Judicial Independence in an Authoritarian Regime

In 1975, the Spanish sociologist Jose J. Toharia published his landmark article ‘Judicial Independence in an Authoritarian Regime: The Case of Contemporary Spain’ in the Law and Society Review, which became one of the most cited works when it comes to measuring the independence of a country’s judicial system. In his article, Toharia studied Spain’s courts under Francisco Franco’s rule. Toharia’s findings show that it is vital to study a country’s judicial system with precision to get the ‘full picture’ of its strengths and weaknesses. Measuring the rule of law, particularly the independence of judges, has become especially pressing in the field of business development, as a working judicial system is likely to attract foreign investment. The judicial systems of Bolivia, Ecuador, and Venezuela have one of the lowest degrees of judicial independence of Latin America. There, judges faced serious threats to their autonomy from legislative and institutional reforms, being regarded as a tool of the government.