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
Results 6-10 of 60
... independence with other values such as impartiality, honesty, and competence, though independent courts and judges are quite capable of being biased, corrupt, and incompetent. See usaid (2002b) and Burbank and Friedman (2002), for a ...
... independence, reduce politicization of the appointment process, and increase the professional quality of judges and other officials and staff and to augment the general efficiency of courtroom and systemwide administration.31 Local ...
... independence, but, unlike the earlier stage, is no longer limited to curbing external interventions in the resolution of ordinary cases. Instead, the call was for the judiciary to assume its role as a check on the other branches of ...
... independence of ordinary courts or as posing their own conflicts of interest. One example is the expansion of the amparo in Mexico's federal courts.54 A Supreme Court decision in the midnineteenth century allowed the use of the amparo ...
... independence or status. Many governments do not welcome a court system that can effectively oppose their actions, but they increasingly see the value of enhancing the authority accorded judicial decisions.60 More instrumental reforms ...
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 |