ABSTRACT
This title examines the political role of courts in new democracies in Latin America and Africa, focusing on their ability to hold political power-holders accountable when they act outside their constitutionally defined powers. The book also issues a warning: there are problems inherent in the current global move towards strong constitutional government, where increasingly strong powers are placed in the hands of judges who themselves are not made accountable.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
chapter |4 pages
Introduction: The Accountability Function of the Courts in New Democracies
SIRI GLOPPEN, ROBERTO GARGARELLA and ELIN SKAAR
chapter |14 pages
How Some Reflections on the United States’ Experience May Inform African Efforts to Build Court Systems and the Rule of Law
JENNIFER WIDNER
chapter |17 pages
The Constitutional Court and Control of Presidential Extraordinary Powers in Colombia
RODRIGO UPRIMNY
chapter |16 pages
The Politics of Judicial Review in Chile in the Era of Democratic Transition, 1990–2002
JAVIER A.COUSO
chapter |15 pages
Legitimating Transformation: Political Resource Allocation in the South African Constitutional Court
THEUNIS ROUX
chapter |18 pages
Renegotiating ‘Law and Order’: Judicial Reform and Citizen Responses in Post-war Guatemala
RACHEL SIEDER
chapter |15 pages
Economic Reform and Judicial Governance in Brazil: Balancing Independence with Accountability
CARLOS SANTISO
chapter |12 pages
In Search of a Democratic Justice—What Courts Should Not Do: Argentina, 1983–2002
ROBERTO GARGARELLA