Informal Networks in Non-Western Judiciaries: Comparative Perspectives

Abstract

This panel explores the role of informal networks in judiciaries of the non-Western world. As recent work on non-Western judiciaries has shown, formal institutional roles and arrangements need to be complemented by attention to how informal arrangements function. However, while there may be growing recognition that informal institutions and judicial networks beyond ideological communities should be taken more seriously, contributions related to non-Western regions have also illuminated a far more complex view of networks—one in which, for instance, ideational, identity-based or clientelistic networks may affect how judges behave. One area that has received scant attention in the literature is ’judicial clientelism’. Though it is well-documented that clientelism is important to the understanding of persistent patterns of electoral and legislative behavior, if not institutional performance more broadly, courts have so far been at the margin of this growing body of work. The lack of attention is puzzling given the ample anecdotal evidence of the influence of clientelistic networks operating within the judiciary in countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The panel combines papers that contribute comparative perspectives by systematic analyses of how networks both within the judiciary and between judges and other political actors are configured, and by exploration of how networks shape a variety of outcomes, such as judicial appointments and what judges do on the bench. The panel is expected to deepen the still cloudy picture of the role of judicial networks in a variety of regime types and regions. It should also contribute to much needed theory-development, from both conceptual and methodological perspectives.

Title	Details
Informal Networks and Judicial Autonomy: Explaining Judges’ off-bench Mobilisation in Zambia and Malawi	View Paper Details
Judicial Networks as Social Goods: Russia and Kazakhstan Compared	View Paper Details
The 'Global Community of Law' in Botswana?	View Paper Details
The Consequences of Appointment Policies for Court Legitimacy: A Network Analysis Approach	View Paper Details