The Politico-Legal Dynamics of Judicial Review
A Comparative Analysis

Provides a comparative analysis of the ideational dimension of judicial review and its potential contribution to democratic governance.

Theunis Roux (Author)

9781108442329, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 8 August 2019

388 pages, 1 b/w illus. 6 tables
23 x 15.2 x 2 cm, 0.5 kg

'How do constitutional cultures evolve and change character over time? In this impressive new work, Roux explores how judicial review in democratic and authoritarian regimes both influences and is influenced by public conceptions of the law/politics relationship. The book is rich in theory, and comparative case-studies, and provides a unique framework for understanding the intersection between constitutional law and politics. It deserves a wide audience in both fields, and especially among those interested in understanding moments of constitutional change and transition worldwide.' Rosalind Dixon, University of New South Wales, Sydney

Comparative scholarship on judicial review has paid a lot of attention to the causal impact of politics on judicial decision-making. However, the slower-moving, macro-social process through which judicial review influences societal conceptions of the law/politics relation is less well understood. Drawing on the political science literature on institutional change, The Politico-Legal Dynamics of Judicial Review tests a typological theory of the evolution of judicial review regimes - complexes of legitimating ideas about the law/politics relation. The theory posits that such regimes tend to conform to one of four main types - democratic or authoritarian legalism, or democratic or authoritarian instrumentalism. Through case studies of Australia, India, and Zimbabwe, and a comparative chapter analyzing ten additional societies, the book then explores how actually-existing judicial review regimes transition between these types. This process of ideational development, Roux concludes, is distinct both from the everyday business of constitutional politics and from changes to the formal constitution.

1. Preliminaries
2. A typographical theory of JR-regime change
3. Australian democratic legalism: constant cultural cause or path-dependent trajectory?
4. From democratic legalism to instrumentalism: India's constitutional cultural transformation
5. The post-colonial adaptation of authoritarian legalism in Zimbabwe
6. Testing the typological theory
7. Findings and implications.

Subject Areas: Comparative law [LAM], Jurisprudence & philosophy of law [LAB], Jurisprudence & general issues [LA], Law [L], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]