Doing Courts Justice? Studying Judicial Politics in Latin America

2008/11/13 by Diana Kapiszewski, Matthew M. Taylor · 146 citations
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Boom #Diversity (politics) #Economic Justice #Judicial and Constitutional Studies #Latin Americans #Law #Law, Economics, and Judicial Systems #Legal Education and Practice Innovations #Political science #Politics #Sociology #Work (physics)

paper · doi:10.1017/s1537592708081899

published in Perspectives on Politics 6(4), 741-767 (Cambridge University Press)

openalex publication_date 2008/11/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/22

Abstract

The past decade has brought an unprecedented boom in the study of courts as political actors in Latin America. We examine the extraordinary diversity of academic research on judicial politics in the region, identifying the key questions, findings, and theoretical debates in the literature, highlighting important conceptual disjunctions, and critiquing the research methods scholars of judicial politics in Latin America have employed in their work. We close by suggesting new avenues of inquiry to help advance the collective effort to understand the roles courts play in Latin American politics.

Citations

• The Political Foundations of Democracy and the Rule of the Law

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