Courts in Democratic Systems

Abstract

In recent decades constitutional review has spread across democratic systems. The panel intends to systematically test the various approaches and theories developed for the US Supreme Court (Maveety 2003) and create some specific comparative theories. We expect the papers to follow this perspective in order to improve the understanding of judicial politics in contemporary democratic political systems. Given the narrow focus of existing studies they may comparatively investigate a number of issues regarding courts and judicial politics such as institution-building, institutional settings (judge appointment, court access, types of review, court rules), intra-court decision-making (judicial preferences, agenda-setting, case selection), and the relation between courts and other actors (government, parliament, public, lower courts, other Courts, European Court of Justice).

Title	Details
Judicial Reform in Central and Eastern Europe: Falling in Step with the West?	View Paper Details
The Politics of Judicial Nominations in a Polarised Society	View Paper Details
Politics or Policy: Prosecutor Amicus Participation in U.S. Supreme Court Search and Seizure Cases	View Paper Details
Judicial Politics in the European Union	View Paper Details
Judicial Decision Making under Changing Constraints: a Comparison between the United States and Europe	View Paper Details
Court-driven Conflict and Cooperation in Federal Systems: the Role of Judicial Review on Federalism in Spain	View Paper Details
Judicial Selection and Appointment of Lower Court Judges in Argentina (1983-2009)	View Paper Details
Comparative Judicial Dissent	View Paper Details
Transnational Courts and Democratic Governance: The Role of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights	View Paper Details