Blogpost: Reflections from the Graduate Student Conference on Public Law

Blogpost by Wesley Maraire Over the years, public law has increasingly taken a larger space within the broader political science field. It’s a natural progression really when you think about the relationship between law, politics, and society. For, it would not be scientific rigour if we analysed the behaviour of legal decision-makers and the law-related […]

The Limits of Judicialization. From Progress to Backlash in Latin America

Blogpost by Juliana Jaramillo A new book to reflect upon the promises, pitfalls, and lessons of judicialization: The publication of The Limits of Judicialization. From Progress to Backlash in Latin America (Cambridge University Press, 2022) offers an excellent opportunity to reflect on the core topic of LawTransform’s work since the inception of the Centre—the role of […]

Abortion rights lawfare: politicization, activism, and backlash

Siri Gloppen (2022)

New blog post by Siri Gloppen Abortion is central to politics across the globe in unprecedented ways. Abortion was key to President Bolsonaro’s election campaign ahead of the 2 October elections in Brazil; it has repeatedly brought people to the streets in Poland, Ireland, and across much of Latin America – in some cases resulting […]

The Right to Water and Vulnerable Populations: Whose Voices are Heard in the UN CESCR Monitoring Mechanism?

New article by Thalia Viveros-Uehara Civil society has long demanded that human rights monitoring mechanisms be accessible not only for big international NGOs, but also for grassroots and domestic civil society organizations. Ensuring equal participation in these procedures has never been timelier as increasing socioeconomic inequalities widen the barriers for vulnerable populations to engage in […]

Brazilian elections: can abortion be a key factor?

Lívia Buzolin (2022)

New blogpost by Lívia Buzolin Abortion is a topic that has been mobilised in the ongoing Brazilian electoral debates to attract votes or, at least, to make the opponent lose them. Even though abortion is legal in cases of rape, risk to the woman’s life or health, risk of severe foetal malformation, and in case […]

Water Rights Struggles in Johannesburg and Detroit Revisited: Looking Beyond Courts at the Politics and Power of Rights- Based Legal Mobilization in a Neoliberal Global Order: A ‘Powerpack’ Analysis

New article by Jackie Dugard Responding to the limits of court-based analyses and top-down position-taking in prevailing legal mobilization scholarship, this article goes beyond the courtroom to explore the value of rights-based legal mobilization from the perspective of those engaged in the campaigns to challenge racialized water disconnection in Johannesburg (2004–9) and Detroit (2014–). Against […]

Reunification philosophy, practice and research: We can do better for families

Jill Duerr Berrick (2022)

Blogpost by Jill Duerr Berrick, Zellerbach Family Foundation Professor at U.C. Berkeley, U.S., and Professor II at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism, UiB, Norway. How can we help parents and children to reunify after a child protection removal of a child? Sadly, very few programs and services available for professionals today can document […]

The Limits of Judicialization. From Progress to Backlash in Latin America

New book by Sandra Botero, Daniel M. Brinks and Ezequiel A. Gonzalez-Ocantos (Eds.) Latin America was one of the earliest and most enthusiastic adopters of what has come to be known as the judicialization of politics – the use of law and legal institutions as tools of social contestation to curb the abuse of power […]

Water Rights Book

Bruce M. Wilson and Evelyn Villarreal F. (2022)

San José, C.R. : PEN-CONARE. p. 223.

New book by Professor Bruce M. Wilson, University of Central Florida/CMI/LawTransform & Evelyn Villarreal F., research coordinator at the Programa Estado de la Nación The book El agua como derecho humano: Reconocimientos y disputas en Costa Rica (Water as a Human Right: Recognitions and Disputes in Costa Rica) analyzes the role of the human right to water […]

Mujeres en la judicatura en Guatemala. Experiencias entre profesionalización y captura política

Rachel Sieder, Ana Braconnier and Camila De León (2022)

This report in Spanish analyses the situation of women judges in Guatemala, revealing the specifically gendered pressures they experience to limit their independence. By focusing on women’s experiences of becoming and working as judges, the authors contribute to the understanding of limits to judicial independence and processes of state capture in fragile states, as well […]