
Peter H Solomon. “Judicial Power in Authoritarian States: The Russian Experience,” Chapter. In Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes. Edited by Tom Ginsburg and Tamir Moustafa, 261–82. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Summary: Like their democratic counterparts, authoritarian rulers need effective courts to perform the basic functions of courts – to resolve …
Tamir Moustafa. “The Politics of Domination: Law and Resistance in Authoritarian States,” Chapter. In The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt. 19–56. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Summary: The thought of judicial institutions in authoritarian states typically conjures up the image of state security courts with no standards of due process, handpicked …
Tamir Moustafa. “Introduction: Law versus the State,” In The Struggle for Constitutional Power: Law, Politics, and Economic Development in Egypt. 1-18. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Summary: The article explores why an entrenched authoritarian regime would establish an independent constitutional court through a case study of Egypt. Although the ruling regime exerts its influence on all facets …