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. |
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Toharia (2003, 29) reports citizens' belief in court efficiency is only 33 percent in the United Kingdom, 14 percent in France, and 8 percent in Italy. Still, citizens in Finland, Denmark, and Austria have a largely positive view of ...
That confusion has its positive side. It has helped attract broader support for what otherwise might be perceived as a dull, thoroughly esoteric set of programs. At the same time, however, it has also discouraged and complicated the ...
A second source of support came from a series of macroeconomic analyses correlating “judicial development” with economic growth.38 The positive findings provided further justification for the programs, though, as critics continually ...
One potentially positive result was that many countries also took heed of the studies and decided that an investment in improving justice might indeed produce economic growth and attract foreign investment.
Probably, it took a turn to noncriminal justice to create an interest in the positive service aspects of judicial output and the fact that for many citizens they were beyond reach. Both judiciaries and donors encountered additional ...
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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 |