ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the transformation of court systems in Southeast Asia with particular attention to their growing role in governance—part of a general trend towards the ‘judicialization of politics.’ Hirschl (2006: 72) describes that trend as “the ever-accelerating reliance on courts and judicial means for addressing core moral predicaments, public policy questions, and political controversies,” which has been significant in Southeast Asia for the last 25 years. Yet not unlike the institution of the judiciary itself, the trend is not well understood.
