Democracy, Courts and the Dilemmas of Representation
Richard Bellamy
University College London - Department of Political Science
Cristina E. Parau
University of Oxford, Department of Politics and International Relations
October 17, 2013
‘Introduction: Democracy, Courts and the Dilemmas of Representation’, Representation, 49:3 (2013), pp. 255-266 (introduction to a co-edited Special Issue on ‘Courts and Representative Democracy’)
Abstract:
The first important work of comparative law and politics to define, analyse and evaluate the global phenomenon of the “judicialization of politics” was Tate and Vallinder’s The Global Expansion of Judicial Power (1995). They found that judges had steadily encroached upon policy-making prerogatives hitherto reserved to elected representatives. Over the past decade and a half a vast empirical literature on this topic has sprung up, spanning law and politics (Stone Sweet 2000; Guarnieri and Pederzoli 2002; Hirschl 2004; Caldeira, Kelemen et al.
2008). These studies remain for the most part rooted in older debates concerning the legitimate powers of the judiciary in a democracy (e.g. Bickel 1962; Ely 1980). Similar preoccupations have also loomed large in recent work by normative legal and political theorists on judicial review and the nature of constitutionalism (Dworkin 1998; Waldron 2006; Bellamy 2007). This Introduction reflects and seeks to advance these debates on the impact and legitimacy of the judicialization of democratic politics in two main ways. First, it surveys scholars holding different perspectives - some more critical of and others more favourable to judicialization - and who employ different methods, be they normative, qualitative or quantitative, that reflect the different disciplinary approaches to the topic found in law, political science and sociology. Second, it focuses specifically on the contrasts and complementarities of law and politics as modes of democratic representation.
2008). These studies remain for the most part rooted in older debates concerning the legitimate powers of the judiciary in a democracy (e.g. Bickel 1962; Ely 1980). Similar preoccupations have also loomed large in recent work by normative legal and political theorists on judicial review and the nature of constitutionalism (Dworkin 1998; Waldron 2006; Bellamy 2007). This Introduction reflects and seeks to advance these debates on the impact and legitimacy of the judicialization of democratic politics in two main ways. First, it surveys scholars holding different perspectives - some more critical of and others more favourable to judicialization - and who employ different methods, be they normative, qualitative or quantitative, that reflect the different disciplinary approaches to the topic found in law, political science and sociology. Second, it focuses specifically on the contrasts and complementarities of law and politics as modes of democratic representation.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 13
Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2341538
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