The Achilles Heel of Democracy
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| Anteprima |
Featuring
the first in-depth comparison of the judicial politics of five
under-studied Central American countries, The Achilles Heel of Democracy
offers a novel typology of 'judicial regime types' based on the
political independence and societal autonomy of the judiciary. This book
highlights the under-theorized influences on the justice system -
criminals, activists, and other societal actors - and the ways that they
intersect with more overtly political influences. Grounded in
interviews with judges, lawyers, and activists, it presents the 'high
politics' of constitutional conflicts in the context of national
political conflicts as well as the 'low politics' of crime control and
the operations of trial-level courts. The book begins in the violent and
often authoritarian 1980s in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and
Nicaragua, and spans through the tumultuous 2015 'Guatemalan Spring';
the evolution of Costa Rica's robust liberal judicial regime is traced
from the 1950s.
