The Achilles Heel of Democracy
Judicial Autonomy and the Rule of Law in Central America

Comparing five Central American countries, this book explores the influences of criminals, activists, and other societal actors on the justice system.

Rachel E. Bowen (Author)

9781107178328, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 26 June 2017

302 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 1.9 cm, 0.55 kg

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.

1. Societally penetrated judiciaries and the democratic rule of law
2. The evolution of judicial regimes
3. Costa Rica: a liberal judicial regime
4. Government control regimes in Central America versus the rule of law
5. Clandestine control in Guatemala
6. Partisan systems
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Judicial review [LNDM], Comparative law [LAM], Political activism [JPW], Regional government policies [JPRB], Political structures: democracy [JPHV]