This panel will examine the role of chief justices in semi-democratic judicial systems. The global expansion of judicial power has seen a concomitant expansion of court presidents‘ powers. But to date there is no systematic efforts to compare or theorize the new powers and roles of these judicial leaders and their effects on judicial empowerment....
Chief Justices and Autocratic Consolidation: The Venezuelan Supreme Court under Nicolás Maduro‘s Rule
This article discusses the role of high courts in a consolidating autocracy. The use of high courts to entrench authoritarian rule depends on a series of non-exclusive conditions related to the court system, regime features and political context. A supportive judiciary can help the government compile information on a range of actors and provide a...
From Transmission Belts to (Semi)Autonomous Actors – Chief Justices in Slovakia
Thhis paper analyses various roles of the Chief Justices in Slovakia after the split of Czechoslovakia. It explores whether Slovak Chief Justices still operate as “transmission belts“ of the Slovak ruling political elites, like in the communist era, and how much influence they have over careers of rank-and-file judges. It shows that Chief Justices in...
Pragmatic Constitutional Court in Russia‘s Dual State
This paper analyzes the conduct of the Russian Constitutional Court (RCC) and its chairman, Valerii Zorkin, in an effort to explain its institutional health and longevity in the context of consolidated authoritarianism. We argue that the stability of RCC today seems to have been due in large part to the pragmatic actions of its chairman,...