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  3. Can Courts be Bulwarks of Democracy?
  • Cited by 22
Publisher:
Cambridge University Press
Online publication date:
March 2022
Print publication year:
2022
Online ISBN:
9781009030939
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009030939
Subjects:
Law, Comparative Law, Politics and International Relations, Comparative Politics
Series:
Comparative Constitutional Law and Policy
Information

Book description

Liberal concepts of democracy envision courts as key institutions for the promotion and protection of democratic regimes. Yet social science scholarship suggests that courts are fundamentally constrained in ways that undermine their ability to do so. Recognizing these constraints, this book argues that courts can influence regime instability by affecting inter-elite conflict. They do so in three ways: by helping leaders credibly reveal their rationales for policy choices that may appear to violate legal rules; by encouraging leaders to less frequently make decisions that raise concerns about rule violations; and by encouraging the opposition to accept potential rule violations. Courts promote the prudent use of power in each of these approaches. This book evaluates the implications of this argument using a century of global data tracking judicial politics and democratic survival.

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