ABSTRACT
Mexico’s process of democratic reform since the early 1990s has been remarkable in many ways, and the increasing prominence of law and courts is certainly one of the most important. In the transition from a dominant-party authoritarian regime to a vigorous democracy, it is perhaps not surprising that the Mexican Supreme Court has become a much more important actor. Starting with the judicial reform which had been implemented at the beginning of 1995, and accelerating after the 2000 election that led to the first change in power in several decades, the court has emerged as an important actor in the Mexican political scene. There has been a set of important interdisciplinary studies accompanying these
reforms, integrating legal and political analysis, by Mexican and other academics (see, e.g., Ríos-Figueroa 2007; Magaloni 2003, 2006; Sánchez et al. 2011; Inclán 2009). This work is among the most varied and interesting anywhere in the field of comparative judicial studies, and the present volume is no exception. Using a wide array of methodologies, the authors here help elucidate the evolving role of the court in Mexico’s democracy. The chapters deserve close scrutiny, not only by scholars of Mexico, but by others interested in understanding the role of courts and the dynamics of democratization. In this introduction, I briefly place the Mexican case in comparative perspective and then make some comments on the chapters that follow. Together, they make a major contribution to the literature on comparative judicial politics.
