Since the 1970s, women have increasingly made it to the bench. Surprisingly, the proportion of women judges is generally higher in post-conflict countries than in well-established western democracies. Why is this so? Situations of political rupture generally create new opportunity structures; some may favour the entry of women into public positions of power. Post-conflict assistance […]
After more than 70 years of uninterrupted authoritarian government headed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), in 2000 the country formally began the transition to democracy. This new political scenario had evidently shaken most of the foundations of the political institutions, and thus, it has become essential to study the new role of the Supreme […]
This is a solo book manuscrit to by published by Routledge 2017. Abstract: When do a justice leave office? Typically, a justice with life tenure would leave office when either he dies, has health problems, reaches the age retirement, and, in those cases that justices are not appointed for life when he finishes his term. But, […]
This research project (2002-5), was a collaboration with the Centre for Applied Legal Studies (Johannesburg) investigating the role played by courts in the linked processes of democratic consolidation and social transformation in South Africa. The ideological dominance of constitutional democracy, combined with extensive legal and judicial reforms, increased the potential contribution of courts to the processes […]
This book project investigates the extent to which courts in Latin America and Africa have been able to say ‘no’ when the executive branch has overstepped its democratic mandate. The issues were explored in collaboration with local researchers as well as leading US and UK scholars in the field. The findings are presented in a special […]
Women on the Bench: The Role of Female Judges in Fragile States