Off-Bench Judicial Politics: External Determinants of Judicial Behaviour and Outcomes

Abstract

The panel challenges judicial politics’ traditional focus on internal determinants of judicial behaviour, such as judges’ ideologies and biases, arguing that off-bench factors external to judiciaries crucially shape both (inter)national courts’ decision-making and outcomes. We examine how judges navigate external influences across three thematic areas: (1) systemic barriers to access to justice, (2) mobilisation around courts, and (3) (in)formal networks and structures embedded in the judicial process. Collectively, the papers offer a roadmap for understanding how international and domestic courts adapt, resist or succumb to the pressures of an increasingly polarised global order.

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