Rule by Law: The Politics of Courts in Authoritarian Regimes

Scholars have generally assumed that courts in authoritarian states are pawns oftheir regimes, upholding the interests of governing elites and frustrating the effortsof their opponents. As a result, nearly all studies in comparative judicial politicshave focused on democratic and democratizing countries. This volume bringstogether leading scholars in comparative judicial politics to consider the causesand consequences of judicial empowerment in authoritarian states. It demonstratesthe wide range of governance tasks that courts perform, as well as the way in whichcourts can serve as critical sites of contention both among the ruling elite andbetween regimes and their citizens. Drawing on empirical and theoretical insightsfrom every major region of the world, this volume advances our understanding ofjudicial politics in authoritarian regimes