YUCOM used international review to challenge Serbia’s ombudsperson for lacking independence and competence.
Evidence of Lawyers’ Resistance
Krishnan and Ajagbe (2018), “Legal Activism in the Face of Political Challenges: The Nigerian Case”
Rights-based lawyering in post-authoritarian democracies like Nigeria often builds on the foundations of legal activism developed under past authoritarian regimes, highlighting the continuity of legal resistance across political transitions.
Dixon and Isaacharoff (2016), “Living to Fight Another Day: Judicial Deferral in Defense of Democracy”
Lawyers play a crucial role in upholding judicial independence, as shown in Pakistan’s 2007 movement, where their collective action helped restore a removed chief justice and reinforced the judiciary’s power against executive overreach.
Rosen (2006), “Lessons on Lawyers, Democracy, and Professional Responsibility”
The article argues that lawyers have a professional responsibility to understand and support democracy, not because it is perfect, but because their role is essential to improving and sustaining it.
Schatz (2006), “Access by Accident: Legitimacy Claims and Democracy Promotion in Authoritarian Central Asia”
Pro-democracy advocates consisted of both international organizations and local activists, including lawyers, journalists, and politicians, who worked to challenge authoritarian regimes and promote democratic values.
Cummings (2024), “Lawyers in Backsliding Democracy”
This article argues that lawyers can be key agents of democratic backsliding, using legal tools to erode institutions and legitimize autocracy, and calls for reforms to strengthen the profession’s role in defending democracy.
Scheppele (2018), “Autocratic Legalism”
In backsliding democracies where autocrats manipulate legal systems to entrench power, attorneys play a crucial dual role as defenders of constitutionalism and civic educators, documenting abuses, challenging authoritarian legal reforms, and empowering the public to recognize and resist the legalistic tools of autocracy.
Rosenzweig (2013), “Disappearing Justice: Public Opinion, Secret Arrest and Criminal Procedure Reform in China”
In February 2011, Chinese authorities detained numerous online activists and rights lawyers to suppress potential Arab Spring. This inspired unrest, using harsh interrogation and intimidation tactics, which later sparked public debate and legal critique over China’s criminal procedure laws.
Michalowski (1995), “Between Citizens and the Socialist State: The Negotiation of Legal Practice in Socialist Cuba”
An examination of both the relationship between the ideological and legal bases for the socialist practice of law in Cuba and the actual practice of law in one bufete colectivo.
Chua (2019), “Legal Mobilization and Authoritarianism”
An examination of legal power in the lens that authoritarianism is all over.