Judicial Politics in Latin America

Abstract

This panel discusses the role that courts have been playing in the policy-making processes of Latin American democracies. With democratization, courts have seen their formal competences for constitutional review increasingly enlarged; they have also gradually acquired more importance in the resolution of social conflicts and as arbiters of conflicts between the political branches. We are interested in analyzing how courts are performing their varied roles, and how their empowerment relates them to the political actors. The panel locates at the intersection of political science, law and socio-legal studies. It welcomes papers approaching the study of courts from different theoretical and methodological perspectives, either in single or cross-country studies.