Envisioning Reform: Conceptual and Practical Obstacles to Improving Judicial Performance in Latin AmericaJudicial reform became an important part of the agenda for development in Latin America early in the 1980s, when countries in the region started the process of democratization. Connections began to be made between judicial performance and market-based growth, and development specialists turned their attention to “second generation” institutional reforms. Although considerable progress has been made already in strengthening the judiciary and its supporting infrastructure (police, prosecutors, public defense counsel, the private bar, law schools, and the like), much remains to be done. Linn Hammergren’s book aims to turn the spotlight on the problems in the movement toward judicial reform in Latin America over the past two decades and to suggest ways to keep the movement on track toward achieving its multiple, though often conflicting, goals. After Part I’s overview of the reform movement’s history since the 1980s, Part II examines five approaches that have been taken to judicial reform, tracing their intellectual origins, historical and strategic development, the roles of local and international participants, and their relative success in producing positive change. Part III builds on this evaluation of the five partial approaches by offering a synthetic critique aimed at showing how to turn approaches into strategies, how to ensure they are based on experiential knowledge, and how to unite separate lines of action. |
From inside the book
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... better-documented outsider's perspective, the authors have been no less harsh in their assessments of the movement's achievements or of its chances of eventual success. They almost inevitably find major shortcomings in a series of ...
... better users of judicial services. As for why this needed to be done, the answer was equally simple: courts existed to resolve conflicts by applying and, where required, interpreting established legal norms. In the process, they ...
... better salaries and career status for judges and other personnel; new organizations and substantial restructuring of traditional ones; a greater penetration of the national territory with services now delivered in more areas and to more ...
... better protected from removal, and services further expanded. On the other, judicial councils should have more control over appointments and promotions, discipline and accountability should be increased, dispositions expedited ...
... better on the Doing Business (World Bank 2005b) scale measuring speed and complexity of case processing. 42. See Sherwood et al. (1994) and Castelar (1998). 43. For a discussion of the Eastern European experience, see 14 introduction.
Other editions - View all
Envisioning Reform: Improving Judicial Performance in Latin America Linn Hammergren Limited preview - 2010 |
Envisioning Reform: Improving Judicial Performance in Latin America Linn A. Hammergren No preview available - 2007 |