The Judiciary Under Siege: The Role of Civil Society in Insulating and Advancing Judicial Independence Open Access

Abstract

This thesis examines why in certain cases, judicial attacks on courts lead to an increase in levels of judicial independence. In the study of judicial politics, scholars have widely written about the importance of judicial independence in establishing and maintaining the rule of law. Despite the importance of an independent judiciary, judges often face a variety of politically motivated attacks that seek to limit their independence. While these attacks often decrease the level of independence, in certain cases, the level of judicial independence increases following the attack. I hypothesize that in cases of massive attacks, a robust civil society can mobilize to insulate the judiciary. The empirical findings from this study indicate that massive attacks very rarely take place in countries with robust civil societies. The rare instances in which massive attacks have occurred have all been in the context of major political crises. The key implication from these findings is that a robust civil society prevents attacks from occurring.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction .....................................................................................................................................1

II. Theory ...............................................................................................................................................2

Overview of the Role of Judiciary in Protecting "Rule of Law".........................................2

Importance of Judicial Independence to Rule of Law.........................................................4

Challenges in Defining the Term.........................................................................................5

Defining an "Attack"...........................................................................................................8
Modes of Attack......................................................................................................9

Variations in De Facto Judicial Independence...................................................................10

Preserving Judicial Independence: The Role of Civil Society...........................................12
The Case of Pakistan.............................................................................................17

Figure 1: LJI in Pakistan Over time.................................................................21
III. Hypothesis.......................................................................................................................................21
IV. Data & Methodology..................................................................................................21
Independent Variable: Attacks...........................................................................................22
Independent Variable: Civil Society..................................................................................24
Figure 2: Histogram of Civil Society Index ..........................................27

Dependent Variable: Judicial Independence......................................................................27

Figure 3: Histogram of Latent Judicial Independence ..........................................................28

Control Variables and Fixed Effects..................................................................................29
Empirical Model................................................................................................................29

Ordinary Least Squares Regression......................................................................29

Instrumental Variables and Two Stage Least Squares Estimation.......................30
Figure 4: Model with Instrumental Variable...................................................31
V. Results.............................................................................................................................................32
OLS Results.......................................................................................................................32
Table 1: OLS Regression of LJI...........................................................................33

Table 2: OLS Regression of LJI with Two-Year Time Lag.................................34

Table 3: OLS Regression of LJI with One-Year Time Lag..................................35

Table 4: OLS Regression of LJI with Five-Year Time Lag.................................36

Table 5: Countries with Massive Attacks and Robust Civil Society....................37
IV and 2SLS Results..........................................................................................................38

Exceptions to the Study.....................................................................................................39
Argentina 1955 and 1958......................................................................................39

Argentina 1990.....................................................................................................40

Figure 5: LJI in Argentina Over Time.............................................................42

Ecuador 2004........................................................................................................43

Figure 6: LJI in Ecuador Over Time................................................................45

Ukraine 2014.........................................................................................................46

Figure 7: High Court Independence in Ukraine Over Time............................49

Fiji 1987 and 2000................................................................................................49

Figure 8: LJI in Fiji Over Time........................................................................51
VI. Conclusion and Implications..............................................................................................51

Linkages with Public Support............................................................................................52
VII. References ...............................................................................................................................56

About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	International Studies
Degree	BA
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	Political Science, General Political Science, International Relations
Keyword	judicial politics attacks on the judiciary rule of law judicial independence
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Staton, Jeffrey, Emory University
Committee Members	Lancaster, Thomas D, Emory University Clark, Tom, Emory University Dana, Catherine, Emory University

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